Plot Summary
When Colter Reese tests positive for performance enhancing drugs, he thinks his professional cycling career is over forever. His son is dying of cancer and he has seemingly no purpose in life, so he begins to train again in the hopes of earning enough money to pay off his hospital bills. Will he be able to find redemption in his cycling?
Production Quality (.5 point)
Unfortunately, Redemption Ride is a relatively cheap production. Though video quality is fine, there are some odd camera angles and shaky camera work. As for audio, there is too much dead air and not enough soundtrack except in musical montages. There are also a lot of loud outside noises. Sets and locations are quite limited and props leave something to be desired. Finally, as usual for films this low quality, the editing is poor and adds nothing to the film. In the end, it’s hard to see the justification for this movie.
Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
Redemption Ride really just boils down to a formulaic story about a troubled athlete character returning to his hometown, and this is only combined with a sick child plot and a sports redemption plot. There is also a typical romance rekindle subplot to pad the runtime. Besides this, there are tons of dead scenes and empty sports montages. The characters are very quirky and the dialogue is too full of dry attempts at humor or nothing substantial at all. Overall, this story is incredibly boring and little to no point at all due to its predictable nature.
Acting Quality (0 points)
This cast is definitely not the strongest cast. A lot of the time, their performances are very flat and seem unmotivated and lazy. Yet other times, they are overly demonstrative and over the top. Overall, this is not a very good casting or coaching job, which tops off a disappointing and empty film.
Conclusion
Movies like this likely mean well, but it’s difficult to understand how they came to be. With a such a low budget, one would think films like this wouldn’t make it to even limited distribution, much less become a feature-length film. The Christian film field really needs a lesson in quality over quantity. Please don’t make a film just for the sake of having a film—it’s just not worth it.
Final Rating: .5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 