Plot Summary
Kurt Kuykendall is a highly gifted basketball player who has it all, including a possible Olympic future. But his home life is a wreck, which leads to tragedy and his being cut from the basketball team. He feels like his life is over, but all is not lost, because God opens up a new door for him—playing soccer—that he would have never thought was possible. The only question is, will Kurt seek God or remain bitter about the past?
Production Quality (1 point)
While some measures were taken to make this production good, too many corners were cut here. Video quality and audio quality are on par, though the soundtrack is pedestrian, but there is too much shaky camera work, especially in the sports sequences. Speaking of the sports sequences, they are too repetitive and redundant, including some unnecessarily recycled footage. Thus, there are too many sports montages, which reflects poor editing and a general lack of content, even though this film is supposed to be an epic about a real person’s life. Sets and locations are also fairly limited. Therefore, though this production looks good on the surface, it does not do enough to warrant more than one point.
Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)
This is an interesting true story to depict in movie form, but it overall lacks focus and causes too much confusion for the audience. For the Glory commits the amateur epic mistakes of creating too many time jumps and referring to off screen content too often. Besides the constant sports montages, there are too many head-scratching sequences and random occurrences that do nothing to help us get to know these characters at all. Time is not spent wisely, thus making it hard to be able to relate to the struggles of these characters. Dialogue also meanders and is generally hard to follow, which creates cheesy and empty characters. In short, while For the Glory highlights some true-to-life issues, it does so in a very lazy fashion that will unfortunately have no real impact.
Acting Quality (1 point)
Unfortunately, cases that include Jason Burkey and Richard Swingle that have no connection to the Erwin Brothers do not fair well. They are their usual awkward selves, as are other cast members. Emotions are over the top and forced and line delivery is sometimes hesitant. This cast would have benefited from coaching.
Conclusion
In the grand scheme of things, films like For the Glory are very easily forgettable and fall into the massive heap of Christian movies that just blow over your head after you’ve watched them. There is nothing particularly good or bad to remember about this category of films—you just watch them and then you’re done and never watch them again. What we need is greatness in Christian film, not more failed attempts like this one. Perhaps movies like this one can serve as reminders of how film makers can improve in the future.
Final Rating: 2.5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 