This is not the first time I’ve written anything about the Kendrick Brothers. In fact, here are links to the series:
- Flywheel
- Facing the Giants
- Fireproof
- Courageous
- War Room
- Bonus:Priscilla Shirer (currently my second most viewed blog post)
My favorite movie of the original
Kendrick Brothers’ quintilogy is Courageous,
hands down. It has it all: 5 distinct protagonists, an excellent supporting
cast, great morals, and an awesome mixture of drama and comedy. Well, Randy
Alcorn (a very popular Christian author) apparently saw it and decided to ramp
it up to 1000. This is Courageous,
the novel.
Now, if you’ve seen the movie or
read my blog post (this was back when I put spoilers in my posts), you should
know that the overall story arcs are the same. You have 5 main characters with
different walks of life and perspectives about fatherhood. Four of them work
together on the police force, and the fifth met them through a divine chance
meeting / accident.
- Adam Mitchell: the “main” main catalyst character who loses his daughter in a tragic accident involving a drunk driver. This event causes him to refocus on what it means to be a good father in general, and to his ever-distant son.
- Nathan Hayes: the first man introduced in the story, and the image of what a good dad entails: being a protector, provider, partner, and teacher, to name a few attributes. His main issue, however, is that he did not forgive his own father for being an absentee dad. He also faces connecting with his teenage daughter who is ready to date.
- Shane Fuller: a divorced dad trying to make ends meet, but he goes about that in the wrong way. As in illegally.
- David Thomson: an unwed dad who struggles with a desire to avoid fatherhood.
- Javier Martinez: a blue-collar worker who meets Adam when Adam mistakes Javier for someone else with the same name. He is also a good father figure to his kids, and attributes that to his own father.
Took me a minute to write that
all out. I didn’t even write the full names in the original Courageous post. Yes. I do re-read my old posts. #cringe
So why read this novel, if the
story arcs are the same? Uh-uh, read back a couple of paragraphs. I said they
were the same overall.
Now, the thing that makes the
novel more special than the book (Can you believe it? Even if the book comes after the movie, the book is still
better! lol) is what it adds to it. Courageous
was in and of itself an excellent movie, but it was also a long story, even
after a few (what I thought were) kinda crucial deleted scenes.
Kendrick Brothers, if you’re
reading this, you should release an “Extended Edition” version of your movies.
Even with all its scenes,
however, the story now seems kinda disconnected. Well, not really. I’ll
explain.
According to the info about the novel,
only 20% of it was new writing that wasn’t originally in the movie. That 20%
makes a huge difference. It makes a difference in the story, it makes a
difference in the connection of the characters, and it makes a difference in
the characters themselves. If the Kendrick Brothers had made this, it probably
would’ve made a much better movie, which is saying a LOT, considering how good
it is already!
However…. I don’t know if I would
want it in the movie.
Personally, this movie was
probably more heavy-handed in its tone than the Kendrick Brothers were used to.
Flywheel was a basic enough movie,
and you definitely get goofy vibes among the serious parts. Facing the Giants is just one big
feel-good fest. You can pretty much guess every part of the plot (seriously,
it’s Remember the Titans, Christian
Edition), and who doesn’t like a good game of football, or even the atmosphere
there? I’m marginally enthusiastic about football games, but I hardly watch the
games themselves. It’s always the atmosphere and community. Fireproof was probably the first real
drama they did, and even that was very domestic. Aside from one scene involving
a train, it’s still light in the heaviness. Even War Room wasn’t nearly as heavily-toned in its showing, and that
involved war footage and a scene involving Priscilla Shirer’s character talking
to the devil! (I’m unsure of the theological soundness of that, by the way, but
it did make a half-decent monologue for someone who’d never been in a movie
before.)
Yeah, I know. “Look who’s talking.”
My point is, if Courageous had gone the Randy Alcorn
path, it probably would’ve been way heavier and way more severe than what the
Kendrick Brothers would have been willing to go. Also, I’m glad the book had a
more serious atmosphere than the movie. Personally, when I watch a movie, I
don’t want to get weighed down by its atmosphere. I don’t mind a good drama,
but there are limits for me. With books, I have a stronger threshold for
emotional movement. A movie for me, is a complete escape from reality. A novel,
however, transports me to a different reality.
I say all this to say… read the
book. No, really. Not necessarily as an evangelical book, not even as a Bible
study or father study book. Read it as a novel. It, like The True Meaning of Smekday, will take a couple of days to read,
but I assure you, it will be worth the read.
Ciao!
What’s your favorite
novelization?
