I will confess I don’t know what to think about Faith of Our Fathers. I’ll try my best to get through this because I have so much to complain about.
From the information I gathered after watching the movie, Faith of Our Fathers is considered to be a great film. There are 572 ratings on IMDb, and even though it is 3.7/10, a lot of people praise it.
I am not quite sure what there is to praise. I understand the message is sincere and impactful, especially for a generation of sons who grew up without fathers thanks to military conflicts. There are hatred and reluctance to ever forgive. There is also a lot of misunderstanding about the reasons for war and why some never came home. Seriously, there is a lot to unpack here, so the movie tries it’s best to achieve all that in just 96 mins.
What I had a hard time watching was David A.R. White’s performance. It was so out of character for what I’ve known him for, I couldn’t take him seriously. He was rude, careless, and never put the effort in to resolve his personal issues. I can’t say it enough, but this was one of his worse performances I’ve ever seen.
Meanwhile, this entire film centers around John’s (Kevin Downes) quest to learn more about his dad. This poor guy has dragged through the worse case scenarios at every turn, thanks to Wayne (White) and his stupid decisions. You feel bad the entire time because this adventure, which results in a night in jail, was not what he originally signed on for.
The only saving grace of this entire journey is through all the craziness, the two main characters become friends. They meet up with their dad’s platoon leader (Stephen Baldwin) and finally learn about their heroic fathers. It was a touching ending, one that toyed with my emotions. As I tried to explain this film to my wife, she said I can’t praise a movie even if I only liked the final 10 minutes or so. She is right. This was a pretty bad movie with an okay ending.
I can only imagine if a major studio had gotten their hands on this story, how dramatic and big-budget they might have made it. I also can only assume they would have lost the message somewhere along the way. 2/10
Ten Stars or Less 