We have been blessed by a few Catholic/Christian movies gracing the screens this year and personally, I take every chance I can to show my support for these virtuous movies. We want more like this and we won't get them if we don't show our support by going to the theatre and seeing them. If they don't get support from theatres, we won't see them in dvd's; so don't wait until it comes out on dvd- see it now- you won't regret it!
For Greater Glory is the ultimate Catholic guy movie. My husband LOVED it. He didn't know anything about it before we got to the theatres and when we were there, he was blown away by how good it was. He kept turning to me saying, "This is awesome!" I think he must have thought it was going to be another sappy drama like October baby (which was really good, by the way, and my husband did like it, despite all the tear jerking scenes!). So he was very surprised it was nothing at all like that. It was the exactly kind of gun slinging, cigar smoking, bad guy killing, Jesus loving movie that he enjoys.
Being a Jane Austin kind of movie fan, it wasn't my favorite kind of movie, I did enjoy it. I thought it started slow, but it did build up to some very exciting and moving parts. If I would categorize it a movie genre, I think it would be Western. Western movies have never excited me (except for True Grit, which was just a great movie), but it did have other elements that made it more appealing for me. The acting was phenomenal. They have an excellent cast that has made this movie very high quality. The screen play was beautiful and the music was too. It's hard to believe Catholic movies have come this far! I hope they continue down this road.
I think seeing it in the theatre would be perfect for an early Father's day gift or father/son bonding. I can see some great discussions for teenagers coming out of this movie, like what it means to be a real man (a man of God), what are the effects of a true conversion to Christ, what justice means for the Christian, what actions are permissible when freedoms are taken away, what is not.
Because one of the main characters is a young teenage boy who has a conversion and becomes a martyr, I think this movie will especially touch the hearts of boys who are struggling to take the faith of their parents on as their own. For this reason, I wish it wasn't rated R. I'm sure the rating is going to turn many parents away from taking their kids to see this movie. However, I found nothing offensive about the mild violence and wouldn't hesitate to show it to a 13 year old boy who has a love for justice and guns.
If you have seen any other R rated movies in the past 20 years, you will wonder why this one is rated R. Yes, there is a lot of gun killing. It's a war. But it's nothing like the Saving Private Ryan style of war movies. I didn't have to look away once (this says a lot if you know squeamish I am about blood). When there is a gruesome death, like hanging (there are a few- all of them martyrs for the Faith), you never see the act. You see what happens before and after. There isn't that awful sound of the someone's neck cracking either. I hate when movies do that. Now a days, they have to be so gory in every detail, right down to the gruesome sounds of pain. I did not see a lot of blood either. No open wounds, nothing eye-averting, or ear-shutting, or I-hope-I-will-be-able-to-sleep-tonight moments.
I'm not sure how much longer this will stay in theaters- I guess it largely depends of what kind of support it receives at any given theater. So, if you can, go see it for yourself and if you can't, buy a ticket for someone who can!
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