by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
As a parent of a four-year-old, my wife and I do not get very many chances for date nights. Our idea of a date really was staying up late after our daughter Gwen goes to sleep so we can catch up on a TV show. Oftentimes, one or both of us would fall asleep only for Gwen to ask to come back to our room to sleep. We can sometimes get out for lunch or dinner, or maybe get to an escape room, something we love to do together. It’s rare for us to get to an actual movie at the movie theater. We’ve had some hits and misses in regards to our theater going experiences, especially when it’s not a Marvel movie. Some have been great like 21 Jump Street, some were pleasant surprises like Downton Abbey, but overall, our track record for movies in the theater has been solid.
And then we saw Redeeming Love, and now I don’t know what to think.
Redeeming Love, based on the book of the same name by Francine Rivers, stars Abigail Cowens as Angel, a prostitute in the old West Calfornia town of Pair-A-Dice (a bit too on-the-nose of a town name). Michael Hosea, played by Tom Lewis, prays to God for a sign on who his wife should be, and God points him in the direction of Angel. Sensing God’s sense of humor, Michael embarks on a journey of love with someone with a difficult and challenging past which tests his patience and faith.
Let me get a few things off my chest right from the beginning: First, I have a complicated relationship with my faith, as I think a fair amount of people do; second, this is the first film I’ve ever seen from Pinnacle Peak Pictures, which specializes in faith-based movies; and third, no, I did not read the book, nor did I know the book even exists when I decided to review this movie.
I have very complicated feelings about this movie. I had one initial opinion, which I even wrote in my first draft of this review. For some reason, I decided to sit on the review and then ponder it for a little while longer in order to see if my opinion had changed at all after thinking about it for a day. It turns out, some things did change.
Let’s start with some of the positive aspects first. Overall, I did enjoy the setting of the Old West. Redeeming Love takes place during the California Gold Rush, and it looms large over everything. The characters are very compelling and Cowens and Lewis are giving it their all with the material they were given. I do like that Rivers was very involved in the making of the movie. From time to time, you see authors have no say in how their books are translated to film. Or, you see authors who don’t get to live long enough to see their works be translated to film. The cinematography was beautifully done, especially the outdoor, mountainous, and sunset shots scattered all throughout the film.
This is where things got complicated for me…
When the credits rolled, I was getting ready to rip this movie to shreds. My biggest hangup is the story itself, especially the love story between Angel and Michael. Both characters are very compelling; however, they both just endure so much trauma and turmoil that it becomes almost a contest to see who can endure the most. When their pasts come up and they’re telling one another about the things they’ve done, it just gets even worse. There came a point when I flipped the switch from, “I feel bad for them both” to, “honestly, how much further into the darkest timeline can we go for these two to have the most tragic backstory ever?” Just when you think it can’t get any worse, particularly for Angel, something happens, or a piece of her backstory is unveiled and it manages to get much darker than I ever could have imagined. With Michael, he’s got a rough backstory as well, but also, how much can one person take from another person who’s sometimes just being plain cruel to him?
Eric Dane plays the Duke, who’s our main villain. The Duke is a pretty despicable person, but they take him directions that felt a little like he was designed by a spinning wheel of horribleness. Spin one establishes him as a pimp and murderer. Spin two reveals how awful he was to Angel throughout the course of the film. Spin three, reveals at the end just how terrible he is and increases the icky factor by 500%. It’s just another example of the film taking things way too far in terms of making this all the darkest timeline. There is absolutely nothing redeemable (see what I did there?) about the Duke, and unfortunately, Dane might be someone I can’t look at the same way between his role here and his role in the TV show Euphoria. We’re a long way from the McSteamy days (my wife was excited to see McSteamy, which was the only way she recognized him, until she saw his true colors in this and was pretty mortified shortly after). Logan Marshall-Green plays Paul, Michael’s brother-in-law to his now-deceased sister Tess. Paul does some pretty unforgivable things to Michael and Angel throughout the course of his character arc. He does get his moment of repentance, but it was two storylines too late.
Faith and forgiveness are central themes of Redeeming Love. Faith is constantly tested, especially for Michael. He prays to God to point him in the direction of who his wife should be, and what he endures would break a lot of people. It’s very cynical to say that no one would endure what he does when it comes to Angel, especially since they don’t know each other that well. However, faith empowers some people in their darkest moments and this is on full display. The message I gravitated to more was the powerful messages of forgiveness. Some of the characters have redemption arcs that I really felt for, and I was wondering whether or not they would achieve forgiveness from the people they wronged. I did find two people’s arc for redemption very moving, both occurring at the end. The forgiveness theme of the movie started to reel me back in from completely ripping this to shreds to giving it more of a chance. In addition, I did reflect on not knowing what other people’s traumas are and how we can never completely understand people’s experiences. This is where giving people grace and patience comes into play, and how maybe I should be more patient and have more grace for a movie like this instead of just completely ripping it to shreds.
If you are a fan of the book or if you like faith-based movies, this will definitely be something to check out. It’s fascinating to me how wide the gap from critics to audience opinions is on this one. I can’t in good consciousness recommend this; however, I do understand there is an audience for Redeeming Love out there that will enjoy it. There was just too much for me that I didn’t enjoy.
Grade: D+
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