Respond to these rapid questions in our Overcomer quiz and we will tell you which Overcomer character you are. Play it now.
“Overcomer” is about half the length of a feature film. The remaining half-hour or so is a sermon that is only half-heartedly delivered. Neither half is particularly interesting, and the whole thing is cheap, cheesy, and, to put it mildly, churchy.
The approach taken by director Alex Kendrick, who has directed and co-written several faith-based films with his brother Stephen, is described as “organic.” (This screenplay was also written by the brothers.) To call this one merely “faith-based” seems to be an understatement, and to refer to it as a “movie” seems to be an especially generous description.
However, it does not begin in this manner. To be honest, the first act of Kendrick’s most recent film appears to be a legitimate narrative. Indeed, the film begins with a prologue (which includes a cool drone shot that flies over some trees, through the window of a Christian high school, and into the gymnasium, where a basketball game is in progress), which establishes a community on the verge of financial ruin. A manufacturing plant in the area is closing its doors and laying off the vast majority of its employees. As a result, the school’s future is in jeopardy because the majority of the families have a member who works at the facility.
That’s one of the setups completed. As a result, we are introduced to another character, teacher and basketball coach John Harrison (played by the director, whose performance lends credence to the notion that the filmmakers cast a random high school basketball coach with no acting experience but a pleasant personality and cast him in the lead role). John Harrison finds himself in a difficult situation. The coach’s team appears to be on the verge of collapsing as parents abandon the town and students abandon the school.
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Aside from that, the school’s principal (Priscilla C. Shirer) has asked him to coach the cross-country team. Hannah (Aryn Wright-Thompson), a transfer student whose parents are deceased, who lives with her grandmother Barbara (Denise Armstrong), and who, more importantly for long-distance runners, suffers from asthma, is the only one who tries out for John’s running team.
That’s three narrative threads ready and waiting to be woven together: the coach who has something to learn, the student who has something to prove, and the economic insecurity of the small town that threatens to unravel it all together. None of these threads is revolutionary in any way, but they do at the very least serve as the foundation for a story in its own right.
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At some point, however, the Kendricks simply decide to throw in the towel on almost everything they’ve done. The coach discovers Thomas by chance while visiting a fellow parishioner with his church’s pastor at a hospital, where John is visiting a fellow parishioner with his church’s pastor (Cameron Arnett). Following a painfully on-the-nose exchange during a subsequent visit, John discovers that Thomas, who is blind and suffering from additional health problems as a result of diabetes, is actually Hannah’s long-believed deceased father.
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Now, of course, there’s the dilemma of whether or not to tell Hannah, and whether or not to follow Barbara’s wishes, who has kept the fact that Thomas is still alive hidden from Hannah. Whatever the case, Thomas begins preaching even before he learns that his daughter is so close by, implying that John may not be the best Christian he can be. As a matter of fact, John is bold enough to list a number of other characteristics about himself and his life before he even considers calling himself a Christian.
The principal then enters the fray, attempting to persuade Hannah to turn away from her heinous sins and embrace Christianity. After Hannah’s big training montage—which is expected, even though the movie appears to have abandoned everything except the sermons from the story—is intercut with her doing a Bible study, the movie concludes with a prayer sequence that is exclusively shown or climaxed with different characters praying.
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After a while, the Kendricks’ screenplay returns to the racing plot thread. However, it’s only for the Big Race (which we only find out is the state championship after it’s over), so it’s more of a requirement than a plot point in and of itself. Hannah is still wearing an earbud, and her father is coaching her and, obviously, preaching to her through it. It may seem like a clever way to keep a long-distance race’s lengthy sequence interesting, but in practice it just adds to the sermonizing of the entire event.
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Apparently, “Overcomer” isn’t intended for an audience that is interested in hearing a story told to them. It is intended for an audience that isn’t bothered by the fact that a story will occasionally interrupt a homily.
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