SYNOPSIS: In “I Can Only Imagine 2,” a Christian biographical drama now playing in theatres, a successful musician battles inner demons to plot a path through personal adversity.
CAST: John Michael Finley, Milo Ventimiglia, Sophie Skelton, Arielle Kebbel, Sammy Dell, Trace Adkins, Dennis Quaid. Directed by Andrew Erwin and Brent McCorkle.
REVIEW: A sequel to 2018’s “I Can Only Imagine,” the new film sees John Michael Finley reprise his role as Bart Millard, frontman of Christian band MercyMe. The breakout success of the band’s single “I Can Only Imagine” made his dreams come true, but success didn’t bring happiness.
As the band prepare for a make-or-break arena tour, two members cash in their chips. Worse, at home things are strained between Bart and his wife Shannon (Sophie Skelton) in the wake of their 17-year-old son Sam’s (Sammy Dell) diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.
“It’s hard,” says Bart. “Why does it have to be so hard?”
MercyMe’s manager Scott (Trace Adkins) suggests Bart stay at home and concentrate on his family and writing a new single, but Bart wants to hit the road.
“It is the only place I feel I like I can breathe again. Stuff is falling apart at home. I need this.”
On the road, Bart learns life lessons from his opening act Tim Timmons (Milo Ventimiglia), a singer-songwriter with an unlikely name and an unusual form of cancer. “One of those rare ones,” he says. “There’s no roadmap for it.” From Tim, and with his faith, Bart finds the courage to face life’s uncertainties, and maybe even write a new hit song.
“What did you think,” says Scott, “you were going to ride off into the sunset with no more struggles, no more pain? That’s not how this thing works.”
“I Can Only Imagine 2” asks Bart what comes next after your dreams come true and your single tops the charts? But this is no sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll tale. It’s an inspirational faith-based road trip that leaves the spicy tour stories for “MTV’s Behind the Music.” Wholesome and somewhat predictable, it may avoid the clichés of most music movies but isn’t shy about leaning into the formula that made the original 2018 film a hit.
Bart’s inner battles with his rocky past relationship with his father (Dennis Quaid), and the present situations with his family and band, are a launch pad for the film’s messages of maintaining faith through anguish, and as such, are effectively portrayed. It’s a story of renewal of faith and spiritual growth that works when co-directors Andrew Erwin and Brent McCorkle lay off the sentimentality, which is not often enough.
Still, despite a predictable outcome with some soppiness along the way, “I Can Only Imagine 2” is an earnest, tuneful movie targeted at churchgoers, about how resilient faith can be.
“Land of Bad,” a new military thriller starring Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe, and now playing in theatres, uses highflying drone warfare as a backdrop for a story of survival on the ground.
Set in the South Philippines, the story begins with a covert Special Forces operation to extract a CIA asset captured by some very bad people.
Three highly skilled veterans, Sergeant Abel (Luke Hemsworth), Bishop (Ricky Whittle) and Captain Sugar (Milo Ventimiglia), are teamed with Sergeant JJ “Playboy” Kinney (Liam Hemsworth), a rookie whose nerves are showing even before they parachute into enemy territory.
Kinney’s job is to provide on-the-ground data to Captain Ed “Reaper” Grimm (Russell Crowe), a drone operator at a remote command post in Las Vegas. “I am the eyes in the sky,” Grimm says. “The bringer of doom.”
When the situation goes awry, Kinney is left on his own in hostile territory with only Reaper’s disembodied voice to guide him to safety.
“Land of Bad” asks (but doesn’t answer) questions about the role of technology in warfare, and if long distance battle, in the form of drones, is less barbaric than up-close-personal, Mano a Mano conflict. It’s an interesting, very twenty-first century issue, but it falls by the wayside as the action takes center stage.
Director William Eubank stages several exciting battles, provides lots of ticking-clock tension and plenty of obstacles—ie: baddies with guns and giant mountains between Kinney and safety—to keep Kinney’s odyssey edging the viewer toward the edge of their collective seats. There’s nothing much new here, but the action scenes are effective in creating a sense of immediacy and danger.
As a newbie in the group, Liam Hemsworth has an interesting arc, from nervous newcomer to reluctant hero. It goes a notch beyond the usual action hero portrayal, and humanizes Kinney as all hell breaks loose around him.
Crowe slides by on sheer movie star charisma. His take on Reaper is, by times, playful and powerful. But at the end of the day, he’s a stereotype of the anti-establishment figure who places emotion above authority. But, in the film’s unexpected dance scene he proves he can still cut a rug. Are You Not Entertained? Sure are, by the sheer absurdity of Crowe’s last twenty minutes on screen.
“Land of Bad” does not reinvent the war film wheel, but rolls along serviceably enough as an engaging action flick.
“Second Act,” starring Jennifer Lopez and Leah Remini, isn’t a startlingly novel idea. We’ve seen the story of a person who transcends class and education to change their lives in everything from “My Fair Lady” and “Working Girl” to Amy Schumer’s “I Feel Pretty” and Lopez’s 2002 rom com “Maid in Manhattan.” Part fairy tale, part study of class discrimination, “Second Act” breathes new life into an old trope.
Lopez plays Maya, a New York supermarket clerk who, despite her keen work ethic, gets passed over for a promotion because the other candidate has a college degree and she doesn’t. “Arthur got his MBA from Duke,” she is told. “He’s the best man for the job.” Irritated, she grumbles to her friend Joan (Remini), “I just wish we lived in a world where street smarts equalled book smarts.”
To help in her job search Joan and computer whiz son Dilly (Dalton Harrod) fabricate a resume, pumping up Maya’s credentials to include a degree from Wharton Business School and special skills like mountain climbing and fluency in Mandarin. “I gave you a completely new identity,” Dilly says. “You said you wanted to be fancy, so I Cinderella’d your ass.”
The resume does the trick and she soon lands a job as a consultant for a large skin care company. Surviving on a combo of enthusiasm and street smarts she bluffs her way through despite opposition from the boss’s insecure daughter (Vanessa Hudgens).
Like a Successories poster come to life “Second Act” is an attractively photographed bit of uplift complete with handy dandy inspirational message. “Our mistakes don’t limit us, our fears do.” It’s also rather boring. After a promising start with some giggles provided by Remini’s razor sharp line delivery and some quirky work from Charlyne Yi, the predictable tale of second chances takes a sharp U-turn into melodrama and never recovers.
What might have been a tale of class designations washed down with a joke or two becomes an uncomfortable hybrid of a soap opera and fairy tale.
“Second Act” sees Lopez doing her best with a script that requires little more from her than sitting on the subway looking introspective. This story of second chances won’t hold up to a second viewing.
