• Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • About the Contributors
    • Our Rating Scale (and Searching Tips)
    • Disclosure
    • Legal Policies
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Browse All Reviews

IgniteLit

Facing the Giants (2006)

December 7, 2016 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

7 Dec

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Facing the Giants

Title: Facing the Giants (2006; PG)
Director:
Alex Kendrick
Major Themes: Christian Living, Faith, Football
Synopsis:
Coach Grant Taylor feels like a failure in life—but what will happen when he surrenders the results to God and determines to praise Him no matter what the outcome?

Years ago while visiting friends, I saw the first part of Facing the Giants playing in their living room. The story intrigued me, but we needed to get on home so I didn’t end up watching it then—it wasn’t until much later that our family actually got it to watch together. Since then, though, we’ve watched the movie countless times and it’s still a family favorite—always encouraging and yet challenging.

High school football coach Grant Taylor is facing another season without any major improvement in his team. If anything, it will be harder this year than it has been in the six previous years, as one of his best players has transferred to another school. Some people are getting upset that he hasn’t been able to bring any major wins to Shiloh Christian Academy, and if he doesn’t win soon it’s likely he’ll lose his job. Meanwhile at home, his wife is struggling. They have been hoping and praying for a child for years, but the heavens seem closed to their petitions. Defeat seems ready to pounce from all directions—can he find hope, despite the odds?

In desperation, Grant turns to the Lord. In a poignant scene with his wife, Brooke, Grant asks, “If the Lord never gives us children, will you still love Him?” Later, he challenges his team with a similar thought—“If we win, we praise Him. If we lose, we praise Him. Either way, we honor Him with our actions and our attitudes.” This is an extremely difficult concept for me to grasp. Can we still praise the Lord, even when He doesn’t seem to be giving us what we want—or think we deserve? Can we, with Paul, learn to be content no matter what comes our way?

Facing the Giants is a great story of faith and perseverance. Although it does tend to come across as promoting the “health and wealth” doctrine to some extent, it is still an encouragement in the fact that God does work in our lives in unseen ways when we surrender to Him. (“Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” –Psalm 37:5) In all, I think Facing the Giants is probably my favorite movie so far by the Kendrick brothers, and I’ve seen all five that they’ve put out to date. Some may object to the almost picture-perfect ending, but in this case I enjoyed it. Each to his own, perhaps?

WARNING: Throughout the story, there are mentions of pregnancy (nothing specific, near the beginning you see a pregnancy test but it never goes beyond that). Some of the content may be above some children’s heads, and some of the football scenes are fairly intense. Despite that, I’d consider this movie appropriate for all ages.

Appropriate ages:

Ages 8 – 12, 10 – 12,  12 – 15, 15 and Above, Adults, Family Friendly

Links to buy this movie:

Amazon: Prime Video | DVD | Blu-Ray

——————
Related posts:

War RoomWar Room (2015) Overcomer (2019)Overcomer (2019) Fireproof (PG) by Kendrick BrothersFireproof (2008) A Matter of Faith (2014)A Matter of Faith (2014)

Keywords: Alex Kendrick · Christian Fiction · Christian Living · Christian Movies · Faith · Family Friendly · Football · Inspirational Movies · Kendrick Brothers · Movies · North America · PG-Rated Movies · Sports

Leave a Comment

About Esther Filbrun

Esther Filbrun is a 20-something ex-homeschooler with a love for books and a desire to share good stories with others. She has been a bookworm since before she could read well, and spent hours as a child riding a bicycle while listening to cassette tape recordings made by her mother. Besides running IgniteLit and writing reviews, she blogs at A Melodious Sonnet.

« Ben-Hur (1959)
War Room (2015) »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Review Archives

Browse all reviews here!

  • Reset search

RSS Recent Reviews

  • Every Hour until Then
  • Ways to Grow Love
  • Heavenly Rescues & Answered Prayers
  • Across the Ages
  • Our Cry for Revival
  • Birdsong

Subscribe

Subscribe me to (please choose at least one):
/* real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups */


Intuit Mailchimp

Recent Comments

  • Esther Filbrun on The Wise Woman and Other Stories
  • Stacy on The Wise Woman and Other Stories
  • Rebecca Filbrun on Growing Up in the Shadow of Alcatraz
  • April Gardner on A Light Undimmed
  • Esther Filbrun on The Great and Terrible Quest

As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. See our full disclosure here.

Copyright © 2025 IgniteLit · theme by Restored 316 · illustrations by icons8 and Toptal Subtle Patterns