Overcomer

Overcomer is a Drama movie that was released in 2019 and has a run time of 1 hr 55
minutes. In this Christian drama, a high school coach fights to save his team and his town
from economic hardship after the big factory closes down. Although everything looks bleak,
he eventually learns that righteous living and faith in God will make everything turn out fine.

The movie is about John Harrison (Alex Kendrick) is a basketball coach at a high
school and married to Amy (Shari Rigby). Due to the manufacturing plant being moved to
another city, all of the good basketball players, along with their families, must move also.
School Principal Olivia Brooks (Priscilla Shirer) tells John that the school is losing several
teachers and coaches and that she needs him to coach cross country, as she doesn’t want
the school to lose another program. At the tryouts for cross country, only one student shows
up. Nevertheless, John agrees to be the running coach for Hannah Scott (Aryn Wright-
Thompson), who is asthmatic. Hannah lives with her grandmother, Barbara Scott (Denise
Armstrong), who has been telling her all her life that both her parents are dead. Hannah also
steals items from students at school and has a collection of them. One day, on his hospital
visits to help the pastor, John accidentally enters the room of Thomas Hill (Cameron Arnett).
Hill is blind and suffering from diabetic complications. Hill also had been a cross country
runner. After a couple of visits to see Hill, John finds out that Hill is Hannah's father. Hill
abandoned Hannah and her mother when Hannah was a baby and Barbara has been trying to
protect her from being hurt by him again, albeit by lying to Hannah about him. John also later
finds out that the principal was Hannah's mother's friend and has been paying her tuition fees.
John tells Hannah about her father and he and Amy take her to meet him. Though reluctant at
first, she eventually accepts him and starts visiting him more. Through the process she
discovers herself and also strengthens her Christian faith and her belief in Jesus Christ as her
Heavenly father. Hannah returns all of the stolen items and practices rigorously. Barbara finds
out about her visits to her father and angrily confronts John and Amy over letting Hannah
meet her father without discussing it with her. She threatens legal action until she is
chastised by Hannah for lying to her all this time. John, Amy, and Barbara then each go to
God in prayer about the situation, each asking Him for forgiveness and guidance. On the day
of the State Championship race, John gives Hannah ear buds and a player. John tells her to
play the player as the race begins. Through the race, Hannah hears her father's voice of
coaching and encouragement, leading her to win the race and become the state champion.
Later, Hill passes away. A couple of years later, Hannah tells her story to her cross country
friends. Then Hannah puts a flash drive in the player and runs through the city while listening
to the recording from her father which begins with "It's your 21st birthday"

Bob Scott’s cinematography is as blandly bright and unadventurous as the movie’s

performances are functional. Much of that is due to the clunkiness of Kendrick’s script
(penned with brother Stephen), which drowns every moment in exposition and male tears.
Still, there’s no escaping the corniness of the film’s turns, led by Kendrick as a guy who
laughs and cries (and cries, and cries) with robotic earnestness. Laced with white-savior
undertones this vaguely “The Blind Side”- esque sports drama doesn’t bother investigating (if
it recognizes them at all), “Overcomer” offers nothing in the way of nuance — even its title is
awkward — and, also, no respite from its religious propagandizing. As I write this, there are
half a dozen reviews of “Overcomer” posted on the review aggregator website Rotten
Tomatoes, even fewer on Metacritic. And I get it. Whatever you say about the films in terms of
writing, directing, acting and just “quality,” people take a bad review of a faith-based film as
an attack on their faith, an affront. Who needs the “You just don’t get it” or “I’ll pray for you”
complaint mail? I’ve always found the movies by Georgia’s preacher/filmmaker Kendrick
brothers harmless tear-jerkers, politically-muted proselytizing which — considering the state
of Southern Baptists these days — is in itself a blessing. And the films have an audience, so
I’ve tried to catch every one of their releases after missing their debut feature (“Flywheel”) —
the sports drama “Facing the Giants,” “Fireproof,” “Courageous,” and “War Room.”
Approach them as genre features, take notes on the script, the performances, the caliber of
actors they’re able to enlist. Listen for more sophisticated dialogue, look for more polished
direction, search for signs they’re growing as filmmakers. It’s the same tack I took, ages ago,
with Cheech & Chong movies, with Chuck Norris or Tyler Perry’s careers. Like those other
examples, these aren’t film school alumni, they’re two of the pastors at Albany, Georgia’s
Sherwood Baptist Church. Are they learning their craft, moving beyond Kendrick Brothers
and “Christian conservative” branding and realizing there’s more to a movie than messaging?
The films have never been less than competent. The stories have something of an arc,
obstacles for the heroes/heroines to overcome. Scenes are pieced together with coherence
and order, and music grows in importance with every release. But “Overcomer” is, I think,
their worst movie. And these guys once hired Kirk Cameron. It’s about what one must
“overcome” in life to achieve your goals, and what you overcome when you find your way to
Jesus.

In conclusion, Overcomer does exactly what most would expect from a Christian film: It
focuses on curbing any hypocrisies in churchgoing families and demonstrates how to convert
lost souls to followers of Jesus, and that's the core message of Overcomer: Our identity isn't
based on our jobs or roles, our talents or passions, no matter how important those things
might seem. Instead, who we are at the deepest level flows from our relationship with our
Savior, whose love and grace shape our true identity as His children.