- Actors: Jennifer Garner, Martin Henderson, John Carroll Lynch, Kylie Rogers, Eugenio Derbez
- Director: Patricia Riggen
- Producers: T.D. Jakes, DeVon Franklin, Joe Roth
- Format: Subtitled
- Language: English
- Subtitles: French, Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Thai, Spanish, English
- Dubbed: French, Portuguese, Thai, Spanish
- Audio Description: English
- Region: All Regions
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated: PG
- Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- Release Date: July 12, 2016
- Digital Copy Expiration Date: December 31, 2019
- Run Time: 109 minutes
For those with
religious beliefs longing for a better faith-based film, Miracles from Heaven is a massive step in the right direction,
though it still offers little help to bridge the gap for mainstream audiences
unconcerned with religion. The elements of Christian belief are not as
prevalent as they have been in the hokey films from the Kendrick brothers (Fireproof, Courageous, War Room),
but many of the amateurishly bad filmmaking habits still remain. And there is
also the glaringly obvious comparison to Heaven
is for Real, which this film imitates with only a gender reversal as its
distinguishing alteration on the formula.
Both films begin
with a sinlessly sweet country family meant to endear Middle
America before hammering them with a medical emergency involving
one of the youngest members. While Heaven
is for Real focused on the relationship between father and son, Miracles from Heaven spends a majority
of the screen time with Texas
mother Christy (Jennifer Garner) and her ailing 10-year-old daughter, Anna
(Kylie Rogers). After discovering that Anna suffers from a rare and incurable
digestive disease, Christy dedicates much of her time seeking the best possible
medical attention. The maternal devotion displayed in Garner’s performance is
the glue that holds the film together, much like Greg Kinnear was able to do
for Heaven in for Real. The greatest
assets that these faith-based films have are the skilled actors willing to
attach themselves to the project, saving them from the amateurish performances
which they are typically plagued with. Some of smaller roles are still
cringe-worthy, but far fewer than those of the past, with other accomplished
actors such as Queen Latifah as support. Even the child actors in Miracles from Heaven show an
improvement, despite some awkwardness with a clunky screenplay.
The faith-based
film industry often makes the mistake of assuming that the financial success of
these films is evidence that audiences just want more of the same, and it is
nearly unforgivable how many similarities this film shares with Heaven is for Real. They both rely on
the unbelievable skepticism of certain congregation members as nearly the only
source of conflict between characters, give each sick child a brief view of
heaven despite neither technically dying, and both even share butterflies as a
visual symbol for the film’s themes. Even if these were already a part of the
supposedly true stories before filmmakers became involved, much of Miracles from Heaven feels like a
calculated copycat of its predecessor from the same producers.
The biggest
problem with the imitation method of filmmaking are the areas that never seem
to improve fast enough. I don’t know if it is out of obligation to only hire
crew members who have faith themselves or simply a laziness of craft, but there
are many technical sides to the film which are infuriatingly sloppy. Director
Patricia Riggen handles the melodrama with a level of competence, though much
of this has more to do with the effectiveness of the casting, while happiness
and humor in the film come off more forced than a Hallmark commercial. This not
nearly as frustrating as the film’s editing by Emma E. Hickox, however, mostly
because her experience should have resulted in a better end product. The
passage of time is difficult to comprehend, especially with the film’s
unabashed love of shoddily constructed montage sequences. The over-reliance on
cross-fading is absolutely amateurish, especially when paired with footage of
the Christian band Third Day as the worship leaders at the family’s small-town
church. It plays more like a poorly constructed music video made by an
unskilled film student than a narrative feature cut by a second-generation film
editor with dozens of credits to her name.
No one is more
frustrated than I am by the number of problems with Miracles from Heaven, especially considering how much better it is
than most faith-based films. This is a vast improvement, but that hardly means
that it is enough. If these films continue to improve, eventually they may
serve audiences of skeptics and believers alike. For the time being, at least
they offer a relatively well made product while preaching to the choir.
The Blu-ray
release comes with exclusive deleted scenes and footage with the real family
the events are based on. The end of the film also shows us this family, which
is heartwarming despite showing Hollywood’s
bad habit of casting thinner actors than the real-world counterparts. Also
included in the special features is a commentary track with director Patricia
Riggen and screenwriter Randy Brown, a making-of featurette, a faith-based
featurette for the faith-based film, a featurette with concept art for the
heaven sequence, and another terrible music montage that was graciously left
out of the movie itself. The Blu-ray release also comes with a Digital HD copy
of the film.
Entertainment Value:
7/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 6/10
Special Features: 7/10
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