Virtuous 2015

Synopsis: Simone Burner is walking home from work...when a guy named Patrick Walters follows her and attempts to rape her. She finds a gun and shoots him in self-defense...but, Patrick's family is bent on proving him innocent and her guilty as not to besmirch the family name. Will Simone be able to prove her innocence? Meanwhile, three young American soldiers--one of whom is a mother of a young child--get captured by the Taliban; will their rescuers find them in time? Also, a young nurse has a rather difficult elderly patient; what secret is the old man hiding?
Stars Erik Estrada (CHiPs) and former soldier Jessica Lynch.

The Good: I like how the stories all come together in the end; at the start, they seem like disparate narratives, almost as if someone spliced three different films into one. By the time the credits roll, though, you see how they fit together. Simone is a likable heroine; she may have had a rough past, but, her dedication to overcoming it despite dire circumstances is inspiring.

The Bad: The biggest annoyance was the constant fadeouts; they could have saved a lot of running time if they'd just cut from one scene to another instead of continually fading to black. Also, though the ending was mostly inspiring, I would have liked the people who were trying to frame Simone to face consequences, such as jail time, for what they did; when the case was dropped, they got off scot free. Also, as you may have guessed, this isn't for kids; with an attempted rape being the main focus, and references to prostitution and drug use, this would have earned this a "PG-13" from the MPAA (and rightly so).

Conclusion: Christian movies can be hard to review at times; while I admire the heart and message behind them, the production values often leave something to be desired. Though there are times where they've gotten it really right (Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, for example) they've also seriously flubbed it more times than I would want to admit, such as the epic fail that was C Me Dance. This movie is somewhere in the middle: not amazing, but not terrible either. Fans of Christian cinema may want to give this a try, though I'd suggest renting it before purchasing it.