I cringe when I see some holiday faith-based films. Last Ounce of Courage is no exception. Last year I watched Kirk Cameron’s warped view on what Christmas truly means to him. That was enjoyable in the sheer audacity of Cameron pushing his madman grab-bag views.
Last Ounce of Courage is nowhere near as enjoyable because it reflects a belief system that Bill O’Reilly constantly pushed back in ye olde days of the 2000s. I could (and did) write a three-part essay about Cameron’s movie, but I’ll whittle Last Ounce of Courage into more of a compact meandering.
At the cold open we get a quote from President Reagan which then segues to video camera footage focused on a kid while sad piano plays underneath. It then abruptly shifts the sounds to a marching drum while a man, Bob Revere (played by veteran actor/producer Marshall R. Teague), rides his American flag motorcycle through the heartland. I think it’s safe to say that our character is a patriot, but his narration makes sure that we know this as well: “You know I always saw myself as a patriot … I love my country. I love being free.”
He also lets us know that the kid we see in the video camera footage, his son Thomas Revere, is leaving home to fight in a war.
We then transition to Bob and his wife, Dottie, with Thomas and his wife Kari at a bus stop. Mom videotapes, while Thomas looks at Kari’s pregnant belly. The music and the dialogue say he’ll be back home soon. Before stepping into the bus, Kari snatches the camera from Dottie’s hand and gives it to Thomas. We’re treated to a montage of the baby being born while Thomas engages in combat, later looking at letters and pictures.
You’ll be shocked to know that the military soon notifies Thomas’ family of his death.
(This is totally unrelated but there is a good movie from 2009 called The Messenger starring Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster. It revolves around an Iraq War vet, Foster, that has a new post as a casualty notification officer. Check it out if you haven’t.)
Bob explains that he can’t go on anymore while majestic, somber music plays and the flag waves in the background. Cut to 14 years later, Bob is a pharmacist fixing up quirky bumbling bikers with bullet wounds. Bob meets his grown-up grandson, Christian Revere. Thankfully this movie isn’t on the nose about anything. Bob, via his grandson, must revisit the painful past that his grandson embodies.
Here, I have to note that if the movie was actually focusing on Bob revisiting a painful past and coming through the darkness, that’d be a pretty interesting idea.
Anyway, Christian Revere asks Bob what his dad died for if Christians can’t say Merry Christmas or express pride in being Christian, according to the Fox News they’re watching. Did I mention Bob is also a mayor? Did I mention that he gets into a tangle with a lawyer named Warren Hammerschmidt played by Fred Williamson (a.k.a. The Hammer a.k.a. Black Caesar a.k.a. Robert Malone, etc.) revolving around separation of church and state?
Did I mention the town’s teens are so removed from reality that they learn that the three shepherds found Jesus — not aliens? Did I mention that, as Bob notes, the radio never plays Christmas music? Did I mention Thomas’ video camera recorded his death? Did I mention it gets shown during a school play? Did I mention we get the not-at-all cliche solo hand clap that builds into rousing applause? Did I mention the mysterious man who pops up here and there during key moments in Bob’s life who is possibly God?
In fact, the mystery man kinda makes a special-effects-type exit at one point which suggests an element of fantasy to this whole story. So I guess if you want to retcon this whole affair you could say that all of this, even down to the War On Christmas, is a fantasy after all. If that’s the case then we’ve been given one of the best twists since The Sixth Sense, Zardoz, and The Usual Suspects!
There’s a movie here. There are even some decent performances at times. Too bad the movie doesn’t correlate religious freedom with military sacrifice very well. I think the movie is a series of missed opportunities in service to heavy-handed cliches and exaggerations that you normally find in a satire.
You know what? Just watch A Charlie Brown Christmas instead. It’s 80 minutes shorter and says a lot more.
Last Ounce of Courage — Rated PG-13. Directed by Darrel Campbell and Kevin McAfee. Starring Marshall Teague, Jennifer O’Neill, Fred Williamson, Jenna Boyd, and Hunter Gomez.
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