Prayer is indeed a powerful weapon.
Real estate agent Elizabeth Jordan (Priscilla Shirer) has a good job, a good home, and a dysfunctional family. Her husband Tony (T.C. Stallings) is away on a trip while her daughter Danielle is out at school or with friends a lot of the time. One day, Liz meets with an enthusiastic new client, Mrs. Clara (Karen Abercrombie). Clara shows Liz her "war room", a prayer room that she uses for (what else?) prayer. Clara gets with Liz more and inspires her to fight for her marriage and her family in prayer.
The acting is very solid, and may be the best overall cast I've seen out of a Kendrick Brothers film to date. Shirer is emotionally-convincing and sincere as Liz, delivering surprising emotion in several scenes. Abercrombie (who actually isn't quite as old as her character) is the best of the bunch, however. She steals almost every scene with her enthusiasm and her witty sense of humor. She's incredibly fun to watch, and when her character disappears for a while, you start to actually wonder where she went. Stepping up from playing a villain in Courageous, Stallings is also convincing and versatile as Tony. Director Alex Kendrick has a few solid scenes (even if he's not acting nearly as much here as in some of his other films), and Beth Moore makes a couple of decent appearances. Alena Pitts does good work as Danielle.
One thing that makes the Kendrick Brothers movies so entertaining is their sense of humor. And this one contains plenty of witty and laugh-out-loud humor. A couple of repeated gags may run on a little too long, but altogether, especially from Clara and Danielle, several jokes actually work. Kudos to the filmmakers for having a good sense of humor and how to put it in their work the right way. Their script works (for the most part) too, hitting complex issues head-on and not shying away from specific Christian ideas.
The technical details in this movie are perhaps the most advanced the filmmakers have done so far (even if it seems smaller in scale than Fireproof and Courageous). The cinematography and editing are, at least for the most part, professionally-done. There isn't a lot of music, but Paul Mills does provide a few solid moments here and there. Steven Curtis Chapman provides a nice song, "Warrior" for the end credits.
On the downside, there isn't much. There are a couple of somewhat out-of-place elements. For instance, a high-tempo Gospel choir song is played while Liz tries to figure out how to start her "war room". The song, while encouraging, just didn't fit that particular moment. Also, a brief moment where someone threatens Liz and Mrs. Clara seemed very forced. It was an out-of-place scene that might would have been better off ending up on the cutting room floor. The ending is a little long, but its not without its share of fun moments to balance out the drama.
Starting with just a $20,000 budget on Flywheel and now ending up with a $3.5 million budget here, Alex and Stephen Kendrick have come a long way in the last 12 years. With each movie they've done, they've continued to grow, both as filmmakers and storytellers. Its not often you get to see critical reception improve with each effort.
But, I have to admit, out of all five (great) movies thus far, War Room is the Kendrick's most moving and inspired effort yet. The film shines a light on an aspect of life that is often not prioritized by many Christians. The idea of prayer. God does want to hear from us. We just need to make the time to do so. In that case, this movie convicted me on my prayer life and has encouraged me to do better.
And, unlike many other Christian movies I've seen to date, War Room is one of the better-directed and better-acted efforts. Like Do You Believe? from earlier this year, it also benefits from improved production quality in comparison to majority of its comrades. And, its also nice to see a lot of great humor and fun to balance out all of the emotional scenes.
War Room is definitely one of the year's best films so far. It hits almost every note correctly, and that's something you don't see very often in film.
"If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" - 2 Chronicles 7:14
Score: 9.3/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: A single use of "gosh".
Adult Content: Tony nearly commits adultery. He is seen at a restaurant with another woman, and she suggests they go back to her place (they don't, however).
Violence: Snippets of war at the beginning of the film show a few explosions and gunshots. Someone threatens Liz and Clara with a knife. Liz is punched down and threatened by a hooded attacker in a dream sequence.
Drugs/Alcohol: Wine is talked about briefly.
Other: Someone throws up once. Tony acts disrespectful and mean to his wife (he later corrects his actions).
