Unsung Hero Movie Review & Giveaway

Many thanks to Kingdom Faith Marketing Services, LLC for providing a sample of the product for this review. My opinions are 100% my own.

Are you looking for the perfect spring-themed film the whole family can love? Then you’ll want to see the new uplifting biopic film release produced by Lionsgate, Kingdom Story Company, and Candy Rock Entertainment, with For King + Country Film, with Joshua Walsh, Luke Smallbone, Justin Tolley, and Joel Smallbon, from executive producers Candace Cameron Bure, Andrew Erwin, Tony Young, Kevin Downes, Jon Erwin, Mike Curb, Brian Mitchell, Bill Reeves, Jeffery Brooks, Gerald Webb, and Ford Englerth, written by Joel Smallbone, and Richard L. Ramsey, cinematography by Johnny Derango, and music by Brent McCorkle, “Unsung Hero,” the story of one family’s courageous choice to stay together and pray together.

This heart-warming story of overcoming familiar obstacles, centering on the musical hook behind country hit, “Unsung Hero,” isn’t solely about discovering to create chart-topping music, it’s about building long-lasting life lessons. David Smallbone (Joel Smallbone), a music promoter, at the top of his industry in the early 1990s, was known as one of Australia’s best Christian Music promoters. Behind him, is an excellent support system, made possible by his faith-minded family, including his wife Helen (Daisy Betts) and their children: Rebecca (Kirrilee Berger), Daniel (Paul Luke B), Ben (Tenz McCall), Joel (Diesel La Torraca), Luke (JJ Pantano) and Josh (Angus K. Caldwell). Who’s hard work has given them a life burgeoning from good to great-fancy cars, a stately mansion, private schools for his children, and out=of-this-world personal connections.

Soon, their familiar mettle is tested after David fails to sell out an Amy Grant concert during a nationwide recession. Losing all their savings, and his backup plan of bolstering the career of Eddie DeGarmo (Jonathan Jackson) stateside fails to come to fruition. With no other viable career options, and another baby on the way, Smallbones devises a plan to move his growing brood stateside and represent a new artist in Nashville, Tennessee.

Then, their arduous journey, fraught with personal and familiar obstacles, from uncomfortable customs detention to the psychological toll of David’s struggles to provide a life familiar to his growing family, never seems to lighten. As the Smallbones adapt to life’s new challenges, they discover their greatest challenge to date working together.

Smallbone must learn the new arc of humility and personal growth as his pressures overflow into his professional pressures. With the Smallbone matriarch, Helen must learn to embrace the new professional challenges her husband carries about daily. The couple learns to take on their share of heartbreaking challenges, embraces new challenges, and embraces what endeavors to be a family based on a life of sacrifice and humanity. All while producing Betts’ unmastered performance, set in the heart of America’s musical past-giving this film a much-needed punch of faith-based penance.

The film also interjects poignant moments on screen with thought-provoking moments rather than schmaltz. Audiences are graced with much-needed humor to alleviate tension-raising contextual challenges and personal struggles. Equal shares of heart-warming moments matched with much-needed ensemble cameo moments, on-screen.

Also worth noting is Katherine Tucker’s production design. Reflective of Smallbones’ true on-screen evolution, from familiar to career-driven, as was cinematographer Johnny Derango’s lighting cues that highlight character development, sharing dramatic and humorous narrative overtones throughout the film. Frequent sunrises and sunsets, represent the presence of David’s perpetually steadfast father (Terry O’Quinn), while not on-screen, adds to the finale’s intersection of generational character arcs.

While several Smallbone family members are portrayed in underinvested, subdued roles, not nearly as scripted as they could have been. With a lack of proper scripting, and despite its over-the-top, adult dramatic narration, focusing on the parents’ problems, despite their teenage daughter’s inner self-esteem struggles as a performer in her own right, the scripting divests from instances dealing with female angst and womanhood, is a miss in any book. The focus instead placed on young Luke and Joel, the future duo, For King + Country (providing the film’s closing credits ballad), receive unneeded parental attention. Leaving Ben, Daniel, and Josh relegated to characters defined by their jobs, not their fun-loving personalities or personal testimonies.

Throughout the biopic, moments of splendor can be found. From overcoming feelings of inferiority, and economic and career challenges, as well as noble tropes of a family’s Christmas season saved through goodwill and cheer. With the filmmaker’s consistent tropes to achieve not only the American Dream but overall personal discovery. Acknowledging that hard work, and not the sum of funds, is how solutions are made. Meaningful insight into American ideals and the similies of the Smallbone family dynamic. A film that will be as heartwarming to watch as dynamic to discuss.

“Unsung Hero,” is an uplifting family biopic worth viewing only in theatres starting April 26th, 2024. Remember, to buy tickets today to see Unsung Hero in theaters starting April 26th, here. With an MPA Rating of PG and a runtime of 112 minutes, you’ll want to make plans to see this film in theatres beginning today. Be sure to check out the film’s Instagram and X pages, too.

Also, Momentum Publishing is giving one Theladyprefers2save.com reader a chance at winning a $10.00 Amazon gift card in honor of the “Unsung Heroes,” cinematic release. To enter, please leave a comment on the post below letting me know why you’d most want to see the “Unsung Heroes” film with chances for bonus entries for commenting across my site’s social media pages, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and X through April 28, 2024, at 11:59 P.M.

Please note: This is limited to US winners, only. The giveaway winner’s full name and email address will be verified, with multiple-site entries being eliminated. Submission entries received after April 28, 2024, at 11:59 Central Standard Time, will not be eligible for entry. Thank you for entering. Good luck!