I Can Only Imagine Review
The inspiring and unknown true story behind MercyMe’s beloved, chart topping song that brings ultimate hope to so many is a gripping reminder of the power of true forgiveness.
Why did I come to this movie again?
The synopsis above was exactly what I knew about this movie going into it. I jumped on Rotten Tomatoes and looked at a couple of reviews. I was surprised that most of the one and two star reviews indicated that if you weren’t Christian that you’d hate this movie because it’s sappy and about God and forgiveness.
Well, I happen to be a Christian who believes in forgiveness. And that is the entirety of the expectations I had for this movie.
4 of 5
Characters
I thought the actors did a great job with the characters. I’ve never been abused, physically or otherwise (yes, I count myself very, very lucky) but I still felt for Bart. I understood enough of his anger, his helplessness and all of the emotions that he held inside for all those years to be drawn into his plight. Plus, he was super adorable.
Dennis Quaid was AMAZING as Bart’s dad. A horrible person who decides to change. And while I didn’t want to feel for him—because I wanted to punch him in the face for the first half of the movie—by the end I did.
5 of 5
Did I care what happened?
Yes. There was plenty of conflict and questions. Characters made stupid decisions but I still liked them/believed in them enough to hope that they would fix it.
5 of 5
Plot Holes
Nothing huge. A few parts of the story are a bit clunky, but if you’re not a writer you might not notice.
4 of 5
How many times did I yawn?
Like I said, the story slowed down in a couple of places, but all in all, no big yawns.
4 of 5
Cool Factor
While this movie wasn’t in a fantastical world filled with people who have superhuman powers, the cool factor in this film was still pretty great.
The glimpse it gave me into the music world was interesting. I’m an author, and there are a lot of parallels between the music and the publishing world, so I understand how difficult it can be to break into an industry.
Also, as I said above, I am Christian, and to have a story focused on forgiveness was amazing. Not only forgiving one another, but believing that God can forgive you of what you’ve done wrong no matter how bad it is. I mean, these are the things I believe, so seeing them played out so well on the big screen was awesome.
Now, if you’re not into these sorts of beliefs, you may hate the movie. And that’s totally okay. To each their own, right?
5 of 5
The End
While the end is bitter sweet, and then completely awesome, nothing came as a big surprise. And I was okay with that.
And yes, I cried when he sang at the end. I’m a big baby.
5 of 5
Overall Enjoyment
As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this film.
I remember as a young teenager, my group of friends consisted of religious and non-religious people. All shapes, colors and belief systems. We rarely all loved the same movie. When Field of Dreams came out (yes, I’m getting old), one of the girls I knew who usually raved about the dark, gritty films, could not stop talking about how good Field of Dreams was. And she couldn’t figure out why.
That’s how I hope people will feel about this film. I loved it. It’s not in my top ten or anything, but it was certainly nice to come out of a movie with that uplifted feeling that stayed with me for a few days.
4 of 5
