The Forge Review
The Forge (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Alex Kendrick, written by Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick and starring Aspen Kennedy, Cameron Arnett, Karen Abercrombie, Selah Avery, Ken Bevel, Joseph Curtis Callender, Dylan Cruz, Jonathan Evans, Alexandra Rose Frazier, Brendan Goshay, Marianne Haaland, Bobby Hardin Jr., Michelle L. King, Sharonne Lanier, Stephen C. Lewis, McKalin and Priscilla C. Shirer.
Faith will be restored in the hearts of viewers as characters experience the healing power of forgiveness and determination in Alex Kendrick’s The Forge. This film stars Aspen Kennedy as a young man named Isaiah Wright who is given an ultimatum by his mother (the tremendous Priscilla C. Shirer) to get a job and help her financially. Isaiah has one month to prove himself. Kennedy displays an amazing character transformation throughout the course of this movie which is a bit predictable in some ways and totally unique in others. Kennedy’s performance is a revelation as the actor transforms before our eyes from a basketball and video game playing underachiever to a man full of strength, perseverance and aspirations.
As the film opens, Isaiah goes into a coffee shop to hit on a counter girl (Alexandra Rose Frazier). Her dad (Joseph Curtis Callender) is the owner and kicks Isaiah out of the store. Meanwhile, Isaiah fails to pick his hairdresser mother up at work on time when he borrows the car and gets sidetracked by his friends who convince him to play basketball with them.
Isaiah’s mom works hard and prays hard. A customer wanders into her salon and asks if it’s a prayer shop or a hair shop. It’s both, actually. When Isaiah meets the professional owner of a shipping company, Joshua Moore (the fantastic Cameron Arnett), Isaiah is confronted with a different type of man than he’s known throughout his life. Isaiah’s father abandoned him and his mom and Joshua is a strong-willed individual with faith in God. Joshua hires Isaiah and things get off to a shaky start when Isaiah’s late to work after oversleeping. Joshua teaches him about respect and the two form a bond that becomes very deep and very inspirational.
“The Forge” of the film’s title is a group of guys who get together to praise the Lord and help each other through the healing power of faith. Joshua invites Isaiah and sees in this young man a level of potential that needs to be developed so that Isaiah can thrive as a human being. The scenes with Isaiah’s mom are moving as she prays for him and he soon turns into a young man who can make his mother proud. Sounds pretty predictable, right? Wrong.
This movie takes us as viewers in many different directions. On the one hand is a powerful religious movie about Isaiah’s relationship with God and with Joshua. On the other hand, it’s a story of a mother and her son and how that son grows as a person and begins to realize that life is what you make out of it. Joshua has suffered a tremendous loss in his life and teaches Isaiah how to forgive. The film’s most powerful scene has Isaiah in his bedroom asking the Lord to let him forgive his dad who betrayed his and his mother’s trust. Kennedy is absolutely terrific in this scene within the film.
Priscilla C. Shirer has the film’s most pivotal role as she helps lead Isaiah in the direction to spiritual awareness. Shirer’s performance is nothing short of phenomenal as the actress adds energy and dignity to her performance. Aspen Kennedy is perfect as he transforms before our eyes from a man whose life could go down a completely different path if the people around him didn’t help him along on his journey. But, this is a bit more of Cameron Arnett’s movie. He commands the viewer’s attention at all times with a profound performance that could inspire and delight movie-goers simultaneously.
The movie’s big climax involves Isaiah’s effort to save his company by fulfilling a huge order for a big client of Joshua’s. It may be a little unbelievable that the crew of workers stays overnight to work on helping Joshua and his wife’s business but the fact that Isaiah and his co-workers’ jobs are in jeopardy gives us some room to accept that something like this could happen and be done successfully.
The Forge is a movie that touches the heat and has a lot of positive energy. Aspen Kennedy and Cameron Arnett play off each other like two masters of their craft and the acting is all top-notch by the principal players in this picture. This film asks us to cherish our existence and those we love and reminds us we’re all here for a limited amount of time. It encourages the viewer to have faith and to love our neighbors, those who hurt us and ourselves. This picture could be a little preachy at times but it’s so entertaining that it’s hard to notice.
Rating: 8/10
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