ORDINARY ANGELS (2024)

Genre: Drama
Director: Jon Gunn
Cast: Hilary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Amy Acker, Emily Mitchell, Nancy Travis, Tamala Jones, Drew Powell, Nancy Sorel
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: PG (Some Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 4 April 2024

Synopsis:  Inspired by the incredible true story of a hairdresser who single-handedly rallies an entire community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically ill young daughter.

Movie Review:

Alan Ritchson, certainly not a name to be associated with a faith-based drama given his records with television series liked Reacher, Legends of Tomorrow and Fast X. The 1.9m actor might be the next hottest action hero yet he is stretching his acting muscles for a change in Ordinary Angels.

Actually Hilary Swank is the real star here but we will get to her shortly. Set in the 1990s and based on a real-life event, Swank plays an alcoholic hairdresser, Sharon who somehow walked into the life of Ed (Ritchson), a man who just lost his wife and his younger daughter, Michelle is critically ill. Sharon is a drunk, a broken woman, has an estranged son. The list goes on. She is basically the last person on earth that Ed will expect help from.

Miraculously, Sharon manages to turn things around for the stubborn as a mule Ed. She starts a fundraising, turns Michelle’s piling hospital bills around and went around looking for a private jet when the doc says when a donor is found, the operation at the nearest hospital is miles away.

Like we were saying prior, Swank delivers a solid, captivating performance as the troubled Sharon. While some might mistake her as Elizabeth Banks, she remains an acting powerhouse since her award-winning days in Million Dollar Baby. Ritchson is fine in case you are wondering if he can convincingly pull off a subtle, nuanced performance as the doting, helpless dad.

Ordinary Angels springs no surprises in terms of narrative. However for a faith-based drama or Christianity film, it is pretty restraint for the most part. There’s no heavy preaching nor sermons to be found. There’s the occasional times when Ed questioned the existence of God and his unwillingness to accept Sharon as an angel, destined to guide him and the girls. While grief and the struggles with their inner demons played a big part in both Sharon and Ed, the direction of the story offers a great deal of intimacy without being too saccharin and awkward.

The third act focused on a heart-pounding sequence whereby Ed and Michelle are stuck in a blizzard of the century as they tried to rush to the hospital for the transplant. The entire community and Sharon chipped in to help as much as possible to clear the snowy ground at the local church car park lot for the helicopter to land. Sounds like an exaggerated Hollywood affair though the end credits told us it indeed happened in real-life.

This particular religion movie wins on the fact that it doesn’t tout Christianity in an “in-your-face” manner. It also features a standout performance from Swank and Ritchson. Most of all, a compelling story which occasionally leaves you teary-eye and the intensity which hardly feels it’s a nearly two hour feature.

Movie Rating:

(Believe in the Good Lord, sometimes miracles happened)

Review by Linus Tee