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Fireproof also includes a couple of action sequences, as befits a film about firemen—a car is stuck on a railroad track, a child is trapped inside a burning house—and while there is nothing particularly ground-breaking about these scenes, they do show a certain amount of creativity. You just know a train is going to come bearing down on the car, for example, but you may be surprised by just how close a call it is.

The biggest drawback in these sequences, alas, is the actors who play the victims or innocent bystanders; their crying for help never quite registers as genuine peril. But this is to be expected in a film made by volunteers—or, if you will, by "amateurs," in the positive sense of people who love what they're doing without necessarily being professionals. Kirk Cameron, of course, is a Hollywood veteran, and Erin Bethea, who plays his wife, was a theater major at university a few years ago. (She's also the daughter of Sherwood senior pastor Michael Catt.) But most if not all of the other performers are just regular churchgoers taking part in what amounts to a church drama writ large, so perhaps some allowances can be made there.

Caleb saves a young girl

Like most Christian films, Fireproof includes a scene in which the protagonist makes a decision for Christ, but one of the things I like about the Kendricks' films—including not only Fireproof and Facing the Giants but also their first film, Flywheel—is that this moment usually comes about halfway through the story, instead of at the end, which is where it normally happens in Billy Graham and Left Behind movies. Where those other films treat first-time commitments and rededications to Christ as the climax to the story, like the wedding at the end of a fairy tale, the Kendricks show these moments of decision to be true turning points; the person who lived one way at the beginning of the film learns how to live another way by the end.

However, in Fireproof, it is not quite clear how essential Caleb's conversion is to his efforts to save his marriage. Flywheel and Facing the Giants concerned men who already had some sort of connection to a church community, but Caleb only has his parents and a friend or two for spiritual support. The Kendricks have said that Caleb needs to know Christ if he is to love his wife as Christ loved the church—but by that same token, shouldn't he also be involved in an actual church? What if someone were to follow the steps outlined in The Love Dare without being a Christian? While the film works well enough as an extension of Sherwood Baptist's marriage ministry, it is hard to escape the feeling that the evangelistic element has been tacked on.

But let's not quibble too much. They say an audience will forgive a movie's flaws if it gives them a solid ending, and Fireproof definitely has that. After a shaky start and a steady middle, the film ends on a genuinely moving note that didn't quite have me in tears, but still got me where it counts, both times I saw the film. With this, the folks at Sherwood Baptist Church have made their most impressive movie yet.

Talk About It

1. What issues do Caleb and Catherine have to deal with in their marriage? Are there any in particular that resonate for you? What issues have you had to deal with that these characters don't have to deal with? (For example, they have no children.)
2. What does it mean to love your spouse as Christ loved the church? Can you do this if you are not a Christian, or not a member of a church? Why or why not?

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