Beyond Belief

Thank you Intrigue Films for providing us with a screener to review!

Beyond Belief is a fictional Christian movie story set in the 1980s. This film is heavily influenced by the Christian band Petra, and you'll hear their music playing throughout the movie. It was filmed in Woodstock Illinois, which is not too far from where I live which is pretty cool.

The main character is a teenage boy named Andy. The film begins with him playing an electric guitar in front of his father, Martin, who is impressed with his skill, so much so that he declares that the guitar is now Andy's. Not long after giving his guitar to his son, Martin is killed while saving the life of his friend who was in danger of getting hit by an oncoming car. Martin was the pastor of a small church whose attendance has dwindled down to zero after his passing. Andy's mom is now wavering between keeping her husband's legacy or selling the church to get out of the financial debt it has put her family in.

Andy's uncle Leo wants to buy and demolish the church in order to fulfill his real estate empire dreams. Not much is known about Uncle Leo and his son, Derrick, other than them both being jerks. Andy plays his guitar on the streets as a side hustle, and when Derrick and his friends run into him, Derrick smashes Andy's sentimental guitar. With the guitar destroyed, Andy has to come up with a plan to play for his band's gig that night. Uncle Leo owns a music store and Andy leaves $10 on the counter and an IOU note stating that he'll pay the rest back.

This stunt further strains Andy's family's relationship with Leo. It gets him in trouble with the local police too. Leo is willing to let it go if Andy's mom sells him the church. The problem is that Andy doesn't think she should do it. To further complicate matters, Andy has been hearing God telling him to "run". This message doesn't make sense as Andy isn't very athletic.

There's an upcoming marathon that Andy feels compelled to join. His grandpa Jake is willing to train him if he's serious about it. The next hurdle is that this marathon is happening the same day as a battle of the bands contest. Andy's band, Jericho, wants to compete in this battle of the bands with a hope of getting a record deal and touring with Petra. The money gained from this record deal could potentially save his dad's church.

I won't spoil any more of this one hundred and fifteen-minute movie. I didn't recognize any of the actors in this movie, but they all seemed to do a decent job given the script. There's not a whole lot of character development and the writing is alright. I do like how there were no loose ends, other than the possibility for a sequel. In comparison to other Christian films there are better ones and there are worse ones out there. I enjoyed the film and recommend it to Petra fans and anyone familiar with the city of Woodstock.