Bennett’s War movie review by Movie Review Mom

MOVIE TITLE: Bennett’s War

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 95 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B

IN A NUTSHELL:

While the plot isn’t very unique, the story is still enjoyable and worthy of family-friendly view time. The movie is written and directed by Alex Ranarivelo. It won’t win any awards or blow anyone’s mind, but you’ll leave the theater feeling inspired. You can’t pre-order the DVD yet, but I’m sure it’ll be on Amazon and other stores soon since it had a very limited theater release.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Some violence
Some profanity and crude phrases
Adult bullies
Some people get hurt doing various things

THEMES:

Family
Perseverance
Don’t give up
“I can’t just walk around defeated Baby, I gotta be able to say that I tried.” – Marshall Bennett (Michael Roark)

THINGS I LIKED:

If you’re into Motorcross, you’ll enjoy some of the impressive race scenes.
What a great smile Michael Roark has. He did a great job as a soldier, wounded vet, and Motorcross racer.
Actor/producer Ali Afshar did a great job as the loyal friend and comic relief. He actually owns the GMC Syclone that is shown in the movie.
I love it when directors throw in little tidbits of interest in their movies. For example, producer Christina Moore appears in a picture as Marshall Bennett’s mother.
Ranarivelo chose the number 32 to be Marshall’s number because one of his personal favorite cars is the Mark IV Volkswagen R32.
I liked Allison Paige’s feisty personality as Marshall’s wife. She was believable as the worried wife, as well as the supportive wife.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The movie poster and trailer basically give away the end of the movie.
The dialogue and story are both super formulaic and predictable.
The close-up scenes with the bike riders wearing their masks always cracked me up because you couldn’t see their faces. That’s better than having them not wear goggles or helmets though so that you could see their faces because that wouldn’t be realistic.

FUNNY LINES:

* “What did you do? Rob a bank?” – Sophie (Allison Paige)

“Worse.” – Marshall (who confessed he entered a race when his doctor and wife told him he shouldn’t because of his foot injury.)

* “There’s one thing I won’t do and that’s mess with a man’s bike.” – Tony Panterra . (Wow, what an incredible moral code. ha ha)