WAS ONCE A HERO

Name: WAS ONCE A HERO
Item: WAS ONCE A HERO
Author: Review

"Aging Civil War Hero Returns to Glory"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

WAS ONCE A HERO follows the story of Mal, an aging Civil War hero who suffers from severe memory loss. One night he decides to leave his family. Mal accidentally becomes the only thing between a group of killer bandits and the orphaned teenage girl and younger brother they’re chasing. However, Mal’s memory issues mean he’s not always a reliable protector. The orphaned children never know if Mal will be able to save them when the time comes.

WAS ONCE A HERO is a very entertaining western. The movie stresses strong Christian, biblical values including sacrifice, family, perseverance, kindness, and prayer. Multiple characters pray for deliverance or healing from God. WAS ONCE A HERO is also very patriotic. The title character’s actions during the Civil War are highly praised and glorified. However, the movie includes clothed relationship, strong western violence, 15 obscenities, and eight light profanities. The movie also features multiple mature topics such as dementia, the death of parents, and a threat of personal assault. WAS ONCE A HERO approaches these topics tactfully, but MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children and teenagers.

Content:

(CCC, BBB, PPP, LL, VV, N, A, D, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong Christian, biblical, moral, pro-family worldview were multiple characters place their lives on the line to protect an older teenage girl and her younger brother being chased by robbers who were unable to steal their father’s money but murdered him, the title character exemplifies the importance of sacrifice and teaches the children multiple biblical lessons, and the movie stresses family, prayer, perseverance, sacrifice and protection and healing from God, plus there’s very strong patriotic content where the title character is highly regarded as a hero for the way he protected his country during the Civil War;

Foul Language:

15 obscenities include three “s” words and 12 “d” and “b” words and eight light profanities;

Violence:

Strong violence with multiple characters shown being shot and killed, one is particularly graphic as blood splatters over another character’s face;

Sex:

It’s implied in a flashback that the aging war hero had relations with a woman with whom he used to be romantically involved, and they have intercourse but nothing i9s shown, and it’s implied that a villain intends to rape an older teenage girl a villain, but she shoots him as he starts to get undressed;

Nudity:

Upper male nudity in a flashback where an aging Civil War is shown shirtless while with his woman;

Alcohol Use:

One character asks for a whiskey after his brother is killed;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

One character is constantly smoking a cigar, but no drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Strong miscellaneous immorality includes lying, kidnapping, stealing, revenge, greed, and extortion.

More Detail:

WAS ONCE A HERO follows the story of Mal, an aging Civil War hero whose deteriorating mental capacities are placing a burden on his family. After realizing how hard taking care of him is on them, he decides to leave home. This decision places him on a collision course with an orphaned teenage girl and her younger brother on the run from a group of bandits who are after them following a botched robbery that resulted in their father’s death.

The movie’s opening introduces Mal’s deteriorating memory through a sequence where the world is confusing and things keep ending up in places that don’t make sense. Things, however, begin to make more sense when a member of Mal’s family comes in to tell him the doctor is here to see him. After the doctor has a conversation with Mal, he tells Mal’s niece, Lydia, and her husband, Ron, that Mal’s memory is deteriorating faster than expected. Meanwhile, Mal overhears the conversation and realizes how hard it is to take care of him. So, he resolves to leave that night.

Cut to another set of characters, Ginny, an older teenage girl, her younger brother, Billy, and their father. The father’s at the bank taking out his life savings to pay for their trip to California where they hope to get a new start. While at the bank, they’re seen by a man named Chance.

That night, as they make camp out in the woods, Chance approaches them and delivers a sob story about his horse running away and him needing a place to rest. Ginny’s father is nice enough to allow him to come to their fire. However, his kindness is repaid with malice as Chance holds them at gunpoint while four of his buddies come out of the woods with guns as well. They ask for the money, but the father refuses to give it up. So, they shoot him dead, but Ginny and Billy escape with the money.

Ginny and Billy aren’t fully in the clear, however. One of the robbers catches them and implies he’s going to rape Ginny. However, Ginny has a shotgun with her and shoots him in the chest, killing him. When Chance finds out about this, he vows revenge and becomes hellbent on finding the kids.

The next morning, Mal comes across Ginny and Billy. After they realize he’s harmless, they decide to let him travel with them. Mal suggests they head toward the nearby town Black Ridge, which is just down the river.

At the same time, Ron and Lydia realize Mal has left. Ron sets out to find him. While Ron’s gone, Chance and his buddies come across Lydia at the barn, but she’s able to hold them at bay with a shotgun. They ride off and find Ron. Ron never met the two children, so he can’t tell them where the children went. So, they shoot him. Later that day, Lydia rides into the woods and finds Ron in bad shape.

Meanwhile, trouble is brewing with Mal and the children because Ginny starts to doubt they’re headed anywhere. Low on food and water, it is crucial they find help soon, but they don’t know how far Black Ridge is.

Soon, however, it does not matter because Chance and his men come upon them. When they attack, Mal is beaten up, Billy is kidnapped, but Ginny escapes with the money.

When Mal wakes up, he doesn’t remember what happened and begins stumbling through the woods. He ends up stumbling into Black Ridge, but it’s extremely decrepit. Mal meets a woman who knows him and is told that the town has been dead for 10 years. They make love, but nothing is shown. Mal then remembers about Ginny and finds out she’s in the town, along with Ron, who’s making a recovery, and Lydia.

They make a plan to get Billy back by giving the money to Chance in exchange for the boy. The stage is set for a showdown.

WAS ONCE A HERO is a very entertaining western. It shines a light on numerous difficult topics such as dementia, the death of parents, the inability to have children, and sexual assault. These topics, however, are approached in tactful ways that likely would be noticed more by mature viewers.

WAS ONCE A HERO has a strong Christian, moral worldview. Mal, the aging Civil War hero, embodies the importance of sacrifice and teaches the children valuable life lessons. The movie also stresses the importance of family and perseverance. Also, multiple characters pray to God for deliverance or healing. Finally, the movie is also very patriotic. Mal’s brave actions during the Civil War is highly praised and glorified. However, WAS ONCE A HERO features strong western violence, threats of personal assault, and, sadly, 15 obscenities and eight light profanities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children and teenagers.