The Ravine
Christian mystery-thriller "The Ravine" is heavy on Christ; light on mystery/thrills.
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I sorta feel I was sold a false bale of goods with “The Ravine” (now available in select theaters and on VOD). The picture was described as a mystery-thriller, but at the end of the day I’d say it’s more apropos to call it a Christian drama. (There ain’t much in the way of mystery or thrills, but there’s a ton of religious rigmarole.) When I saw the production company logo for Hope Messenger Media, I knew my fate was sealed. It’s safe to say I’m more “Anti-Christ” as opposed to “The Case for Christ” when it comes to movies. I may share a birthday with Kirk Cameron, but our filmic interests couldn’t be more divergent. In spite of this, the flick did spring some surprises on me and was emotionally resonant on more than one occasion. (For the record, I did positively review the recent religious movie “Father Stu” here.)
The film is based off of Robert Pascuzzi’s book “The Ravine: A Novel of Evil, Hope, and the Afterlife,” which itself was inspired by a real-life incident. Having murdered his wife Rachel (Cynthia Evans) and son Evan (August Scott), Danny Turner (Peter Facinelli, a good actor doing a bad Louisiana accent) opts to commit suicide by driving his SUV into the titular ravine while simultaneously shooting himself in the head with a shotgun.
Left to make heads or tails of these abhorrent actions are Danny and Rachel’s best friends Mitch (Eric Dane – most of y’all probably remember him as McSteamy from “Grey’s Anatomy;” I remember his as volleyball-playing douche Tad Pogue on a Malibu Sands episode of “Saved by the Bell”) and Carolyn Bianci (Teri Polo, whom I was a big fan of as a kid between “Mystery Date” and “Aspen Extreme”). Mitch and Carolyn react to the tragedy differently – she sinks into a deep depression; he teams with Detective Ben Lee (Byron Mann) for answers. However the answers the Biancis ultimately need come from spiritual healer Joanna (Leslie Uggams), who encourages them to forgive Danny.
“The Ravine” is written and directed by Keoni Waxman. Waxman is a filmmaker who’s made a whopping nine DTV Steven Seagal movies with patented three-word titles such as “Contact to Kill,” “A Dangerous Man” and “Force of Execution.” There’s a scene early in the movie where Danny’s brother Tony (Kyle Lowder) and his wife Emily (Candi Brooks) learn of Danny’s misdeeds while on vacation in Salzburg, Austria, which looks, sounds and feels so much like a Seagal vehicle that I half-expected baddies to burst into their hotel room and blast ‘em so Seagal could avenge ‘em.
The overall product calls to mind a Lifetime Original Movie by way of an episode of “Touched by an Angel” complete with Uggams filling the Della Reese’s Magical Negro role, but I’ll be damned if some of it didn’t work for me! The adult actors often elevate and sell the material. Polo performs Rachel’s eulogy beautifully as Carolyn. New Orleans-based character actor Billy Slaughter does wonders with minimal screen time as Kevin, the victim of a violent crime committed by Young Tony (Sam Evans, who’s really good. I suspect this kid’s going places!) and Young Danny (Kelby Roberson), who opts to forgive them at the urging of Joanna. I’m not gonna lie – a lot of this shit brought a tear to my eye.
The child actors don’t fare as well. I almost fell off my couch laughing when one of the Bianci kids asks their folks if they’re going to heaven and my eyes rolled to the back of my head when Christopher Turner (Beau Hart) exclaims to Rachel, “Best summer ever, Mom!,” before smiling, giving a thumbs up and leaping into a swimming pool … lame!
It’s surprising to see actors such as Dane (who’s been doing time on HBO’s super-sexualized “Euphoria” of late) and Uggams (best known to me from the choice 1970s exploitation flick “Poor Pretty Eddie” and as Blind Al in the hyper-violent and hyper-vulgar “Deadpool” pictures) doing a movie that’s so overtly Christian, but as far as I’m concerned they’re both value added.
What’s not value added IMHO is the message that Danny’s going to heaven despite killing Rachel and Evan. Additionally, if Joanna hadn’t encouraged Kevin to forgive Danny he wouldn’t have gotten out of jail, married Rachel, sired Evan or murdered them both. (Granted, as an agnostic I’m not sure I believe in heaven and hell, but if there’s a hell … Danny definitely belongs there.) I can forgive “The Ravine” its faults; I can’t forgive Danny his however.