Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Unsung Hero Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 12, 2024

There's been a movement away from "genderizing" certain nouns, so that, for example, both male and female performers can be called "actors", and in that regard, it's perhaps salient to note that the perceived focus of the film's title is not a male, but (to use an apparently archaic term) a heroine, namely the persevering mother and wife of the Smallbone clan. For those unacquainted with what has become known as Contemporary Christian Music, the Smallbones are something of a mini-phenomenon, having offered the world first daughter Rebecca (St. James), and then brothers Joel and Luke, who ultimately became best known under the band moniker For King & Country. The film is most definitely a family affair one way or the other, with Joel in particular having co-written and co-directed the enterprise, as well as starring as his own father David, but with several other Smallbones in both production and even on screen roles.

A longer than usual "making of" featurette may actually be the best place for "newcomers" to start, since it offers several interviews with the various Smallbones as well as providing some "real life" context for what the film attempts to dramatize. The story is both rote and at least intermittently unexpected, though the general outlines definitely skew more toward the first, somewhat cliché ridden, side of things. That said, you have to give props for a film that begins with one of the Smallbones as a kid introducing Stryper, a band that was evidently managed by David for a while. David's struggles in the music industry provide the backdrop for a story that sees the Smallbones emigrating from their native Australia to Nashville, Tennessee, where David's dreams of fortune in America are pretty much quickly dashed, leading to financial insecurities, but frankly no real soap operatic elements with the family, who remain resolutely united.

That may deprive the film of some of the histrionics that tend to inform family dramas like this, but that's actually one of the film's more refreshing approaches. The emphasis on community, and "church families" in particular, may be cloying to some, but will probably strike others as absolutely authentic feeling and quite heartwarming. The film is anchored by some nice performances by its, um, actors, including Daisy Betts as the family's materfamilias. Terry O'Quinn and "Christian spokeswoman" Candace Cameron Bure are probably two of the few quasi-marquee names (Bure also co-produced), but for cameo spotters, Rebecca St. James plays a flight attendant, and Libby Smallbone is a nurse.

Unsung Hero Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Unsung Hero is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa, but doesn't specify the resolution of the DI, though my hunch is this was finished at 2K. This is a perfectly adequate digital capture, with a good representation of both palette and general detail levels, but it just kind of looks like a made for television movie a lot of the time. A repeated emphasis on close-ups throughout the story helps to elevate fine detail levels. Occasional supposed "video" moments like those seen in screenshot 3 offer understandably distressed clarity. There are some very slight flirtations with banding that can tend to show up in some of the stage performance material (as in that early vignette with Stryper).

Unsung Hero Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unsung Hero features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that benefits immensely from the music that is such a part of this story. In that regard, the film is stuffed full of source cues, including some CCM evergreens (Rebecca auditions with "Place in the World", etc.). A number of outdoor scenes also offer nicely immersive ambient environmental effects, even in some "mundane" moments like the Smallbones banding together to get yard work done. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Unsung Hero Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Producers Joshua Walsh and Luke Smallbone, Co-Directors and Co-Writers Joel Smallbone and Richard L. Ramsey


• Miracles are Everywhere: The Making of Unsung Hero (HD; 54:01) features the Smallbone clan discussing their lives and this cinematic adaptation. The music seemed mixed really loud to my ears, to the point that some of the talking heads can't be heard clearly over it when it's functioning as quasi-underscore.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 9:59)


• Compassion (HD; 3:10) is a brief piece with Luke and Rebecca discussing this charitable organization.


• Faith in the Journey (HD; 6:08) emphasizes the need for faith when confronted with troubles.


• The Bridge Is Out! (HD; 6:51) is an animated short.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:10)

Additionally digital and DVD copies are included.

Unsung Hero Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've Music Directed at several congregations where Contemporary Christian Music was utilized, and I have a real fondness for a lot of this "new, improved" worship music, though kind of interestingly an Episcopal priest at a parish where I worked once decried CCM tunes for always emphasizing "I" over "we", which is actually kind of a salient insight. It strikes me as downright odd that Lionsgate didn't bring this film out for Mother's Day, since it such an homage to the Smallbones' Mom, and the studio doesn't seem to be supporting this home video release in any major way, which is also maybe a little unexpected. The "drama" here may frankly be a little underwhelming in terms of offering overwhelming obstacles that need to be overcome, but as a document of an "immigrant" family chasing the American dream and finding considerable success doing it, it's often unabashedly effective and quite moving. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplemental package appealing. Recommended.