Parental Guidance Content at a Glance for this PG-13 rated film…

Sexual Content/Nudity/Themes of Sexuality and Romance: None.

Violence/Gore/Scary Content: The movie is PG-13 because the main character, Don Piper, is involved in a terrible car accident. We see his bloodied face and his wounds, and we see the wounds on his body as he slowly recovers for several months in the hospital. It is not extremely gory, but it is realistic enough to push the rating to PG-13. I think showing the severity of his injuries, however, was necessary to communicate the emotional power of his story.

Language: None.

Alcohol/Drug/Smoking Content: None.

(Review continues below)

Please Support Our Affiliates!

Entertainment Value and Film Craft

Hayden Christensen (“Star Wars: Episodes II and III”) and Kate Bosworth (“Superman Returns,” “Still Alice”) are phenomenal. Christensen portrays the physical and emotional agony with such realistic believability that I was wincing in some scenes and welling up with tears in other scenes just from seeing his facial reactions to his pain.

Bosworth wonderfully portrayed the inner struggle of Eva Piper, Don Piper’s wife, who, with sheer willpower, tries to remain the calm pillar of strength for her family in the midst of the crisis. But even Eva reaches the end of her rope at a certain point, and Bosworth traced that emotional journey wonderfully.

The cinematography was another big highlight. I loved, for example, the opening scenes and how they placed the camera in a tight angle inside the car, off to the side on Don Piper’s dashboard, as he’s driving in the rain. He’s struggling to wipe the windows and get a clear visibility and because of the fixed camera angle facing away from the road, we begin to feel the same panic because it very much feels like we’re riding in the car with him, but we can’t see the road either. The whole movie has many brilliant little moments like that, and you feel saturated in the story and in its setting from beginning to end.

The film might have benefited from a slightly tighter edit — perhaps a slightly faster paced, punchier impact — but I don’t really have any complaints about this film: the full emotional power of the true story came through crystal clear thanks to the highest quality of acting, directing, screenwriting, photography, and all of the other production values that make a film great.

Worldviews, Subtext, Symbolism, Themes of Redemption, Social Commentary, the Question of “Spiritual Edification,” Etc.

My introduction already summarized the heart of this film’s message: be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. But this movie looks at this reminder from an unexpected angle: the vantage point of failure. The movie is about Christians, yes, but it’s not about perfect people. It’s about God’s perfect grace.

For example, we see, at various times, every major character finding God’s grace as they fall short of these commands to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Yes, each character did these things very well at times, but the film doesn’t put them on a pedestal. We see their colossal failures in these things too, and that’s exactly the point: God’s grace meets us in our brokenness and enables us to do what seemed impossible to our hearts only moments before.

Conclusion: “90 Minutes in Heaven” is Worth Every Dollar You Will Spend at the Theater.

Frankly, I wish I had time to go back and see this movie a second time. To be clear: it is not lighthearted fare. In some ways it is hard to watch; the sheer agony that Don Piper endures is a heavy thing to witness. But by the time we get to the end, a believable joy creeps into the film’s atmosphere. The storm clouds begin to clear, and the emotional power of it is plausible and clearly felt. Just like the film “Captive” that I watched Wednesday, “90 Minutes in Heaven” is powerful. I walked out a different person than I was when I walked in.

My rating for “90 Minutes in Heaven”: [usr 8] (See my notes below on the rating scale.)

[NOTE from the author of this article: If you’re a fan of C.S. Lewis or U2, please be sure to read my new blog Stabs of Joy, which explores 18 C.S. Lewis books and 13 U2 albums to answer one question: how do we really experience Christ’s joy — and not just talk about it — during seasons of sorrow and difficulty?]

***

Note about my rating system for the movie’s film craft and entertainment value:

1 star = one of the worst movies ever made (the stuff of bad movie legends), and it usually (not always) has below 10% on Rotten Tomatoes

2-3 stars = a mostly bad movie that has a handful of nice moments; it usually falls between 10-30% on Rotten Tomatoes

4-6 stars = a decent movie with some flaws, overall. Four stars mean its flaws outweigh the good. Five stars mean equal good, equal bad. Six stars mean it’s a fairly good movie, with some great moments even, that outweigh a few flaws. A 4-6 star rating usually means it falls between 30-59% on Rotten Tomatoes (but not always).

7-9 stars = a rare rating reserved only for the best movies of that year; and a film must have a Fresh Tomato rating (60% or higher) on Rotten Tomatoes to be given 7 stars or higher, with a few exceptions (if I strongly disagree with the critics, which is the case for “90 Minutes in Heaven”).

10 stars = one of the best films of all time, right up there with the all-time greats (i.e. Casablanca, The African Queen, Gone With the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars Episode IV, Indiana Jones, etc.).

If you are planning on seeing a movie soon, please consider purchasing your tickets online through our affiliate link above with Fandango, a high-quality vendor for online movie tickets. This will allow us to keep our site online and continue providing you with quality reviews.