90 Minutes in Heaven

As we are increasingly living in a stress-filled, volatile society, we are experiencing more and more inspirational type films so as to put us in a hopeful situation and find a fulfillment in our lives that we are not getting in other avenues. We've seen "Soul Surfer", "Facing the Giants", "Spare Parts", "Courageous", "Left Behind", "God's Not Dead", "Heaven is For Real", even the recent "War Room" to mention a handful, and none of these films are that old. This tells me that this it's quite a commentary on our society as a whole, so it's no wonder that we have another one to add to that ever growing list--".90 Minutes in Heaven".

Don Piper (Hayden Christensen) died Jan.18,1989, when a semi-tractor truck crushed his car. Declared dead by the first rescue workers to arrive on the scene, Don's body lay under a tarp for the next 90 minutes. Don's soul, meanwhile, was experiencing love, joy and life like he'd never known before. Don was in Heaven. When another pastor's, Dick Onarecker (Michael Harding) prayers helped bring Don back to life, he became a living miracle! Yet this one miracle Don wished never happened. Heaven's bliss was replaced by excruciating pain and emotional turmoil. With the support and prayers of his beloved wife Eva (Kate Bosworth), their three kids, Nicole (Elizabeth Hunter), Chris (Hudson Meek) and Joe (Bobby Batson), and friends including David Gentiles (Jason Kennedy) near and far, Don clings to his faith in God and fights to regain a semblance of his previous life.
The Piper family's incredible true story of perseverance and overcoming the challenges of life and death will bring hope and encouragement to all who see it. Why did God send Don back and will he find out why?

Other to round out the cast are Marshall Bell as Dr. Greider, David Clyde Carr as Eva's dad, Catherine Carlen as Eva's mom, Dwight Yoakam as Lawyer Beaumont, Lynn Cole as ER Nurse, Deena Beasley as Don's Nurse, Rob Demery as Paramedic/EMT, Fred Dalton Thompson as Jay B. Perkins, Michael W. Smith as Cliff McArdle, Tyler Case as Mark and Don Piper as Himself.

This was effectively directed by Michael Polish ("Twin Falls Idaho" '99, "Jackpot" '01, "Northfork" '03, "The Astronaut Farmer" '06, "The Smell of Success" (as Larry Smith) '09, "Stay Cool" (as Ted Smith) '09, "For Lovers Only" '11, "Big Sur" '13, "Amnesiac" '15). He was able to emit just the right amount of emotion at the right time so it didn't fall into maudlinness and sentimentality. This is key in relating these characters as going through a crisis that's real. It was also written by Polish and represented a well thought out script of someone going through a world turned totally upside down. Christensen was able to pull off this man's pain--both physically and emotionally, which is tough to pull off considering this character was in pain a tremendous amount. Other than a couple of slow places in storyline, this story really kept its audience glued to their seats. As I've said before, why create a story when true experiences make for such great fodder for filmmaking?

This story gives a real shot in the arm for anyone going to see this, so when they go through this with Don et al, it will certainly give us all something to ponder over the next time we leave our family for a simple business trip or even just going to work--will that person come back alive or will they not make it. Digest that.

Out of 4 stars: 3.5                                    Rated: PG-13                                  121mins.