A Christmas Hero

 

With the many Christmas themes that Hollywood shells out i.e. "It's a Wonderful Life", "A Christmas Carol", "Home Alone", "National Lampoon's Christmas" and the like, it's refreshing to see a film that actually is inspiring along with pulling the emotional strings. "A Christmas Hero" is just that film replete with a guardian angel and a poor soul in desperate need to heal his wounds from the Afghan War.

When a young war veteran returns home from Afghanistan, he, Nick Averie (Michael Welch) struggles to find joy in the life he once knew. As he comes close to giving up all hope, his guardian angel, Michelle (Lauren Rys Martin) pays a visit to show him there's more meaning to his life than he's ever known. As Nick finds a new job in an air museum through Troy (Patrick Floch) and attempts to rekindle his broken marriage with his wife, Lynn (Kayla Kelly), he believes he is the only one that can solve his problems, hence the visit from his guardian angel that has to cause Nick to see that he is worthy of being loved by those around him.

Others to round out the cast are Cat Grey as Kristen, a co-worker, Peter Carey as Brandon, Troy Thrash as Troy, Peter Gray as Zach, Derek Duzan as Ben, Greg Ward as George and Bob Nevins as Grandpa Pete. 

This was effectively directed by Phil Wurtzel ("The Chameleon" '01, "Showband" (documentary) '13, "The Barn Theatre: Tomorrow's Stars Today" (documentary) '17) plus a short. The frenetic presence of Nick's issues coupled with Michelle's coolness as his guardian angel was played out with effect and truly kept its audience riveted. He certainly has experience and will be interesting to see what he helms next. It is adequately written by Patti Wittenberg (""Shadow of Light" (short) '18) and Wurtzel ("The Chameleon" '01, "A Hunting in Cawdor" '15, "The Barn Theatre: Tomorrow's Stars Today" (documentary) '17) plus a short, based on a story by Wurtzel. While watching this, I couldn't help but think that this is a modern day combination of "It's a Wonderful Life' and "A Christmas Carol". It's interesting in that the attempt of combining the two classic stories was a refreshing idea, however the implementation of this script could've been a bit tighter and cohesive. The chemistry between Welch and Martin as Nick and Michelle was certainly effective and compelling, but the script simply needed more polish. 

Don't get me wrong, this film definitely pulled the heartstrings and was very inspiring, especially in a day where inspiration is a much needed and welcomed element. This film was originally released with a 11-28-20 release date, so after purchasing it, I viewed it so as to critique for you. 

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                       Rated: Not Rated                                         90mins.