Forge, The

image for Forge, The

Short takes

Not suitable under 9; parental guidance to 11 (themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Forge, The
  • a review of Forge, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 2 September 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 9 Not suitable due to themes.
Children aged 9–11 Parental guidance recommended due to themes.
Children aged 12 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Forge, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 123 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Nineteen-year-old Isaiah (Aspen Kennedy) spends his time playing basketball with friends, gaming online, sleeping late, and generally ignoring the responsibilities he is meant to take care of around the house. His single mother Cynthia (Priscilla C. Shirer) has worked hard to provide for her son, running a successful hair salon and doing her best to be both mother and father. Cynthia sees Isaiah wasting his life and demands that he get a job or move out. Isaiah eventually lands a part-time position with Moore Fitness under the mentorship of the owner Joshua Moore (Cameron Arnett). Joshua gives Isaiah daily lessons and sets him on a path of self-development and religious discovery, teaching him that prayer is not a spare tyre but rather the steering wheel that drives your life. He includes Joshua in service opportunities and shares his mission to help fund medical supplies and clean water initiatives, and finance missionaries teaching the gospel around the world. When Isaiah declares that he wants to be a disciple of Jesus, Joshua brings him to ‘The Forge’, a space where men mentor others and teach them to transform their lives and the lives of those they touch by putting Jesus at the forefront of all that they do. When a business competitor threatens to take numerous clients from Moore Fitness, in a move that will severely cripple the company, Isaiah sees an opportunity to repay the kindness he has been shown by demonstrating faith and the power of prayer to help achieve the impossible.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Family breakdown; Drink driving and the death of a child; Irresponsibility; Entitlement; Rage; Addiction.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Isaiah plays a violent video game, shooting at characters and exploding things.
  • A character plays a game and shoots at robots.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Joshua’s wife tells Isaiah the story of their son who was killed at the age of 17 by a drunk driver. Her eyes fill with tears as she shares the tragic events. The scene is not scary but it could be upsetting for some viewers.
  • When Isaiah sees his father for the first time in years he is very distraught and angry. He throws his clipboard to the ground and storms away. Isaiah then tells Joshua how his father abandoned him when he was younger, refusing to return his calls or texts and never fulfilling his promises. He is yelling and crying and angry. This happens again later, during a conversation with God, when Isaiah is alone in his room. The scenes are not scary but they are emotionally charged and intense and could be distressing or confusing for some children.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Ford Mustang
  • Nike Shoes.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Isaiah leers at a beautiful teenage girl, clearly making her uncomfortable, as he asks her personal questions such as: “Do you live around here?” He gives off sleazy, lusty vibes from the moment he spots her through a window.
  • Isaiah tells Joshua how his father cheated on his mother.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • There are multiple references to the fact that Isaiah’s father had a drinking problem.
  • Joshua’s son was killed by a drunk driver.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

The Forge is a faith-based drama with the purpose of drawing people to Christ, in the hopes that more individuals will seek out lives of discipleship and support those doing God’s work around the world (This is explicitly stated with the end credits.). The film contains many quotes from the Bible, employs the use of prayer warriors, and contains powerful messages about transformation, forgiveness and letting go. Some of the themes will be heavy for younger children and some of the lessons may go over their heads. There is nothing in the film that is overly inappropriate for younger viewers but it is best suited to audiences aged 9 and older.

The main messages from this movie are to give more than you take; to forgive those who have hurt you; to love your neighbour as yourself; to allow others to help you; and to be respectful, service minded and devoted to God.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Faith
  • Love
  • Forgiveness
  • Responsibility
  • Courage
  • Respect
  • Honesty.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Holding on to anger, resentment and hatred.
  • Refusing to take responsibility for your actions.
  • Being disrespectful to others.
  • Letting people down when they are counting on you to show up.
  • The excessive use of video games and media devices.