Mark Wahlberg delivers a SHOCKING performance as a priest in the film which premiered on HBO MAX

Mark Wahlberg is already a stark Hollywood face. Often portraying the all-female, macho idol who always wears a leather jacket and rides ultra-expensive Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the actor who built his fan base with the Transformers action movies and other long Films that appeal to that same audience, such as “Ted” and “Uncharted: Fora do Mapa,” also occasionally come across projects that come off the production line — and a lot of them.

It happened in ‘The Winner’ (2010), which was nominated for an Oscar, and it’s happening again now in this religious film ‘Fight for Faith: The Story of Father Stu’, which premiered in premiering today on HBO MAX.

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Stuart Long (Mark Wahlberg) wants nothing to do with life and is completely lost. Since his father Bill (Mel Gibson) separated from his mother (Jacki Weaver) after the death of his brother, he grew up looking for a purpose to exist: he first engaged in boxing matches , which compromised part of his jaw; then he gave himself up to drinking, in daily doses to forget everything; only to then decide that he should give it all up and go to Los Angeles, California to try his hand at life as a movie actor. Even without knowing it, his bad choices led him where he was supposed to be: it is in the capital of the cinema that Stu meets the young Carmen (Teresa Ruiz), a devout Christian who, in order to go out with Stu, says that he must be baptized. Blind in love, Stuart accepts, without even imagining that it would be the first step on the path to his true vocation.

At around two hours in length, the drama ‘Fight for Faith: The Story of Father Stu’ is an impressive biopic, but the length ends up hurting the production. Written and directed by Rosalind Ross, the storyline first develops by recounting the protagonist’s misfortunes in his early life, and only later his interest in the Christian faith. While it’s obviously important to know who Stuart was before he became a priest, the film takes too long on this part, reserving just over half its length for this arc – and honestly, there isn’t. is nothing more than an hour of film with Mark Wahlberg doing more of the same, i.e. drinking, singing girls, swearing, etc. When the character finally enters the Catholic world, there seems to be a lack of running time, and the events take place on the big screen, without being deepened.

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This choice undermines the film by Rosalind Ross, which misses an excellent opportunity to praise the will of this young priest from the interior of the United States who, as soon as he found his vocation with God, was also challenged by an illness. immunosuppressive like the one that led to physicist Stephen Hawking, whose story was previously told in Oscar-winning “The Theory of Everything.” And it is in this part, in the last arc, that Mark Wahlberg surprises with his performance, actually shocking viewers by playing the physically handicapped priest.

Based on a true story, the Sony Pictures production “Fight for Faith: The Story of Father Stu” is an inspiring film in this holiday-filled month for Catholic Saints, and shows that true calling finds us all at the right time, as long as we have faith.

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