I saw "90 Minutes in Heaven", starring Hayden Christensen-Takers, Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars:Episodes 2&3; Kate Bosworth-Straw Dogs_2011, Superman Returns; Fred Dalton Thompson-Sinister, Law & Order_tv and Dwight Yoakum-The Crank movies, Sling Blade.
This is a religious and inspirational movie. It is also based on a book written by Don Piper, who claims it is a real true story that happened to him-I say that because, so far, no one has come forward to actually verify his claims. That is where faith comes in. If you have it, you should enjoy this film. If you don't, you will probably find other explanations for what happened-I have already heard some, myself. Anyway, in case you are not familiar with the story, Hayden plays Don, a preacher with a wife, Kate, and 3 children. In 1989, as he was driving from a church seminar in the Huntsville area, he was hit by an 18 wheeler and pronounced dead at the scene. The coroner has to officially pronounce his death before the police can move his body so a tarp was thrown over the entire wreck. Another preacher from the same conference was passing by and decided to stop & pray over the dead body. As he was praying and singing, he heard Hayden start singing too and so he hollered for the paramedics to come check his vital signs again. Hayden was pulled to safety and taken to the hospital. He had lots of damage, including shattered bones in his arms & legs. It took lots of surgeries and months of recovery before he could go home but he also had other problems, such as loss of faith. He believed that during the 90 minutes that he was pronounced dead, he was in Heaven. If he was at the gates of Heaven, then why had he been returned to the pain & suffering that he had to go through back on earth? Why couldn't he have just stayed in Heaven? He just did not understand. Fred is the preacher that tries to make some kind of sense out of what happened to Hayden and help him understand his purpose in coming back. Dwight plays a lawyer that tries to get money for Kate and her rising medical bills. Just before the end credits, the real Don Piper is shown talking to a congregation and as the end credits start, pictures of the accident and Don during his recovery are shown. It's rated "PG-13" for accident & injury images and has a running time of 2 hours & 1 minute. It's not one that I would buy on DVD-one viewing was enough-but it would be a good rental.
