The Reckoning

7.2 stars.

All three of these movies were average for me, so I don't plan on seeing them again. This one was no different than #2 in that once again they changed the cast, but now a new actor portrays her long lost Amish boyfriend, Daniel. I really liked the actor portraying Daniel in the second film, but they switched him out for some scruffy looking guy. And along with Mr. Scruff is a questionable scrub whom he associates with. These dudes look like shady trailer trash. But as time passes, Daniel's character becomes more palatable. And then we have her adoptive Amish parents who appear to also be different actors as well. I thought they were likable enough. And we also meet a couple other characters that are fine.

So, suddenly, I prefer the new guy in her life. He's tall, handsome, and relatable. Why did the author have to diminish her old flame into a half a man? If I were the author, I would have deleted his character from the franchise. Either resurrect him as the long lost love interest and soulmate that he should've been, or remove him altogether. And when he finally sees her for the first time in so many years, the meeting is anti-climactic. This was the moment I was anticipating since finishing 'The Confession' (a few hours ago...*snicker*), but it was a disappointment. The last 10 minutes wrapped up a bit too fast. At that point I was thinking they packed too much material into the ending. All in all this is not the most impactful conclusion for the trilogy.

The main actress (Leclerc) grows on the audience even more profoundly than in the second film. I really liked her in this, and so the romance has some redeeming value that make this watchable. Notwithstanding, 'The Reckoning' is not an improvement over the first two.

There was too much wrong with this. The actors. Who she ends up with. I fast forwarded through much of the middle. Bad acting. Bad storyline. Just nooooo.

So basically it is all new cast except the same Katie as The Confession. I had a hard time with this one because every actor was changed so trying to figure out who is who and then trying to reimagine the character as the new actor was hard. Also, this movie was terribly predictable. I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I won't tell you why it is predictable. I wouldn't watch it again.

I know it's hard to get the same actors after a couple years, so I can for go that one. The other things.... So much of this fantastic story was left out, not even mentioned or changed. I know they didn't mention Katie's best friend in the second movie, I thought they might make up for it in this one. Seems like they focused a lot on Katie and not on the whole story. It is frustrating to think this is what people will see when it doesn't do the books justice. I know that it is a fictional story but there are just some things you don't change. Please read the books! I am so glad I did, before watching the movies.

For the sake of completeness you want to see how things end in this trilogy. The storylines come to a close and it's satisfying to watch. Katie LeClerc is still very watchable. Some of the other cast have changed. In some ways it's the weakest of the three. There still are Amish vs non Amish contrasts.

A few weak points. A rather tiresome triangle between her Englisher fiancé and her Amish old flame. Why did they choose such a sketchy looking guy to play the Amish guy? Her orphanage project isn't that interesting.