The Forge takes a long time creating any dramatic tension and spends too much time on cliched tropes — the addictive nature of videogames – to make its point.

The main and only reason the film works is Taylor-Joy, sleek and alluring in a cropped black bob, all business and ninja nimble in great action sequences but also evoking free-spirited fun.

While The Forge speaks to the power of mentorship, that doesn’t speak or account for a real world. The Kendrick Brothers take a promising faith-based story and turn it into a fairy tale with a neat and tidy happy ending.

Screenwriters Stephen & Alex Kendrick may have set out to make an inspirational tale with The Forge, but sadly that uplifting message ultimately gets buried and smothered to the point where it ends up having very little to say at all.