Based on a remarkable true story, Ordinary Angels centers on Sharon (Hilary Swank), a fierce but struggling hairdresser in small-town Kentucky who discovers a renewed sense of purpose when she meets Ed (Alan Ritchson), a widower working hard to make ends meet for his two daughters. With Ed’s youngest daughter waiting for a liver transplant, Sharon sets her mind to helping the family and moves mountains to do it. What unfolds is an inspiring tale of faith, everyday miracles, and ordinary angels.

For in-depth thoughts on Ordinary Angels, please see my colleague Joretta Morris’ review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Lionsgate Home Entertainment brings Ordinary Angels to Blu-Ray with a rock solid 1080p video presentation in its original 2.39:1. The film has a natural, subtle warmth about it, even when taking place in the colder months. The highlights show no indications of blooming, and the black levels are deep and with no obvious digital noise. There is a minimal amount of banding against certain gradients, but it is not an egregious issue. Every location provides a welcome amount of depth from the interiors to the spaces out in the world. The production design and the fabrics of the clothing deliver really clear textural details. Flesh tones are natural with a fabulous amount of detail present in close-ups. Lionsgate has delivered a quality presentation for this one.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a top-notch Dolby Atmos track that gracefully accomplishes everything that it needs to. Dialogue is the focus of the film, and it always comes through crisp and clear without being overshadowed by any competing sounds. The score and other music in the film emanate from the speakers with perfect fidelity. The movie is not striving to provide the power of an action film when it comes to the low end response, but it supplies excellent texture to certain moments.

This might not be the first title you think of when it comes to the Atmos experience, but the utilization of the height channels makes the world feel more alive and three-dimensional. Ambient sounds are likewise faithfully deployed in the rear channels to capture the nuances of the space. Kinetic sequences are not overly bombastic, but the environmental sounds of various interiors and congregations engage the surround speakers in a nice manner. The audio track brings this story to life better than you would even hope. There are optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Director Jon Gunn and Producers Jon Berg and Kevin Downes provide a great commentary track in which they discuss their decision to tell this story, shooting on location, the production design and costumes, what the actors bring to their characters, the challenges faced during shooting, technical elements, subtle moments that mean a lot and much more.

Making Ordinary Angels: A decently informative 12-minute making-of featurette in which the cast and creative team discuss the origins of the project, the intention behind the telling of this story, what drew the performers to the project, the complexity of the characters, the direction, and more.

Inspiring the Ordinary: A five-minute piece in which the cast and creative team discuss the themes of the film and what they hope audiences take from the story.

Finding Your Purpose: A six-minute featurette that looks at the “unlikely hero” that inspired the film and how she impacted the community.

You Are Not Alone: A six-minute look at the miracles that can happen when a community comes together.

Deleted Scenes: A nearly eight-minute selection of unused scenes from the film is provided. There are some good moments within this one, but the movie is already pretty long as is.

Final Thoughts

Ordinary Angels is in the upper tier of faith-based films that aim to entertain beyond the core audience. Religion and the impact it has on our characters is paramount to the plot, yet the movie never feels like it is actively trying to convert you in a way that feels more inclusive for audiences beyond believers. One of the biggest wins for this movie is having Kelly Fremon Craig as a co-writer with Meg Tilly, as they bring an emotional honesty to the material that gets you invested. The story does veer a bit to the overly sentimental at points, but it is kept in a good place thanks to the strong performances from Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson. Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray with a great A/V presentation and some decent special features. Recommended

Ordinary Angels is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Lionsgate Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.