Sting: Moment of Truth (2004 Video) User Reviews

Good Only as a Memoir to Sting's Wrestling Career

[murphy495 · 6/10 · 18 February 2005]

The movie begins as Sting narrates his start of his wrestling career in amateur wrestling to a newspaper reporter. He explains his modest start, his steady climb to world recognition, his struggle with the other elements with his life, mainly that of his meager family, who is not shown much throughout the movie, and his dramatic conversion to Christianity. The plot from there is well written, with fairly graphic and appropriate re-enactments and file footage clips of landmark wrestling matches throughout Sting's career. The only thing that I didn't accept well is the rushed ending, ending tersely with his conversion following the nightmare of his life (the proclaimed "moment of truth"), showing only home video segments after it in the credits. Though it is considered a spoiler, the good part of the ending can be seen in the trailer in the extra features of the DVD. Before the ending, it is still a decent documentary of a widely recognized sports figure.

Not good, but then again, not the worst..

[azrael979 · 6/10 · 23 July 2007]

Having been a wrestling fan probably longer than most who have commented on this title have actually even been alive, I feel I can safely comment on the quality of this title.

The story, whilst somewhat skewed towards Stings belief system, is still a good story of how he progressed through the ranks of the wrestling world and became one of the most recognisable faces of wrestling, despite never wrestling for WWF/E.

The archive footage from WCW is worth watching this movie alone.

The end is a little corny, with his 'How I became a bible thumping god botherer' but, it is still a good film overall and worth seeing if you are a die hard wrestling fan of the likes of WCW, ECW, WWE, ROH, DSW etc..

I will now respond to some comments made by previous posters,

petrie_ds_10 - I mean you could see part of the WWF/E logo during all the WCW footage. No, you couldn't. there is NO WWE logo anywhere in this movie. You maybe mistook the WCW Nitro black centre icon for the WWE Logo, but I'm sorry, no real WWE logos anywhere.

DLman91 - All of the wrestling footage is of NWA-TNA. Erm, no its not. Did you not SEE the WCW matches in this film??

There's NO truth in it at all, and if any wrestling fans who KNEW the business saw it...they would agree. No, we wouldn't. I have been a wrestling fan for over 25 years, a lot longer than you have been around for I suspect..

Stinger Splash.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 4/10 · 21 August 2015]

Taking a look at some DVDs that a family friend had recently picked up,I noticed a near-forgotten bio-pic on pro-wrestler Sting.With having seen some clips of Sting during his WCW days,I decided that it was time to witness his moment of truth.

The plot:

Watching wresting on TV with his brother, Steve Borden begins to dream about becoming a professional wrestler.Spotted at a fitness centre by a promoter,Borden finally gets his foot in the door,by being partnered up with a fellow up-coming wrestler.As he tries to iron out the flaws in his wrestling style,Borden gets married to his long time sweetheart Sue.As he starts to become a big name in the business,Borden begins to enjoy the luxuries that the lifestyle offers,as his marriage begins to fall apart.

View on the film:

For a movie which contains the word "truth" in its title the screenplay by writer/director George King takes some huge liberties with reality.Starting with a look at Borden's childhood,King randomly jumps around the decades and moves events in Borden's life to periods where they did not take place.Whilst he does show a keen eye for using some well-chosen archival moments in Borden's wrestling life,King makes the newly filmed wrestling scenes lack any sense of excitement,thanks to King focusing just a little too long on the small amount of extras/lack of crowd noise that the budget could afford.

Final view on the film:

A film which fails to sting.

Worst wrestling movie ever

[DLman91 · 25 February 2005]

Please stop rating this if you don't know wrestling. The facts are just made up, the story is fake, and it's terrible.

All of the wrestling footage is of NWA-TNA, even though he only had 1 match in the promotion. All the events Sting says happened to him are all out of order, it's just a bad movie. I commend him for being a Born Again Christian and believing in that. I don't fault Sting as a person, he's a great person, but this movie is bad. There's NO truth in it at all, and if any wrestling fans who KNEW the business saw it...they would agree.

This is right along the lines of the "Jesse Ventura Story" in the case of people just making things up. We all know wrestling is fake, and that most people don't respect the fans of it and think they are morons, etc. But don't insult my intelligence by making stuff up for a Christian movie and then ask me to believe it.

The worst part is that people who have never watched wrestling are praising this movie as one of the best ever, when they have never watched wrestling on TV. That would be like me saying "Navy SEALS" is true to life without ever seeing it. It's stupid

Awful.... and almost painful to watch...

[thelistenaryposition · 2/10 · 12 February 2010]

Man, the only reason I gave this "docu-drama" one star more than a flat out 1/10 is the fact that they at least used multi-cam shots in the film, and the musical selections in the piece are very well done.

I'm not going to give a play-by-play, I'll just comment on what I saw.... and that was an absolute torrid "documentary" in any sense of the word. It's like watching bad B-movie actors commit rubbish performances.

It's cheesy from moment one. The acting absolutely sucks. If this was ordered by Steve Borden ("Sting") himself, it should have been sent back to the production room with a grade of "F.... Do Over".

The film would have you believe that he wrestled less than 10 matches and was a world champion, struggled with, then discovered God, and finally became whole. What a great, easy plot for a "docu-drama". Even the transitions between wrestling footage and acting segments are painfully executed.

Now, to speak as a fellow Christian. I struggle with the discomfort of Sting's endless (and I do mean ENDLESS) over-dramatic encounters with faith, of staring God "in the face" and not "seeing Him". It's more than fans can deal with in a "docu-drama"... it's not comfortable as fact OR fiction... it's just plain uncomfortable.

This is quite obviously a TNA-inspired "good-idea" production which took elements of fact and combined it with whatever wrestlers/actors were available, made it malleable to the common 5-year old, and tried to market it.

And that's who'll ultimately enjoy it.... show it to your 5-year old, if he/she watches wrestling with you, and he'll/she'll get a kick out of it... because just like Santa, the Easter Bunny, professional wrestling, and organized religion... just believe on blind faith that what you're viewing is all "real"....

I'm certainly not making fun of his "true" story, but I'm glad to be over watching this performance atrocity. It's not grounded in any real way, and feels very "all-over-the-place".

Bless his heart, but Sting honestly deserves better than this has to offer....

... and bless your heart if you can get through this still interested in it as anything resembling a documentary.

This is NOT a wrestling movie

[grumpygriff69 · 2/10 · 10 August 2006]

Although it took me quite a bit of time searching the discount DVD bins, I finally found a copy of this little bit of docu-drama. The movie is a thinly veiled commercial for Jesus. This low budget flick was just like Ted Dibiase's book "Every Man Has His Price" with the search for Christ over shadowing the story wrestling fans want to see. The wrestling in the film is wrapped around "The Message" in archive WCW clips and "re-created" matches that are done in an empty room with a wrestling ring or with TNA help. 1 match has Stinger confronting Abyss for the WCW World Title (WTF?). As good quality as a student film, but the legend of Sting deserves better.

better than most small movies

[elizabethLhostetter · 7/10 · 6 September 2006]

Sing Moment of Truth is better than most small name movies. it has good wrestling footage, and is intense enough that you're not bored to death. It was good for what it was, and I recommend it to wrestling fans who liked Sting. it does have a rather weak ending, though. however the pictures of his family during the credits are good. you can see more or less what he's become. kudos to his wife for putting up with him! and good emphasis on the message that God forgives no matter what you've done. bravo. so good luck with the next movie!

there is some weirdness, and you might want to look somewhere else for a good kids movie.

Don't Bother

[tjstorti · 1/10 · 26 August 2009]

Just wanted to point something out to azrael979 then give my own person critique. Azrael979, you're wrong, you CAN in fact see WWE logos. I noticed it immediately when they showed the first bit of footage when he faced Flair. You can clearly see that they tried to shrink the picture, but they didn't do a good enough job because the tops of the W's are still clearly visible in the bottom left. Just wanted to let you know that you should maybe recheck things before you go accusing people of being wrong when you in fact are the wrong one

Now, on to my critique. I've been a wrestling fan for 20 years, and I've seen damn near every documentary that has come out. This, plain and simple, was the WORST i have seen. Let's start with the obvious of the acting was HORRIBLE. I caught myself rolling my eyes at many scenes wishing they would end. Next, the thing that bothered me a lot was that in the opening scene they introduce the show as being a WCW event, yet you can clearly see TNA plastered all over the place. Next problem was presentation. This movie jumps through a lot of periods of time, the least they could do is make it believable. The scenes of Sting's childhood don't reflect what things were like in the 60's. Not to mention, every scene that they show "Sting" driving when he first gets his break, there are recent car models all over the place. Then again when "Sting" is teaming with "Warrior", that match was supposed to take place in the 80's, yet if you look in the crowd you can see their modern clothing. One good example, is I saw a woman wear a number 27 Tennessee Titans jersey. Come on, time periods are a very basic and important part of a film. The last things that bothered me were simple. I feel like the filmmakers just found whoever was in the TNA locker room and whoever was on the street to portray characters. Sting is a rather tall guy. 6'4", yet the guy who plays him in this film looks like he may be 5'11" max. And they got Ryan Wilson to play "Warrior". Not a smart decision. The guy is close to 7 feet tall and towers over the actor playing Sting, when in actuality, the warrior is only 6'2" compared to Sting's 6'4". Really simple details like this will bother a true fan I think. All in all I will unfortunately have to say that this was a HORRIBLE attempt at a documentary. If you're going to document the career of such a historic and legendary figure in the wrestling business like Sting, I suggest making it look credible. Here's to hoping the WWE decides to make one about him that can take the sour taste out of my mouth from the TNA version

pleasantly surprised

[pax03 · 10/10 · 21 February 2005]

i didn't know what to expect from the film and i ordered it online because you know a blockbuster wouldn't have it. I was very surprised, it wasn't shot on film it was shot on HD but it was the story and STING that brought it all back for me. The story was amazing and I alway loved Sting as a wrestler. To this day, Sting is still my favorite wrestler of all time and i don't think he will drop from that position. It wasn't a big budget movie like a lot of other true stories are, but the thing that sucked me in was the story and the storytelling. I highly recommend it to wrestling fans, and documentary fans, because there is some archive footage that was great to see again.

Sorry Sting, it just wasn't good.

[petrie_ds_10 · 2/10 · 2 August 2005]

This movie had no real acting in it. Just a few scenes with dialogue and the rest must have been public domain archival footage. It was just a lot of unnecessary clips of stuff that had nothing to do with his life. Also, what really got to me was the sheer unprofessional-ism of this film. I mean you could see part of the WWF/E logo during all the WCW footage since WWF/E owns everything that WCW owned and the WWF/E felt the need to add their logo to everything. But I would have done something to block that out. Also, this movie had one of the worst endings of all time. There was a lot more that should have been explained but it just wasn't. Do not expect a documentary like "Beyond the Mat" or something like it because you will sorely be mistaken. Instead this movie is amateurish and jumps around a lot. Oh, and even though the credits in the trailer featured a slew of wrestling legends. They don't even have parts in the movie. Somehow you can pass off for someone being in a movie just by showing old footage rather them taking time out to actually be in a few scenes. Sorry Sting, it could have been a lot better.

Shows what it is really like being a wrestler, great life story!

[tcollins-10 · 10/10 · 29 December 2004]

This movie was great! Loved the music. The movie takes you back through Steve Borden's wrestling career and even includes his days tagging up with the man who would later become the Ultimate Warrior. And all the way through his career to this point. This movie showcases how it really is most wrestlers, outside of the WWE, most wrestlers have to travel all around just hoping for a break. This movie is a Christian movie, but not too overly Christian if you know what I mean. Really enjoyable! As a wrestling fan you will just love this movie as it shows highlights of the Stinger against Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, and even some updated footage against some of the NWA-TNA stars.

This movie hurts like a bee sting. It's awful.

[ironhorse_iv · 5/10 · 5 March 2013]

This is the biographical film of pro-wrestler Steve Borden, best known to the world as Sting. It deals with the difficulties of being a wrestling superstar and how becoming Christian save his soul. The movie is supposed to tell the story of Sting's life, but the movie has no clue about setting up time periods and when it does, the movie jump around. Example: the young child Steve Borden is watching wrestling that isn't from 1960s, but modern day starting his dreams. When he join World Championship Wrestling in the early 1990s, a lot of the footage use to represent the company, comes from a company that wasn't formed until 2002 called Total Nonstop Action. When not trying to recreate scenes with TNA wrestlers, over use of smoke, and no crowds around the arena. The movie tries to steal a lot of the WCW footage that World Wrestling Entertainment now owns, but cropping the film footage so the WWE symbol isn't shown. If you aren't a wrestling fan then this stuff probably doesn't make a difference to you, but this DVD is targeted at a wrestling audience. They know what events happen when and with what company. Wrestling is also the closest thing we'll get to a real-life Rocky match, with larger-than-life drama and tension. Don't lie to wrestling fans, movie. The movie also overused montage of stock footage of anything to make the movie even longer. The movie has long periods of endless driving shots, and tourist like vignettes of sunny California full of beach bums that looks like the opening to Baywatch. One of the biggest faults of the film is having an actor play the Young Steve Borden whom looks nothing like him. He's shorter than the real life Borden, doesn't sound like Borden, and doesn't have the same build. Then the film has the nerve to cut from the actor, to stolen stock footage of young Sting wrestling. While still struggling to get by, Steve marries a girl named Sue who stands by him. The Sting character becomes a huge success, but with the success comes temptation and responsibility. One scene features heavy-handed symbolism showing Borden stumbling through an alley, with loose women, an alcoholic and a man throwing money all chasing after the superstar. Steve struggles to keep his marriage together and slowly becomes more spiritual by praying and attending Christian gatherings. Still, for someone who is just learning about this guy for the first time you are left feeling unfulfilled at the documentary, because you want to know what the hell happened to Sting to make him repent. It's never truly show it. The structuring of the movie is tell than show. For example when Steve first starts telling his story, he is talking to a newspaper reporter. When that interview ends, he continues telling the story with another interview for with a fan boy internet writer. This interview is brief and again Sting continues to talk about the story after it is over for some odd reason. Redemption movies do work in Hollywood, but the reason why most Christian movie fails is most people in the art are right-brained thinkers, visual communicators. Right brain thinkers love telling stories of the innovative individual overcoming their struggles, while priests and ministry leaders are primarily left-brained thinkers love to be quick to embrace group ideology in the form of religious dogma or political movement. It's hard for people to give up themselves. People love seeing other people overcome their problems by themselves. To give up, and seek help, it's a sacrifice that most people don't like to do due to their whole idea of building your own future. Our brains are designed to find meaningful patterns in the noise and chaos of life, and this movie doesn't give us enough noise. It's doesn't give us the meat of the story, and we don't eat it up. The bottom line is, you have to first have darkness in order to fully appreciate the light. Stories without conflict, darkness, are boring and uninteresting. Sting, please stick to wrestling and leave wrestling docudrama to projects that get funded by WWE studios

this is the BEST wrestling movie EVER

[brandonalgie-1 · 10/10 · 15 July 2006]

I watch wrestling every Wednesday and Friday on fox 8 at my friends house and this movie is the BEST wrestling movie EVER because you see sting a different way then when he wrestled on TV. I also found out a lot of things i did not know about him and his career like when he traveled and had a lot of muscle problems and lots of other things. i am a massive sting fan and it may be a bit out but it is still great. If anyone wants to buy this movie i highly recommend it for a wrestling fan and for anyone who can not find a movie to rent this will make you want to watch wrestling every hour of every day.you will be surprised about the wrestling life.