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Missionaries bent on bringing Christianity to "the savages" don't always make the most sympathetic protagonists. But it's also a question of the degree to which those characteristics are shoved in viewers' faces. In Jim Hanon's End of the Spear, it's refreshingly little, leaving the missionaries a lot closer to their idealized version: good people who want to bring medicine and other modern conveniences to cultures that have none. End of the Spear shapes itself into an involving and occasionally wrenching story as it goes along, but it starts out pretty inauspiciously. In the opening passages, the acting, scripting, and action choreography are all rudimentary at best, which draws extra attention to the film's lack of stars and squareness of purpose. (The action is intentionally restrained in accordance with the family-friendly PG-13 rating.) But as the narrative progresses, characters drawn with initially broad strokes start to feel like real people, and the complexities of integrating cultures -- especially when they share no language skills, but only a history of mutual distrust -- really come to the fore. There's a real bravery required on both sides in reaching out to the other, and the reward is rich: a realization that they share substantially the same hopes and fears, and an eagerness to try peace before resorting to war. The fact that End of the Spear is based on a true story -- and that footage of the real people is included over the closing credits -- excuses the film's earnestness, which at points is a little too intense. By the time the viewer has taken the whole journey, not only does End of the Spear no longer feel simplistic, but it has a remarkable profundity -- especially in the double meaning of the title, which contains equal doses of regret and hope.