'The Shift' shows exciting future for Christian film

Can you make an explicitly Christian film that doesn’t indulge in sappy, Hallmark melodrama and clumsy preachiness? Last year, Angel Studios answered that question with the gritty and compelling “Sound of Freedom.” Thanks in part to an innovative, grassroots marketing campaign, the Jim Caviezel-starring police procedural dazzled even secular critics and grossed $243 million on an $14.5 million budget, making it one of the most successful independent movies of all time.

For its follow-up, Angel Studios seems to have stuck to the same winning formula: Prioritize telling a great story, and the evangelizing will take care of itself. The result is the sci-fi drama “The Shift.”

Brock Heasley’s directorial debut cleverly takes the well-known concept of the multiverse and uses it to retell the story of Job. The movie centers on Kevin Garner (Kristoffer Polaha), a man who is approached by a mysterious figure known only as the Benefactor (Neal McDonough) about a job. When Kevin refuses, the Benefactor has him "shifted" to a parallel universe, a dystopian, authoritarian regime in which the Bible is forbidden. Here “The Shift” establishes its simple but very effective premise: Can Kevin return to his own universe and the love of his life, Molly (Elizabeth Tabish)?

Like Job, Kevin must endure a lengthy test of misery in which his family, wealth, and health hang in the balance. What keeps Kevin going in his attempts to beat the Benefactor (strongly implied to be Satan himself) is his deep faith in God, which makes his struggle resonate emotionally with anyone bearing a heavy cross.

Much of the movie’s power comes from its incredibly talented cast. McDonough steals the show with his deliciously sinister villain, making it easy for the viewer to imagine this is what it would be like to meet Satan face-to-face. Kristoffer Polaha makes for a great leading man, conveying significant likeability and charm while still communicating his heavy burdens. The cast is rounded out by rising stars like Elizabeth Tabish ("The Chosen”) and beloved actors like Sean Astin (“The Lord of the Rings”), John Billingsly (“Star Trek: Enterprise”), and Nolan North (“Uncharted”).

While many Christian films explore religious themes with all the nuance of a megachurch’s Easter light show, at times “The Shift” errs on the side of being too subtle. We’re never quite sure how literally to take the biblical parallels here, nor are we certain whether the evil embodied by the Benefactor is truly supernatural.

But this is a minor gripe in light of the movie’s many virtues, which should earn even more goodwill from an audience so starved for quality Christian entertainment. “The Shift” may not hit the world in the same way “Sound of Freedom” did, but it does testify to an exciting future for both Angel Studios and faith-based filmmaking.