Movie Review: The Shift

In the new film, The Shift, in theaters now, Kevin Garner (Kristoffer Polaha) is confronted with a very real and horrifying offer from someone called the Benefactor. Played with exceptional chill and swagger by Neal McDonough, the Benefactor has the ability to give everything you could imagine and at the same time, he can also take away anything  too. At first,  Kevin at first believes it’s a joke but very quickly, the Benefactor proves his abilities and that everything is very real.  This then sets Kevin on a path of dizzying universe hopping where he sees many different possible outcomes for his life.

The story moves quickly from circumstance to circumstance, forcing Kevin at every turn to confront what he wants and ultimately, compare this to what he knows he should do.

I have been looking forward to watching this film for a long time. With several friends working on the feature, I have been following the progress since day one, so when I was offered an early screening, I jumped at the chance. This time, I took my teenage son with me. I was curious to see what he thought of the film since ours is a huge science fiction loving home.

As the movie opened, the first thing I noticed was the quality of the filmmaking and what we were seeing on the screen. I have always had issues with faith films that have lower quality production values, but The Shift hit it out of the ballpark immediately. I was also impressed that the script didn’t hit an ultra preachy tone. It felt more like real life than many faith films.

As Kevin shifts through universes and experiences his own life in many, many, different ways, the pain he experiences each time as well as his responses are anything but typical faith based fare. As a screenwriter I often critique movies that have characters give long sweeping monologues or spouting scripture at every turn. Even my pastor friends don’t do  The Shift hit a natural tone and pacing very well. Ultimately, there were only a few scenes that felt like the Bible was pushed into daily conversation.

I think what impressed me most about the film was my son’s reaction to it. After the film, he shared that often, in faith films, life is more sanitized than realistic. With The Shift, he noted that there are horrifying circumstances (including violence which you usually don’t see in faith films), and other difficult things that Kevin needs to deal with. With this in mind, Kevin was forced to deal with things in more of a way that most of us would rather than what you normally see in faith films.

For days afterward, my son would come to me and say “You know, I was thinking about this scene…”  I love that. Teenage boys aren’t exactly known for having deep philosophical or Biblical discussions with their moms so for me? The Shift knocked it out of the ballpark. And to hear him recommending it to online friends who aren’t believers – that made it even better.

I do feel like there was a misstep with the marketing on this one. Everyone said that it was based on the book of Job and I do understand that premise. But really, if one went into the theater expecting a faithful modern day adaptation, they would have more likely left confused and not completely on the same page with the filmmakers. It would have been better to leave the ‘modern day retelling’ or ‘based on’ for the interviews and behind the scenes features rather than building a hallmark of the marketing on that fact.

If you’d like to learn more about the making of The Shift including more about what it was like to be on set with several big name powerhouse actors and also, who turned down the project, check out my interview with first time writer/director Brock Heasley.

Have you seen The Shift? I would love to know what you think! Join the conversation on Facebook or Instagram.

The Shift, from Angel Studios (The Chosen, Sound of Freedom) is in theaters now