Review: The Shift

Title: The Shift

Describe This Movie In One Treehouse of Horror Quote:

WILLIE: You’re still not in your own world, Homer! I can get you home, but you have to do exactly as I ARRGHHH.
MAGGIE: This is indeed a disturbing universe.

Brief Plot Synopsis: God is real, and likes messing with our heads, apparently.

Review Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 2 mind-wiped Dr. Zarkovs out of 5.

Tagline: “Infinite Worlds. Endless Choices. One Way Out.”

Better Tagline: “Time kick me Jesus/Through the portals of life.”

Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Kevin Garner (Kristoffer Polaha) is having one of those glass half full kind of days. Sure, he was just laid off by Bear Sterns, but he also just met the love of his life, Molly (Elizabeth Tabish). Before you can say “predestination,” the two are married. Matrimony ain’t easy, though, and even less so when some weirdo calling himself “The Benefactor” (Neal McDonough) has pulled Kevin from the wreckage of a car accident to offer him a gig as a “Shifter:” subtly making alterations to the multiverse with little thought for its denizens. When Kevin refuses, the Benefactor exiles him to a dimension with no Molly in sight.

“Critical” Analysis: Brock Heasley’s The Shift is the latest in a growing line of faith-based theatrical releases that are increasingly impervious to genre restrictions. Distributor Angel Studios previously released Sound of Freedom, which did box office gangbusters earlier this year (more on that later). And now, if you thought alternate dimensions were limited to comic book movies or the Daniels … have you heard the good news about the Multi-Christ?

So you can’t accuse Healey of disguising his intentions. That said, the vague feelings of unease at seeing a Hallmark actor leading things off accompanied by quotes from the Book of Job ought to give you an idea what you’re in for. After the first confrontation, when Kevin prays the Benefactor away (initially), he finds himself in sort of a reverse Left Behind: all the depression with none of the hope of divine intervention.

Five years on, Kevin (now known as “The Kevin Who Refused,” really) is still in the Benefactor’s dystopian reality, working itinerant labor jobs, sneaking out pages of his Bible recollections, and plotting with co-worker Gabriel (Sean Astin) to obtain a “Deviator” from one of the “Shifters” in order to make the leap home. I mean, get back to Molly..

Along the way, Heasley (who also wrote the script, based on his original short film) shoots down such heretical concepts as free will, non-specific spirituality, and taking “no” for an answer. And it must be said that the Benefactor, a term you may have sussed out is the opposite of “adversary,” makes a pretty good case about God’s … let’s call them ‘inflexible” standards.

But as silly revolutionary parables go, it’s less ridiculous than Arnold Schwarzenegger leading Dweezil Zappa in an uprising against the host of Family Feud. Or Mel Gibson driving Scotland to capital F “freedom” before siring Edward III with Queen Isabella despite William Wallace dying seven years before the fact.

And then the credits roll, with 14 minutes left to go, at that. This might seem unusual (the FX weren’t *that* elaborate) until a countdown clock announcing a “Special Message” pops up. After waiting a few minutes, we’re greeted by none other than handsome lead actor Kristoffer Polaha, exhorting the theater audience to “shine their light” by performing an act of kindness.

*What* act of kindness, you ask? If you’re familiar with the controversy around Sound of Freedom, you may have already guessed, because it’s none other than helping propagate the message by buying someone else a ticket to The Shift! I shift you not! They even put a QR code on the screen for you to scan and “pay it forward,” perhaps to be included in the nearly five minute alphabetical credit scrawl that no one is going to sit and watch except those people and their hostages.

Angel’s hope is clearly to hoist The Shift to those same box office heights enjoyed by Sound of Freedom. Problem is, temporally displaced romances don’t pack quite the same punch as kids rescued from sexual slavery by Jesus. Then again, given how few of the tickets sold for SoF appear to be authentic, maybe they’ve introduced an entirely new theatrical paradigm. Beats making legitimate movies, I guess.

The Shift is in theaters today.