Angel Studios Proves to be Threat to Hollywood Once Again as Unreasonable Complaints About "The Shift" Arrive

Remember this summer, when the tabloid press started saying things about a certain film that had a good cause? Sure, The Sound of Freedom may have upset the hornet’s nest due to the subject matter, which Hollywood must defend. But they probably don’t like that an upstart anti-human trafficking film comes from an upstart anti-Hollywood studio, either.

What does this mean? The enemy of my enemy is my friend is a maxim that will force Hollywood into more and more unreasonable behavior regarding not just films like Sound of Freedom, but also against Angel Studios films or even friends of Angel Studios. This is like a war to them, and these reviews will turn into a general attack against any sort of attempt to widen the playing field with competitive entertainment like Angel puts out.

In July it was Sound of Freedom, in October it was After Death, and now Hollywood has The Shift to contend with (a thoughtful, romantic, artistic piece that minces no words in it’s Christian message), which took number 4 of domestic box office on opening day, beating out two Disney blockbuster films “Wish” and “The Marvels.” But if they can’t attack the film as “for people with brainworms” or “promoting Q-anon conspiracy theories” what can they attack? I assure you, my friends, Hollywood does two things well… worshipping their false gods, and ridiculing those who refuse to worship these false gods alongside them.

After watching The Shift red carpet here, you can see the authenticity working behind the camera in Brock Heasley and the other filmmakers like Justen Overlander. These people are the ones that Hollywood would likely consider to be points of attack, but I think it’s a serious miscalculation to think that. But this is exactly how Hollywood thinks, with their cultish obedience leading to slavish adherence to “the message”. So when I saw this review of the film from Variety I knew that they were going to step in it.

Firstly, the accusation that engaging in a "multiversal" approach in their storytelling to be amateurish or that the gun play must satisfy the standards Hollywood sets for flashy sequences is certainly telling. This is because Hollywood has to rely upon visual spectacle if they seek to distract you from their trash story premises. It's a prerequisite. This makes films without their social justice messages tolerable for them.

In this case, The Shift doesn’t focus on the action sequences as much, it’s true, but it does focus on the characters and their growth, in a dystopian world that this Variety article has to simultaneously compliment while saying it’s not good enough. It’s actually quite funny as you read it, but the more it continues explaining how bad the film is, the more it compares it to stuff like The Matrix, Quantum Leap, The Handmaid’s Tale, Everything Everywhere All At Once, 12 Monkeys, and The Devil’s Advocate. All of these are event tv and film that Hollywood might drool over in adoration- in another context, of course. And no, they aren’t saying that they "aren’t" like these, but that they ARE like them in many ways. They do this all while complaining that (get this)… multiverses are not doctrinally sound, all while recognizing that this film is loosely based upon the Biblical book of Job in which God tests our faith, and likewise, uses this device of multiverses well to test the lead character in this film.

So, did they do a good job with multiverses or not? Do they “get” the astutely used literary device here or are these reviewers just "playing dumb"?

It sounds like they’d just prefer that Angel Studios would stop giving Hollywood competition and taking more theatrical receipts AWAY from their precious cult leaders like Disney, who put out trash stories on the regular.

Oh sure, Disney could provide them with a great sequence of guns shooting at protestors... very believable, I’m sure. But they can’t understand why a story like The Shift or like Job is what audiences need to see if they want to be enlightened with deep and impactful stories. This is what stories are for. Not for fun action sequences.

But I think even more mask-slipping is what we’re going to get when Hollywood attacks Angel Studios films that trounce them in theaters. Just read this mask-slip moment in the review… it’s gold.

“Kevin’s defiance [of the Benefactor] evokes the plight of early Christians, who were actively persecuted for their beliefs, spooking audiences who feel as if society is cracking down on their freedoms … when in fact the opposite science-fiction scenario seems to be unfolding in America today.” -Variety

Wow. Spoken as a true adherent to today’s cultish obedience to the message. "There’s no dystopian hatred of Christianity today… no. Nothing to see here. Move along people. This is a mostly peaceful protest burning down your neighborhood, folks. And no, we will never ever force you to stay home and outlaw worshipping together in churches if we think there’s a virulent flu… this could never ever happen."

As Jesus said, they will “strain at a gnat as they swallow a camel.”

So, it looks to me as though, Angel hired this “amateurish” independent filmmaker, Brock Heasley (these filmmakers are the kind that Hollywood would call brave and edgy just because they got some buzz at a boring Hollywood-sponsored film festival) and has come out with this small film that... beat out two of Disney’s blockbusters in theaters but no we’re going to say that it was their bad use of multiverses and action sequences that matters here. I don't think neither readers nor audiences are going to be buying their schtick much longer. These people are absolutely shameless in how they prop up their own indie films and filmmakers (which also aren’t perfect) but because they like the political messaging... "Well, guess what? It suddenly passes the smell test, folks!"

Do you know what I recommend? I recommend watching Hollywood go bankrupt by supporting every filmmaker who doesn’t buy into “the message.” That’s what I recommend…

And, guess what? The reason we don’t buy the message is not because we all “agree” upon our “use of doctrine,” but it’s because we agree that Hollywood should be about good storytelling that allows diversity of opinion and thought. Stories that actually care about audiences, listens to what we want, and gives us something like a sci-fi romance based upon the book of Job about testing our faith in God... That’s the kind of creativity we want.

See The Shift, because I did, and it was absolutely worth it.

Get tickets here...

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