I went in knowing nothing about this movie other than a two sentence summary in the Cinemark app, but I figured I'd give it a try. It was apparent early on that it was a low budget b-grade sci-fi flick, but the beginning caught my interest. It rapidly showed signs of having religious undertones, which I can tolerate if done well, but I admit made me suspicious of the content to come. By the end I felt like it was a small scale, streaming level quality storyline with little known actors (save Sean Astin and Neal McDonough) that could have been a TV show from the early 2000s.
A man with some history of family trauma is stuck in a multiverse with a (not so) mysterious figure ruling in a dystopian alternate version of his life. He must find a way back to his world-one where he can be reunited with his wife and fix their marriage.
The plot plunges into overt Christian themes early on, which I didn't expect. Slowly it begins to be clear that there's an allegory here about the book of Job, but it's creative enough that I wasn't sure what to expect of the ending.
I'll pause here and readily admit that most religion driven films annoy me, although I identify as someone who is religious. The underlying themes often remove any sense of stakes or risk an otherwise secular movie would have, since it's obvious God is going to fix everything in the end. This movie works to subvert that to a certain degree, and succeeds, in my opinion.
The mood, set, filming, acting-all consistent with TV quality, but still done well. McDonough does a great job with the material he's given. The pacing leaves something to be desired, with painfully slow points that feel as though they are meant to be emotional, but happen too frequently to land effectively, and end up feeling overlong. There are definitely a few emotional hits along the way, culminating in an ending that did not go as I expected, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.
That being said, I much prefer the ending they chose than the one they led me to expect earlier in the movie.
All in all, it was inspiring and interesting, if not incredibly clever or masterfully executed. Still a good evening in the theater with a little more soul than I went in expecting.
A man with some history of family trauma is stuck in a multiverse with a (not so) mysterious figure ruling in a dystopian alternate version of his life. He must find a way back to his world-one where he can be reunited with his wife and fix their marriage.
The plot plunges into overt Christian themes early on, which I didn't expect. Slowly it begins to be clear that there's an allegory here about the book of Job, but it's creative enough that I wasn't sure what to expect of the ending.
I'll pause here and readily admit that most religion driven films annoy me, although I identify as someone who is religious. The underlying themes often remove any sense of stakes or risk an otherwise secular movie would have, since it's obvious God is going to fix everything in the end. This movie works to subvert that to a certain degree, and succeeds, in my opinion.
The mood, set, filming, acting-all consistent with TV quality, but still done well. McDonough does a great job with the material he's given. The pacing leaves something to be desired, with painfully slow points that feel as though they are meant to be emotional, but happen too frequently to land effectively, and end up feeling overlong. There are definitely a few emotional hits along the way, culminating in an ending that did not go as I expected, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.
That being said, I much prefer the ending they chose than the one they led me to expect earlier in the movie.
All in all, it was inspiring and interesting, if not incredibly clever or masterfully executed. Still a good evening in the theater with a little more soul than I went in expecting.