The Shack - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Shack

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
I first was introduced to The Shack due to the controversy that was spawned over the book and the subsequent announcement that they were going to create it into a film. I had never heard of William P. Young’s 2007 best seller of the same name until the movie was announced, but after hearing some rather mixed opinions from church authorities my interest peaked. Not because I was really intrigued about the book, but there were some SERIOUSLY harsh theological criticisms laid against the author’s writings and I’m a sucker for controversy. Reading the book was one thing, but finding out the author’s past made the whole thing so much more serious for me personally. As a believer myself I don’t take very much offense when non Christian’s make fiction based upon their understanding of the scriptures. It’s not meant to be blasphemous or disrespectful (most of the time, there are a few that use their literature/films as a weapon), but rather interpretation based upon cursory knowledge of the Bible. I try to take everything as simply a work of fiction, separating my real world beliefs from what is taking place on screen. Interestingly enough it turns out that William P. Young is an ex Minister from Canada and as such he has MORE than a cursory knowledge of the scriptures, which makes his assertions and take on the trinity one that is much more disturbing. Especially when coupled with the fact that after the movie came out I was catching many a church goer gushing over the movie and its sweet premise (which it really is).

Now, Here’s the REALLY difficult part of this review. Separating my dislike of the film’s painful theology with the knowledge that much of my audience is more interested in the film as a work of fiction, rather than listening to a diatribe about the nuances of the holy trinity, the predestination, and the like. As such, I’m going to have a delicate tight rope to walk, so bear with me.

Pain is a universal unifier. No matter your religion, creed, race, sex or principles, we’ve all experienced pain in our life. Some much more than others, and usually in different ways. The Shack takes a very obvious element of pain and just amplifies it to ridiculous portions to try and teach us a classic lesson. Mack Phillips (Sam Worthington) has had a ROUGH life. He grew up the son of a hypocritical church deacon who beat his mother and he mercilessly for most of his childhood (for some reason they hint that he murders his father as a result, but never comes out and actually SAYS it), and that wound has bled over into his adult life. He’s a church goer himself, but there is a disconnect between him and God. A rift that he can’t seem to cross no matter how hard he externally wants it. His wife Nan (Radha Mitchell) and his children are his world, but there is a small emptiness and cynicism that just won’t leave. When he and his family visit Multnomah falls for a camping trip his life becomes unbearable. On the last day of their trip Mack is force to dive into the lake to save his son, Josh (Gage Munroe) from a canoe accident, but in doing so he leaves his youngest daughter Missy (Amelie Eve) alone for just a few scant moments. Just enough time for someone to snatch her away and murder her. Now Mack’s life is a living hell. Slipping into “the great sadness” (as he calls it), the broken father just stumbles through life until he receives a mysterious letter in the mail one day. This letter is addressed to him and asks him to visit “the shack” (a rundown old shack in the mountains where they found his daughter’s blood and torn dress after the search), signed by “Papa” (what Missy used to call God).

Initially thinking that this is a prank or cruel joke, Mack disregards the letter. However, the man can’t seem to put it out of his mind and decides to go up to the shack and find out just what is happened. There he comes face to face with someone he never thought he would se. Or shall I saw THREE someone’s. Upon arriving he comes face to face with God in his three forms, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father (Papa), appears to him in the form of an old African woman whom he knew as a child (Octavia Spencer), while Jesus comes to him as a middle eastern laborer (Avraham Aviv Alush). In another bizarre twist, the Holy Spirit calls herself Sarayu (Sumire Matsubara) and is a petite Asian woman who has a tendency of glowing and being slightly transparent. There the three forms of God take on the task of healing Mack’s wounds and re-weaving a bond that between the father and his Lord that has been missing for many many years.

Now I’m going to split the last of this review into two sections. The first will deal with my thoughts on the movie as a work of fiction, and the second will be my quibbles with the theology of the film, as they both have their merits, but ultimately hold different reasons for why I can’t recommend the film.

If taken as pure entertainment, The Shack is an overly long and decidedly hollow piece of fluff. The film boils down to “bad things happen, so put on your hard hat and get to work at bucking up”. Which is not a horrible message to give. Some people need that kick in the pants to get over a tragedy, but it’s handled so ham fistedly that I was left shaking my head in pure disbelief. Mack is given the most tragic backstory you can possibly think of, and then given an even MORE horrific incident in his life so that you empathize with him. The thing is that it’s so ridiculously cliched and sappy that you feel it’s more of a caricature than reality. The same goes for his healing process in the Shack itself. Octavia Spencer almost looks pained trying to act her way through heaps and heaps of sugary dialog. Everything is a cookie cutter piece of advice from the basics of scripture, but is horrifically misguided and ends up feeling pandering and insulting to the audience.

Sam Worthington is miscast (anybody is better than the bland actor who has as much range as a plank of oak), and chews through his lines like he’s reading the manual for a lawnmower, and with as much emotion as one would have doing so. The other two iterations of the trinity do a decent enough job, but the film focuses on using high end digital effects to have the audience ooing, and awwwwing over the “beauty” and “majesty” of the auspicious event than actually creating a compelling framework. Not to mention that the final portion of the book where Mack was given the identity of the killer and brings him to justice for Missy’s death is completely left out of the movie. It stops suddenly short of that event and even though the movie was EXCRUCIATINGLY long at 2 hours and 12 minutes, feels a bit truncated with that knowledge.

Now, on to the theological side of the event. Normally I don’t wax eloquent about theology in these types of film. Normally I just say something like “eh, they definitely got a few things wrong” and move on, but the nature of the author and some very nasty warping’s of scripture have me hesitant to just leave it alone. Especially since it’s been a film that has been accepted by quite a few churches as a “great movie”. William P. Young is an EX minister who penned the novel, and you can see some of his falls from traditional teachings with the book more so than the movie. While it’s a work of fiction, and meant to be that, there is also a very obvious bent from the author to teach his views on God. Something which made it sooooooooo easy for some people to just accept it as biblical fact. Something which has caused quite a stir in the protestant denominations.

I won’t go into MASSIVE detail, as the dissection of the theology put forth by Young could literally fill a book, but needless to say that there is some strange teachings going on. I’ve heard some criticism from people stating that the religious community was getting their undies in a wad over God portraying himself as a Black woman. A theory that I have to say “hogwash” to (sure some people might, there are always the whackadoos). The real reason is due to many platitudes and warping of traditional views to have the trinity into some sort of hippy buddies that Mack is supposed to befriend. The respect and power is completely devoid, as the film tries to portray the trinity as just wanting to be good friends and show him how much God loves Mack. The three variations change as the movie go on, drifting far away from a holy trinity and dancing along the idea of pantheism more than anything. The scene with judge in the cave is another element that feels bizarrely foreign to the concept of judgement and forgiveness that anyone with a basic knowledge of scripture can see through the pandering. “Papa” and “Jesus” spout out line after line that goes disturbingly close to modalism and both of them make HEAVY emphasis on their dislike of “religion” and instead just want to “love” everyone. Even going so far as to flippantly shake off the idea of God’s wrath (something which they tried to pass off as a myth, and completely bypasses the idea of spiritual discipline). While I could wax eloquent for pages more and turn this into a dissertation, my point is simple. The syrupy good-hearted nature of the film makes this a significant “trap” for young believers, or for people not paying attention. You can get so involved with the feel good aspect of the movie that watching the horrible misrepresentations of God and his teachings can slip by unaware (which is one of the reason’s the book/film is a controversy more than anything).




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for thematic material including some violence




Video:

The Shack is presented on Blu-ray with a stunning 1080p transfer that is nearly devoid of any flaws. The film takes a decidedly cool tone with the opening 30 minutes or so, filled with cold blues from the snow as well as the somber feeling after Missy dying. However, once we get to the shack and Jesus transforms the snow into some warm and sunny paradise the tone changes to more amber hues with some fairly neutral grading outside of the overly bright sun. skin tones are a little bit ruddy there (while being a bit cold and stone like before that), and the brights can sometimes be a bit TOO overly lavish. Whole sections of the movie tend to be high in visual effects, ranging from the glow around Sarayu, to the walking on water bit and the beauty of the night sky. Fine detail is exquisite, ranging from sharp details along the face, to being able to define each footprint in the gorgeous looking snow. Blacks are deep and inky, with even the cave scene with the Judge being perfectly rendered. There’s a few moments of banding here and there, but usually not enough to really notice unless you’re looking for it.






Audio:

Despite being a VERY talky film, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track for The Shack is incredibly nuanced and detailed. The vocals are really the main focus of the film, and that aspect is handled magnificently. Dialog is perfectly rendered without any imbalance or distortions whatsoever. The surrounds are soft, but they are filled with the little sounds of a forest, from the crunching of the leaves underfoot, to the splashing of the lake near the shack. There’s a few mild scenes with a more robust sound to it, like the car nearly getting run off the road, or the horrible event in the lake that spawns the tragedy. LFE is restrained, but still vibrant throughout and the 5.1 mix overall is very satisfying.
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Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Hazeldine
• "Touched by God: A Writer's Journey" Featurette
• "God's Heart for Humanity" Featurette
• "Heaven Knows": The Power of Song with Hillsong United" Featurette
• "Something Bigger than Ourselves: The Making of The Shack" Featurette
• "Premiere Night: A Blessed Evening" Featurette
• Deleted Scenes

Final Score: ​

Whether you’re a Christian and are worried about the theology, or whether you’re just looking to watch an entertaining piece of fiction, I simply cannot recommend the movie. Theologically The Shack is painful, and as work of fiction it is horrendously hamfisted and cliched to the max. It preys on tragedy and slams a message down your through in a way that can only be described and killing you with sweetness. On the other hand, the technical specs for the Blu-ray are incredible, with amazing audio and video and even a very solid array of extras to enjoy. Sadly, despite the visual and auditory spectacle, I just can’t recommend the movie as worth anything more than lesson of what NOT to do in a movie. Skip It.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Tim McGraw
Directed by: Stuart Hazeldine
Written by: John Fusco, Andrew Lanham
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DVS, Spanish DD 5.1
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 132 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 30th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Well then... I think I will just skip it! It does sound like it is extremely controversial in the religious arena. Of course there are not many in Hollywood that care much about Biblical truth.

I wouldn't be surprised if Radio Shack did not attempt to sue them over the use of "The Shack".

 

[Michael Scott]

it's a mix of a LOT of things. Sloppy plot, bad acting, poor theology, the list goes on and on.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

Too bad Radio Shack is gone. They could have sued the producers over the name.

 

[Michael Scott]

lol, I keep forgetting Radio shack is gone

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Well they aren't actually gone... they are closing their b&m stores, but I believe they plan to keep their online store... so they could still sue, although the movie has nothing to do with retails sales of electronics.

 

[Asere]

Wow, and I had high expectations with this film as it looked promising. I guess I will pass.