THE SHACK    2.0*** (barely)

     STORY:  "The Shack" revolves around Mack (Mackenzie) Philips (Tom Worthington).  Mack’s young daughter, Missy, is abducted during a family vacation. Though her body is never found, the police did find evidence in an abandoned shack to prove that she had been brutally murdered by a notorious serial killer who preyed on young girls.  Mack is so grieved and sad he is no help to his wife or remaining son and daughter.  He is living in the shadow of his Great Sadness over the loss of Missy. Then mysteriously he  receives a strange note in the mailbox that  may be from God. The note invites Mack to return to the shack, the scene of the horrible crime, to talk with God. Though uncertain, Mack decides to go to the shack and ends up spending an amazing weekend with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit  . What adds to the uniqueness of the story is that God is presented as a large, matronly African-American woman  (this is how God  chooses to present God to Mack in order to communicate with him) played by Octavia Spencer, Jesus is a young to middle-aged man of Middle-Eastern descent and is Jewish . The Holy Spirit is Sarayu, an eclectic woman of Asian descent. Mack is astonished and unsure about what’s happening but slowly comes around to the realization that he is with the Holy Trinity. They begin to talk with Mack and even among themselves. They seek to re-establish with him a relationship of love and trust and forgiveness. See the movie for the rest.

I read the book in the fall of 2008 from which the current movie is based and was so taken by it I did my 1^st book review ( I have only done 2 since) But I enjoyed it so much and was so inspired I wanted to share that with my movie fans. If you would like to read my book review just let me know.

As for the movie, I had looked forward to it and had great hopes it could come even  close to the book. Unfortunately it doesn’t. A huge disappointment.  Perhaps for those who haven’t been dazzled by the book they can enjoy the movie which is almost good but could have been so much more.

Here are my faults with the movie.

(1)  The screenplay misses the mark and fails to capture the uniqueness and wonder of Mack’s weekend with God, Jesus and Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) . There are 3 people who worked on the screenplay which is almost always a bad sign. You can’t write a good screen play by committee and they proved it. The biggest failing is leaving out book so much of the captivating and inspiring dialogue that was in the book.  It’s like taking a beautiful watercolor picture and turning it into a black and white poster.

(2)  The director also missed the point.. I’m not sure if he even read the book. He did not pick up on the main point of the book   which  focuses on the perplexing  question of why bad things happen to good people and how God responds to this in his talks with Mack. Too much of movie is about Mack’s unbending anger at God and his  inability to consider forgiveness or to be of comfort to his family. It goes darker than the book.

(3)  The lead actor , Sam Worthington, who plays Mack is terribly miscast. Yes he was the star of the blockbuster movie “Avatar” which did not require much acting skills. He doesn’t show much here and his range of emotions is woefully limited. That is unforgivable given the range of emotions his character experiences: the horrible kidnapping and brutal killing of his young daughter whose body is not found. Then his descent into a black hole of grief. To top it off there is the wonder and awe the character experiences when meeting and spending the weekend with the Holy Trinity. Worthington is a monotone of emotions and when he tries, you can tell he’s acting.. wooden and unconvincing.

(4)  The movie suffers greatly from a lack of sound quality and volume. It’s almost if the entire cast was told to whisper their lines, and Worthington makes it worse by mumbling most of his lines.

I could go on but enough said by me.

But despite all that negativity,  you may still want to see Octavia Spencer doing a good job of portraying God and experience the scenario of a man like Mack meeting and spending a weekend  with God, Jesus and Sarayu. I especially suggest that those who HAVE NOT read the book give the movie a chance.  For the book readers, try it out too. I may be TOO sensitive due  to my strong affection for  the book. In  any event, faults #s 3 & 4 above still apply.. so if you go sit fairly close to the screen so you can hear better.

Rated: “PG”

Clark