Review: Breakthrough
Breakthrough, directed by Roxann Dawson, tells the tale of Joyce Smith (Chrissy Metz), a religiously devout mother who. along with her husband (Josh Lucas), tries to raise and bond with their adopted son John (Marcel Ruiz). But when John falls under a frozen lake and slips into a coma, Joyce must struggle to keep her faith strong as she relies on the power of prayer to heal her son against innumerable odds.
This is the first film to be released from 20th Century Fox after it merged with Disney, and wouldn’t you know it it’s a Christian film from the producers of Heaven Is For Real, a movie I remember watching and actively disliking. I can’t really get myself to enjoy Christian movies anymore since everyone who makes them seems to be completely inept at understanding the basic rules of film-making. A lot of Christian filmmakers seem to confuse conservative propaganda with quality storytelling and think you can basically stick a camera in front of people and put together a movie that people are going to enjoy.
This film is different though. For once in as long as I can remember, this is a Christian film that has actual….EFFORT. Breakthrough was a pleasant surprise for me; it’s a Christian film made by people who know how to make an actual film. Nothing about it is groundbreaking outside of the fact it’s the first Christian film I’ve seen in a long time that’s actually watchable.
“How is this possible?” you might ask. Well for starters the acting is not only the best thing about this film, it’s also pretty good acting compared to even non-Christian films. Chrissy Metz acts her little heart out in this film and I can believe every emotion she conveys. The rest of the cast also do a surprisingly good job in their roles; Josh Lucas was good, Marcel Ruiz was good, Mike Colter was good, even Topher Grace was serviceable as the pastor character in this film.
This film also has good character development compared to other Christian films. Joyce Smith starts out as a stubborn, old school, super conservative helicopter mom who can’t seem to connect with her adopted son, and the film does an actual great job in showcasing her struggles to change who she is for her son’s sake. This film also deals with some great themes that no other Christian film seems to handle properly, like how powerful is one person’s faith compared to real world odds, or why does God save certain people over others. The film juggles these themes surprisingly well.
The cinematography is actually serviceable, the editing is actually comprehensible, and the story is such a feel-good story regardless of what faith you believe. It’s a story about a boy’s fight to survive after an accident that should’ve killed him, with the mother’s only support for him being the best doctors they can find and their faith. There are issues I found annoying to this film as I do with all Christian films, such as bad sound design, bad kid actors, generic music, and just being super cheesy to the point that it’s almost comical at times when it shouldn’t be, but despite that this is about as good of a Christian film as you can get nowadays.
Overall this was actually watchable. This is a harmless feel-good movie that you can actually watch without wanting to bang your head against the wall every time the movie panders towards the Christian conservative base. It’s still a Christian movie (and a factory-produced movie at that) so proceed with caution as there are elements that are still annoying about it, but for once this is a Christian film that I’m okay recommending to those that just want to watch a feel-good movie to offset the CGI cacophony that Avengers: Endgame is no doubt producing. Check this film out and see for yourself.
Final Verdict: 6/10