(REVIEW) “Brave the Dark” is easily the best movie that the faith-based film industry has released about the struggles of modern young men. And it’s by far the best Angel Studios movie to date.  

There’s a major gender shift happening in American Christianity. For over two centuries, church pews have largely been filled by women, even as the pulpits were dominated by men. These women are abandoning church, and men are starting to flock to it. Gen Z is now the first generation in memory where men outnumber women in church. Some people are excited by these changes, and some are nervous. 

These changes are also starting to turn up in the faith-based film industry. Such films have traditionally been marketed toward Christian women, with stories following saintly moms praying for their husbands to be better partners and fathers. With this gender shift in churches, the faith-based market is starting to open up to movies in more traditionally male genres (like “Nefarious” and “Shut In”) and deal with more specifically male concerns, like the ongoing “boy crisis” — where men are falling behind women socioeconomically — and the need for male mentorship (like in “The Forge”).

“Brave the Dark” is Angel Studios’ latest contribution to this growing trend. And it’s a good one. As the church and the faith-based industry stumble their way into incorporating male audiences, this movie is a hopeful sign they are moving in the right direction.

Based on a true story, this drama follows a homeless high school student, Nathan Williams (played by Nicholas Hamilton), who gets into trouble with the law and gets bailed out by his teacher, Stan Deen (Jared Harris). Deen then decides to mentor Nathan and try to get him back on the right track, which turns out to be harder than he thinks. 

“Brave the Dark” is everything you want a mentor-protege coming-of-age drama to be. The characters are both loveable and flawed. The characters have to earn their heartwarming ending, but earn it they do.

One place where faith-based industry films typically fail (such as recent ones like “Sight.” “Bonhoeffer” and “Between Borders”) is in the filmmaking craft. Things like the writing, acting, cinematography and editing are either badly done or boringly done. But that’s not true about “Brave the Dark.” Hamilton and Harris have great chemistry. The banter and the timing with which they deliver their lines manage to run the spectrum between genuinely tear-jerking and heartwarming. The film knows when to stay on them in a wide shot so we get them playing off each other, and when to cut to a close to focus on their emotion. 

One key scene that shows how well the filmmakers know how to pick their shots is of Deen with the other school staff. The shot follows Deen as he walks past them while they give all their excuses for why they aren’t sticking their necks out for Nathan like he is. A lazy way of doing that scene would be to cut to each person when they’re talking. But the shot stays on Deen as he walks past all of them, which means the focus stays on him and his disappointment with them and what they are saying.

Deen is a much better protagonist than typical for an Angel Studios film. He does follow many of the same tropes like Tim Ballard (in “Sound of Freedom”), where one of his functions is to lecture and moralize to the other characters — and by extension, the audience — about why they’re turning a blind eye to this movie’s particular issue. But we spend just as much time getting to know and love him as a person, while also building his relationship with Nathan. 

“Brave the Dark” also does a good job of writing about male problems from the perspective of men rather than women such as their moms or wives.  “The Forge” was a film from the Kendrick Brothers about a young wayward man in need of male Christian mentorship. But it never attempts to understand why the young man is dysfunctional from the young man’s point of view. And its solutions to how he needs to grow in Christian maturity end up resembling femininity more than Christianity. 

Right from the get-go, “Brave the Dark” avoids these problems. The entire film is built around empathizing with and understanding Nathan, and why he’s dysfunctional. In fact, not listening to him, and just labeling him a “bad kid,” are two of the strongest things this movie morally condemns in people’s responses to him. That’s true whether it’s the teachers and administrators or his adopted parents. As a result, Deen is portrayed as heroic specifically because he reaches out to him and tries to help and understand him. 

The ways Deen helps him grow are also very traditionally masculine. They banter, tease each other, talk back to one other, work on tasks together and give each other tough love — all things that research and everyday experience show are important expressions of how men bond, yet are often vilified in modern society. And yet they’re also not afraid to have them cry, hug and show tenderness towards one other.

These things may indicate positive growth for Angel Studios movies going forward.  But it’s complicated. “Brave the Dark” is distributed by Angel Studios but wasn’t produced by it. Many of their biggest films, like “Sound of Freedom,” “Sound of Hope” and “Bonhoeffer,” were not made what’s called “in-house” by Angel.

Instead, it was selected for consideration and then voted on by Angel Guild members — think Netflix subscribers if they could vote on their streaming library. This is one reason why the film is less friendly to religion than other Angel offerings. There’s also just a few references to faith in this film, with most of them being negative. Nathan’s problematic grandparents, for example, are the most overtly religious characters in the film.

This means that the quality on display in this movie isn’t necessarily reflective of the growing skill of anyone on Angel’s team. But it may possibly be indicative of a developing judgment of the Angel audience. Hopefully, it means we still get more movies like this in the future. 

The movie isn’t perfect. It hits the expected genre story beats in a way that’s more conventional than other recent movies like “The Holdovers.” There are also pacing issues, and some plot points get rehashed more than once. Nathan crosses the line with his ex-girlfriend when trying to get back together with her, and Deen reprimands him. Then the whole sequence repeats again for no obvious reason. It also stretches our sympathy for Nathan and our belief that the school wouldn’t finally expel him for it.

Deen’s reactions to Nathan’s vices don’t always ring true. Deen gives Nathan a gentle warning when he stalks his ex-girlfriend. When Nathan makes Deen’s house messy as a result of a party — a mess Nathan’s cleaning up himself — Deen kicks him out of the house.

Despite these weaknesses, “Brave the Dark” remains a genuinely good film and a positive sign for the industry. Hopefully, audiences reward them, and movies in this genre can continue to grow in quality for all audiences. Either way, this film braves new ground that its makers can be proud of.

“Brave the Dark” arrives in theaters nationwide Jan. 24.

Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York City. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at his website josephholmesstudios.com.