(REVIEW) “Sound Of Freedom” tries really hard to raise awareness about the very real evils of sex trafficking, but in the process creators forgot to also make a good movie. 

The film follows real-life anti-sex trafficking activist Tim Ballard (played by “The Passion of The Christ” star Jim Caviezel) during his days as a federal agent who then quits his job to travel to another country and save the sister of a boy he rescued from traffickers. The film was picked up by “The Chosen” distributors “Angel Studios” as part of their new push to make theatrical releases (in addition to streaming) a regular part of their output. 

There is definitely an explosion in faith-based genre movies and studios this year. Not only did we open the year with the usuals with the third-season finale of “The Chosen,” the Erwin Brothers’ latest film “The Jesus Revolution,” and the Affirm pictures “George Foreman” sports drama — but also new genres and players launched. The team behind “God’s Not Dead” gave us one of the first faith-based horror films with “Nefarious.” The Glenn Beck-backed The Blaze news website bought its first comedy to put on its platform. Angel Studios launched its theatrical division with the throwback Biblical epic “His Only Son.” Later this year we’re going to get a musical rendition of the Nativity with “The Journey to Bethlehem.” And Angel Studios next film is what is essentially a faith-based action film about sex trafficking with its film “The Sound of Freedom.”

The quality of these movies is improving too. It used to be we were grateful whenever a Christian film was basically halfway decent. Now, basically halfway decent is the norm.

Unfortunately, “Sound of Freedom” is not one of those films.

“Sound of Freedom” definitely is a film that markets itself based on its message rather than on its entertainment value. The trailers all highlight the statistics of human trafficking (“It’s the fastest-growing international crime network that the world has ever seen”) and some end with a plea by the director to get the word out about the movie so they can increase awareness about the problem.

This, of course, is a worthy goal. As the movie notes, there are more slaves now than there were even when slavery was legal. It’s also one of the few activist issues that seems to unite both religious and secular activists across both sides of the political spectrum.

On the other hand, it’s choice of real life story to build around that issue, and choice of collaborators, is somewhat more controversial. The real Tim Ballard has been accused of making up the stories he told about his heroic stings and rescues of children that are really the work of law enforcement. Likewise Jim Caviezel has embraced and publicly supported QAnon conspiracy theories, which claim that human trafficking rings are run by a global movement of Satanists, and a movement which has become toxic before and after it helped incite the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. 

That said, it’s probably a good thing that the filmmakers are encouraging people to see the movie based on its message — because the movie itself is not very good.

There are good things about the film. The opening sequence, which shows the process of kidnapping children by the traffickers, is artful and heartbreaking. And the cinematography has a dark yet ethereal quality that creates a moodiness and dread to the piece that I appreciated.

And yet, somehow the filmmakers are able to make a movie about sex-trafficking into one of the most mind-numbingly boring movies I’ve seen in ages. 

The movie sleepwalks through its story with a supposedly somber and dreary tone that instead feels dull and lifeless. There are no moments of humor to give us relief, no quickening of the pace to get our blood pumping when danger is about to happen, nor extended moments of tension to make us hold our breath. Instead, every character appears bored and just goes through the motions through every action scene, line of dialogue or set piece.

Jim Caviezel acts the whole movie with the same expression of dull sadness on his face no matter what’s going on in the movie. Nearly every line of dialogue in the movie feels like a sermon on how bad we should feel about sex trafficking rather than to build character or tension. Most characters feel less like characters than excuses to make talking points or illicit cheap sympathy.

Robert McKee’s book “Story,” tells screenwriters that if you repeat the same emotional beat over and over without any variation, soon people will have the opposite reaction. If you have deeply tragic things happen three times in a row with no variation, then people will start to laugh instead of cry. In the case of this movie, being told over and over that we need to care without putting the work to make us invested only creates emotional apathy.

This wouldn’t have been as bad if they had helped us connect with the main character by showing us his character arc, thereby making us more emotionally invested. But his whole arc is told rather than shown. Tim Ballard tells us he’s driven to save children from trafficking because just capturing pedophiles without rescuing the children was tearing him apart. But we never see it tearing him apart; we just have to take his word for it. 

Another odd aspect about this movie: When it comes to faith, despite the fact that the movie is made by a faith-based studio and largely promoted to a faith-based audience, its references to faith are minimal. We hear a few mentions of God, but nothing that would offend anyone of any faith. It’s hard to know whether this is a good strategy or not. If you’re going to do faith at all, why not go all the way? Do they really think that if they keep discussions of God to a minimum more people will see the movie? It will be interesting to see if this will be the direction Angel Studios will go with other projects and how that goes for them.

In many ways its hard to know who this movie is for. (Beyond just people who want to support it for the message.) It’s too boring and preachy for people who like dark movies, and its mere topic is too dark for the traditional faith-based audience. The more traditional faith-based people I know who’ve heard about it or watched it have either declined because they can’t take the subject matter or have been unable to finish it in one sitting. And keep in mind, they never show anything bad happen to kids onscreen. This is about as tame as a movie on this topic could possibly get.

This disappoints me because I’ve been waiting for a movie like this for a while that’s perhaps a faith-based version of Liam Neeson’s hit butt-kicking action film in the human trafficking-related film “Taken.”

I love faith-based films (when done well), and I love action movies about heroes fighting evil. I’ve always wanted faith-based movies to do more to unite the two. It looks like I’ll have to keep waiting. Now that faith-based studios are branching more into these genre territories, there’s a better chance its sooner rather than later.

Hopefully the movie does its job in increasing awareness of the very real problem of human trafficking. And hopefully faith-based movies will continue to grow in learning how to increase their quality level in the new genres they are experimenting in. And hopefully sooner rather than later.

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.com, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at his website josephhomesstudios.com.