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| Rated: Not Rated (Dove approved for ages twelve and up) Starring: David A. R. White, Jen Lilley, and Andrea Logan White Released: 2013 (DVD) |
Joshua "Josh" McManus (David A. R. White, Jerusalem Countdown) is a traveling salesman in the middle of nowhere, far away from his wife (Jen Lilley, The Book of Esther) and young daughter. While making a sale, he runs into an evil motorcycle gang, bent on mass murder...but is able to beat them to the punch and uses their own guns against them. Forced to stay in the area as a result of the crime, he witnesses an alarming sight while at a motel that makes him think twice about where his faith lies.
Produced by Pure Flix, makers of God's Not Dead and The Mark.
Warning! Spoilers below!
The Good
For a Christian film, this is remarkably well-produced. It has the look and feel of a mainstream theatrical movie, especially when it comes to the action sequences. You'll probably want to watch this on the biggest screen available. Also, the portrayal of events that are happening in our country every day were appropriately disturbing, and the villains were either perfectly despicable, or, in one case, shown to actually have a heart. Even the filming style was different; some of the sequences reminded me of an anime cartoon. A lack of profanity and drug use, as well as a near-lack of sexual content, only made matters better.
The Bad
Though appropriate for the storyline, the violence here is a bit unsettling. Right from the get-go, we see a motorcycle gang beat up a police officer and proceed to murder him with a huge hammer; the latter, however, is implied, but the whole scene is a bit bloody. Guns are fired, and people are shot, sometimes fatally; a guy is even suffocated to death. The usual Rapture theology is present, which may bother some viewers. My biggest complaint, however, is with the plot: Instead of starting off with the mass disappearances, they don't take place until about ten minutes before the credits roll. It wouldn't be a problem if it weren't obvious from the start that they were going to happen. Viewers expecting a wrap-up ending will have to seek out the next installment, as this first entry merely ends with a "To be continued..."
Conclusion
Though good for what it is, I'd have liked this movie to have reached a conclusion before it ended. I do have the next installment on hand; however, this feels more like the first half of a movie than the entire movie itself. If you do decide to pick this up, make sure you buy/rent both entries, as the first one will leave you hanging. Production-wise, this is better than most "end times" movies; if only the plot matched up.
Score: 3/5
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