Revelation: The End of Days (2014)

Powerful

An Exercise In Nonsense

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Like many other movies and miniseries about this topic, this work is horrifically bad. It was poorly written, acted, and produced. It is almost laughable how awful this thing is. This is worse than some of the bad science fiction movies that I watch for kicks. It sticks to a convoluted interpretation of the Christian apocalypse that opportunists like Kirk Cameron, Jerry B. Jenkins, and Tim LaHaye have used to line their pockets for years, but the overused plot not even the worst aspect of this thing.The shaky camera style is reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, which fits well with the other poorly executed parts of the miniseries. If you are prone to vertigo, migraines, seizures, or motion sickness, especially if these have been triggered in the past by past movies or television shows, you might want to avoid this for health reasons. If not, just avoid it for quality reasons. It's not entertaining enough to justify wasting so much time on it.

I am giving "Revelation: End of Days" an extra star ONLY because I am a big fan of the "found footage" (aka "faux documentary") genre. I loved "Blair Witch" and "Cloverfield", and I think that "September Tapes" is one of the most underrated films of the new millennium. The style of "Revelation" is similar to "ST", but this couldn't be more blatant fundamentalist Christian propaganda if it were being broadcast on CBN, starring Kirk Cameron, and with a special cameo by Pat Robertson. The fact that History Channel produced it is rather odd. I know that they have had several "documentaries" that were very theologically biased to please the devout, but this is beyond even those. It is like Ed Wood cross-dressing as Leni Riefenstahl in a conservative Sunday suit. If that mental image frightens you, then definitely avoid watching this at all costs. :)

I fast forwarded through this series because it was just plain awful. First of all, the 7 year tribulation period will begin when the Antichrist signs a peace treaty with Israel. When Jesus spoke of the destruction of the temple he was speaking of when the Romans destroy the temple in 70 AD. The 7 headed-beast represents the worldwide political system-the one world government. The seven seals (Revelation (6:1-17, 8:1-5), seven trumpets (Revelation 8:6-13; 11:15-19), and seven bowls/vials (Revelation 16:1-21) are three succeeding series of end-times judgments from God. And not just children will disappear but all true believers will be raptured, or caught up in the air, before the tribulation period.

This absurd fiction piece is unbelievably boring. It is not worth watching, or should I say it is unwatchable. The cinematography is annoying, the editing is erratic, the plot is not engaging, the story is contrived. It begs to believed at every turn. The fact that this attempt at suspense is on the History Channel. This attempt to lure unsuspecting viewer to poor biblical programming demonstrates the desperate alliance between deluded Christian evangelists and Hollywood carpetbaggers. These stories lack substance and foster dangerous conspiracy theories and give validity to barbaric eschatological fantasies. Revaluation: the end of days is religious propaganda disguised as entertainment. Why bother calling it history when it is obviously fiction and supposedly a prediction of future events by a book that couldn't describe the world around it or one basic scientific reality. Not one! If The History Channel wants to show accurate biblical history, they should return to the previous programs and historians, archaeologists, biologists, chemists, cosmologists, and other purveys of fact, and in fact, history.