Revelation (1999)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

I thought it was a great movie. The idea may have been far fetched, but it was made to send a message. It was not made for the sole purpose of entertainment. Jeff Fahey played the roll well, and Carol Alt was definitely gorgeous. I have to admit that Nick Mancuso was my favorite for the part he played towards the end of the film. The way the world will end will be debated till the end of time. If this movie touched even one person, then it was worth what it cost. I'm sure the creators would agree. I know it was effective for what it was made to accomplish. Using big name actors such as Fahey gave it the push it needed to reach a larger segment of the population. I would like to see more movies like this.

From the combined ministries of Jack and Rexella Van Impe and John Hagee comes Revelation, the second in a trilogy of films about somebody's conception of the end times. I say somebody's because even fundamentalist Christians are by no means united about prophesying things to come.I've not seen the first of these films Apocalypse in which a united world government is established and the rapture has taken place. A guy who even calls himself the Messiah named Macaluso played by Nick Mancuso has taken over the world and it's either his way or the highway.Christians are not even united on whether there will even be a rapture, but I'm of the opinion that if the fundamentalists are right and whole lots of people that you know feel that way suddenly vanish it might give some tangible proof about the Bible being real. But it has happened and it's happened to Jeff Fahey's family, wife and daughter, who just vanished without a trace. She could never quite get him to church and he's been left behind as a result. Anyway under the regime of Messiah Macaluso those who are not followers of his are deemed 'haters' and are rounded up and also disappear in more conventional ways.Fahey finds himself questioning what's going on and when he does he's framed for his partner's murder and forced to flee among the haters. Who in his city include former news anchor Leigh Lewis who in the first film had been the first to denounce Macaluso for being Satan.Mancuso's got something called a Day of Wonders where folks will be asked to participate in a virtual reality game en masse. Since we know who Mancuso is, it's something not good and its up to the believer types to throw a monkey wrench into the works. Carol Alt and Tony Nappo play a blind and a paraplegic people respectively and when they play the game they are healed and become Mancuso's disciples. That's a mighty hard thing to give up, healing from some affliction to reject Mancuso.David Roddis has an over the top performance as one of Mancuso's acolytes who's playing his villain in the best Snidely Whiplash tradition. All he needed was a handlebar mustache to twirl at both ends.It's impossible to evaluate these films because believer folk will hang on every word and nonbelievers will inevitably scoff. Then it degenerates into a theological not a cinema discussion. The cast give it their best to inject reality in some far fetched notions.There was a scene that really wasn't terribly germane to the plot where a father turns in his son for 're-education' because he caught him with a Bible. I took a look on the actor, Darrel Hicks, who played the son and found he'd also later done work on Queer As Folks. Talk about an eclectic resume.The ending is positively biblical itself. Just think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

This film is entertaining and I think that only believers were to get the humor, since most of it was bible-based. Thorold Stone is a non-believer that had a wife and daughter who lived God and God called them to be with him in the air (2 Thess 4) and he has missed them since.Franco Macalusso has risen to power and a lot of buzz is going on about THE DAY OF WONDERS.A bus has been blown up with innocent children in it--everyone points to 'haters' and will stop at nothing to see them dead.Technology will play a part in the end times also as they don VR helmets that will put them face to face with the Antichrist that will 'save them' but deliver them to hell once they don the mark.Stone gradually becomes a believer and intends to take Macalusso down by sending a virus to O.N.E headquarters after he learns the truth. He also knows that O.N.E. blew up that bus so that Macalusso can start a war with the Christians and wipe them from the face of the Earth. He doesn't know that Helen Hannah's brother has received the mark and will sabotage the endeavor, which he does. He is about to die when Helen smashes the computer and the believers are caught, like sheep in the mouths of wolves.They sing Amacing Grace which is the Gospel message in a song (check 2 Cor 5:21 also a good summary of the Gospel) and escape like Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego (forgive me for my spelling) and shows that God is the same today, tomorrow and forever. The O.N.E. headquarters are burned down because the heat was turned up too high and the demon opened the door thus releasing the flames. Macalusso blames the believers for it (as will they when the plagues are unleashed in Revelation) and thus THE DAY OF WONDERS is postponed until they recover and the believers are safe for now anyway

My personal opinion is that this is one of the best Christian films I have seen on the End Times. I am a Christian so I am totally biased. I have heard some people that are not Christians say they did not like the movie and I think that some of the comments are understandable. If you are not a Christian then you are probably not going to accept that there will be an anti-Christ that the Holy Scriptures talk about. Taking the mark 666 so you can buy or sell, being totally deceived by Satan and supposedly peace globally. If you are not a Christian this is probably a real joke and nonsense, even fanatical. But to those of us that are Christians, this movie makes total sense and how the Bible says in Revelation (and Daniel) that it will be.I highly recommend this movie to everybody that is Christian. And to those that are not, you should check it out anyway, just to see what Believers think will happen in the End Times, based on the Scriptures.And try to concentrate on the words, the message, not whether or not this is great acting like Laurence Oliver or Tom Cruise or even Leonardo DiCaprio. Great acting is not the point, where you spend eternity is.Jeff Fahey, Carol Alt, Leigh Lewis and the entire cast were superb!