Six: The Mark Unleashed

This movie is the secret love-child of a Jack T. Chick tract and one of those "heartwarming" Christian propaganda anecdotes that have been circulating on the internet since the nineties. You know, the ones in which a mean, cynical atheist makes fun of a poor, oppressed Christian using a pompous, verbose argument which sounds impressive because it contains big words, but doesn't actually make any sense, and gets his come-uppance when his "argument" is "refuted" by some emotive sound-bytes from the Christian.

There is in fact a scene exactly like this somewhere in the first half of the movie, which is all that I could endure before flipping to the end of the DVD to see if anything exciting happened. Nothing did.

As science-fiction, the movie is ludicrous and unbelievable. It sets up a completely implausible and illogical view of the future. Setting aside the gimmick of the "implant" (which has a powerful, magical effect on your *brain* in spite of being implanted in your *hand*), why is someone in a maximum security prison run by a society which apparently practices rigid censorship allowed to have a bible, supposedly a heretical work? Why are the prisoners allowed to decorate their cells with beautifully and neatly executed graffiti of biblical quotations? Where do they get their art supplies? How did the evil implanted stormtroopers manage to massacre huge numbers of people in armed attacks if they appear to value personal self-preservation above everything else, including *defending the very survival of their society*?

The evil society is simply not believable, because it is a caricature of everything that modern fundamentalist Christians disapprove of blended with symbolism from the Book of Revelations. Are we supposed to be disturbed by the drones because they are sexually promiscuous? With *gasp* partners of both sexes? Oh, noes! The horror! I bet they've also massacred half the planet!

If you are the sort of person who reads those chain letters and thinks "Oh wow, that is such a well-reasoned argument! Let me forward this to everyone in my address book!" then you will probably adore this movie. If you are the kind of person who thinks "Who sent me this crap *again*?", then I suggest you stay away.

I saw this at the 2004 Greater Orlando Christian Film Festival. Most Christian movies have a well-earned reputation of being terrible on just about every level from acting to directing to writing to production. They look like your average church youth group with a dv camera ran out and shot a movie. As such I was braced for more of the same but Six (not sure why it is named that) actually is a cut above normal Christian films. The writing, while not always the smartest, definitely keeps you guessing what will happen next. I had some issues with things that didn't make a lot of sense, such as why in a prison where they are executing prisoners if they don't convert to the antichrist, they are allowing the inmates to have Bible studies and write Bible verses all over the walls. It seems contradictory at best. Also the backstory is given short shrift as to how or why the Leader came to power. There is some mentioning of purges and that's about it. Other issues have to do with things that happen for no apparent reason. Like there is a character that recalls how he got saved. So we see him driving his car along a road mocking a large group of people that are walking for some inexplicable reason to some unexplained or unrevealed destination, and then he gets yanked out of the car and beat up. This scene has no context. Just because it is a flashback does not mean that within the flashback, context is optional. So that's the bad, or what I can remember of it. Now for the good. Six has some of the best acting that I have seen in a Christian film, notably on the part of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Tom Newman. He delivers his lines in a nice deadpan way and never goes over the top. Stephen Baldwin(!) has a great turn as the prophetic Luke. Baldwin puts that menacingly creepy little whisper delivery that he used in The Usual Suspects to great effect here with his moments opposite Morgan. Writing, directing, and starring is Kevin Downes as Jerry the hacker. Downes does an admirable job and in all of these roles but is best at his ability to hold back the film from spiraling out of control into the realms of the ludicrous with his even direction. While it has a solid Christian thriller vibe, it doesn't ram the "you're going to hell" message down your throat. It's more complex than that and expects its audience to think critically. While not a big screen level of quality (this is to be excused because it isn't being made with a massive budget), the movie is definitely the equal of your normal made-for-tv fare. Firmly anchored if not always rock steady, Six is a film that you can watch and not be embarrassed with if you are a Christian. 3.5 stars of 5.

With such recognizable stars as Stephen Baldwin and Eric Roberts in it, Six, The Mark Unleashed has quite a bit more production values in it than you normally get from a Christian film. Note the producer is Paul Crouch, Jr. of the Crouch family of Trinity Broadcasting Network so it's not like they're short of funds.

The creative end of this film is Kevin Downes and David A.R. White who are the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of the Christian film world. Note their respective credits, you'll find it almost exclusively in that genre.

Both of these two are getting a little old to be playing juveniles although Downes has quite the baby face, just like Matt Damon. They're a couple of petty criminals who get caught with some stolen items, but more important than that, they're caught with a counterfeit mark. The mark of course is the mark of the anti-Christ and it's a computer chip planted for thought control. That's an automatic death sentence.

In prison they're tossed in with Jeffrey Dean Morgan who neither buys into the thought control of the world 'Leader' who's come to power or with the Christian apocalyptic theology. He's a former cop and that makes him a good candidate to infiltrate the Christians and kill a new 'prophet' with the shegetz name of Elijah Cohen. Morgan's ex-wife Amy Moon dreamed up this assignment. Morgan escapes with White and Downes who has now become a believer. The rest of the film is what happens to the three of them.

Baldwin and Roberts lend their names to this project in strictly minor roles for box office. Usually these films immediately go to the Christian television circuit with a limited if any kind of run on the big screen.

If you're a believer this film is better than average, if you're not the story will be silly and trite. Reviews for these kind of films are wasted because the audience is a built in one, dictated by religious beliefs. Kind of like a Star Trek movie in that way.

Of course some people think this movie was stupid...to me..I loved it.

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." - 1 Corinthians 2:14

The movie had much more to offer than most of the other movies out there. This had content that spoke to my soul as truth. There was some real truth about redemption and forgiveness.

I'm curious to know how many of the actors were Christian? I also think that Stephen Baldwin has improved on his acting skills. I've also seen Eric Roberts in other movies with Christian content.

Its seems that most of the heavy critics of this movie have a problem with Christianity anyway and what in the world does the Bush Administration have to do with it? Basically one should realize that if its a "end time" Christian movie--expect bible quotes, prayer and good natured characters. I think the movie could stand improvement in its writing. Some of the attempts in humor was weak and I just have problems in attempts to create popular one-liners. Its one of those movies where you comment on how you would re-write that scene while its occurring. The mind control Nazi like soldiers are getting old also.

On a funny side, why would I want a Porche if it cant out run an old police car on straight roads? The driver says thats OK--we'll out run em on the hair pin curves. Thats why you need 150+ on the speedometer-- Folks just lighten up, have fun watching. If you don't like Christians and the their words "burn your very soul", don't watch Christian movies (duh) just as I don't watch movies with a gay theme because I don't approve of the lifestyle.