Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End

I have never written a review before, but this movie prompted me to create an IMDb account just to do so. To get right down to it, the movie has tremendous Christian input into its production, which some may find intolerable. Given an open mind and a healthy appetite for a real heart-pounder, rooting for the good guy kind of flick, this movie really delivers and may change a few people's lives. They took out all the stops in making this on par with other A-list movies, and special effects were spot on. I wish I had seen it in a theater. Sequel? Please?

I would attribute any negative reviews or less-than-7 votes to the afformentioned people who find religious movies intolerable. This movie was far from religious, and just presented an end of the world scenario as it was told in Revelation, no worse than Constantine in that regard (also a good movie). Others have said "don't waste your time" based on the story and meaning, but the makers cannot have been more forthright about the storyline given the title.

I don't want to sound like a Christian hater because I am not, I just want to warn people about wasting time on an end of days movie that is more like a cheap attempt to get people to watch a religious movie. The synopses makes it sound good and the cover art makes it look good, like you are going to see real catastrophe film but all you get is some cheap lightning effects, flashes of light, and something that shakes a couple of plants and a light fixture. I don't mind movies with some religion mixed in but this movie was just bad from the start. The story is weak to say the least, bad special effects, and very bad character build up. At times I felt like what good acting there was it was being overshadowed by the director and a script forcing the actors to recite religious lines. I also found myself at times rooting for the bad guys because I had no feelings for the good guys. This movie at best should be in bible study classes but even then people may say it is to violent. All in all I found this movie dumb and boring with no real meaning except if you believe in god you will start to glow, turn into a glowing ball and fly up into the sky. I basically did not get it at all and feel if you want to watch a religious movie watch a religious movie like The Bible from The History Channel that was very well done not one that is trying to be religious with allot of sappy dialog. So, if you are a blinded fanatical Christian, you may like this film but if you just like end of days/catastrophe movies stay away from this one because you will be very disappointed.

Well that's 84 minutes I'll never get back, I came across this film thinking it might be right up my alley. I'm a huge fan of post apocalyptic films and figured this might be kinda that genre from what little Info I could find.

Jesus was mentioned after a short time of watching the film, but it wasn't until a good hour in I realised exactly what I was watching, up until that point I figured they were just being a little heavy on the religious front to try give the story some spiritual angle. Turns out its a film, well the first in a series of films to be nothing more than an 84 minute advert for God.

Unless your really into your redemption and spiritual justice films I'd give this a wide berth, There are no redeeming features or positives I could take away from this, other than an insight in to Religious propaganda and assorted mumbo jumbo.

At least "Nude Nuns with Guns" has a semi plausible story.

RELEASED IN 2013 and directed by Gabriel Sabloff, "Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End" stars David A.R. White as a traveling salesman in the deserts of the Southwest with a dark past, who just wants to get home to his wife (Jen Lilley) and daughter. But his plans are disturbed by a crazy outlaw biker gang and a wise gun store owner (Ray Wise), his granddaughter (Noell Coet) and wife (Eliza Roberts), not to mention the foreboding lightning and tremors. Brian Bosworth plays the head thug while Eric Roberts appears as the sheriff. The striking Andrea Logan White is also on hand as one of the gang members.

This film and its immediate sequel, "Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire," were shot back-to-back and released four months apart in 2013. "Revelation Road: The Black Rider" (2014) completes the trilogy. I have yet to see the two sequels, but the fact that this movie is the beginning of a trilogy should be kept in mind in appraising it. In other words, it's a foundation for a greater work and not a stand-alone film.

If you're familiar with Christian productions from the new millennium, like "Left Behind: The Movie" (2000), "Deceived" (2002), "Fireproof" (2008), "Cutback" (2010), "I Am" (2010), "Abel's Field" (2012), "Do You Believe?" (2015), "War Room" (2015) and "God is Not Dead 2" (2016), this film is cut from a different cloth (of course, you could say the same for "Deceived" and "I Am").

Imagine if Tarantino made an oddball evangelical flick on a low-budget; that's what this movie's like. The outlaw bikers are depicted better than in most of those dubious biker flicks from the late 60s and early 70s while the action is so over-the-top it's almost cartoony, but not really if you consider the Las Vegas massacre and similar insane public bloodbaths. There's a meandering, almost unfocused vibe to the proceedings, which can be defended on the grounds that it reflects the meaningless of life. Regardless, the limited-budget filmmaking is competent enough and the actors are stalwart and convincing.

There's a killer ultra-heavy cut on the soundtrack that appears during the prologue and later in the movie, as well as a great modern rock song during the end credits. There's also a couple of moving mellow songs by Serena Matthews, one during the final credits (after the rock song).

THE FILM RUNS 88 minutes and was shot in the deserts of the American Southwest (I can't find info on the exact locations). WRITERS: Sean Paul Murphy & Sabloff.

GRADE: B-/C+ (5.5/10)

A mild-mannered traveling salesman by the name of "Josh McManus" (David A.R. White) is driving through a barren stretch of road in West Texas when he stops at a convenience store to try to make a sale. All of a sudden three members of a sizable biker gang called "the Barbarians" come in and decide to rob it. After obtaining the money from the owner "Frank" (Ray Wise) they decide to kill him, Josh and the only other person in the store named "Beth" (Noel Coett). It's then that we discover that there is more to Josh than meets the eye as he quickly kills all three bikers within about 20 seconds. Naturally, this infuriates the leader of the biker gang named "Hawg" (Brian Bosworth) who swears vengeance upon all three of them. At the same time however there are strange weather patterns and minor earthquakes happening as all of this is taking place. Anyway, rather than detailing what happens next I will just say that this was an interesting Christian movie which essentially lays the foundation for future sequels. As such it leans more towards character development than most movies of this type. However, it does have quite a bit of action which is somewhat surprising for most movies in this genre. In summation, this was a decent Christian apocalypse film and I rate it as slightly above average.