Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End

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.

This is a movie that I am happy in recommending to others. Stylewise, start out with a generous helping of "The Road Warrior", then add a large spoonful or two of Tarantino (sans-vulgarities), and top it all off with a slather of "The Encounter", and there you have it in a nutshell, the overall feel of this flick. The production is top notch, and is supported by a familiar cast of talented actors in a storyline that is set against the end-times... a by now, all too familiar setting for Biblically based films, however this movie works hard to bring a fresh approach to the topic as it generally avoids many of the ubiquitous clichés that seem to be a staple in films of this genre...in fact, by mixing things up and keeping the audience guessing, it even succeeds on many levels in actually NOT being a typical genre flick. I thoroughly enjoyed this, the first installment in the series, and eagerly look forward to the next one to follow, "REVELATION ROAD 2: THE SEA OF GLASS AND FIRE"!

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.

Yeah I get it, this movie wan't made for me. But it's enjoyable enough in a B-movie kind of way if you can look past the religious bits. Or if you're here for the religious bits then you'll probably have a grand old time.

Here's the thing, I like David A.R. White. He's a decent actor with some surprising comic chops and with some not too bad editing makes for a decent action hero. I get that he might not be for everybody but if you like cheese, then he's where it's at.

David plays a travelling salesman who's on the road when the Rapture hits. It's now Mad Max with David, in effect, playing the Road Warrior. And as I said with some decent editing he makes it work. But he's got some kind of secret past where he's some badass mercenary / assassin and this training pops up whenever he needs to kick some ass. Story is pretty basic beyond that. His wife is religious, he's not. She's raptured, he's not. And he now needs to hit the road in an attempt to... do stuff.

Along the way he runs into a group of evil bikers. You know standard end of the world type stuff that you've seen better examples of. The characters felt rather one note but these movies aren't made with characters in mind so much as delivering a message. If you agree with it you'll give it top marks. If you don't, well check out the 1 star ratings for it.

Personally, while it's not something I'd normally watch, I'm willing to give it a 5. It's got a lot of problems. The third act feels rather tacked on. And it's not an apocalypse movie that I'd recommend but it's got it's good points.

Not bad, but not great either.

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)