La prophétie des ténèbres II

This terrible mess of a movie plays like the wet dream of your average American christian fundamentalist. It is about two brothers, one who becomes head of the EU and UN (read Antichrist), the other who becomes president of the good ol' USA and plans to kick his brother's unholy arse (sorry I mean ass) back to hell. Along the way they happen to fall in love with the same woman who is a stunner when she's young, but ends up looking like Cecilia Bartoli as she grows older - well you know what they say about Italian girls and their mothers.

For a film about the Devil and Armageddon, Megiddo is not in the least bit frightening (unlike The Omen, which quite literally put the fear of god into me). Michael York is more annoying than threatening as the wise-cracking Antichrist.

What baffles me is how they were able to get a B-movie cast for this Z-grade turkey - I mean are Michael York and Michael Biehn so hard up for cash that they need to degrade themselves in a film like this? What's worse is that the production values are quite high so there are no crappy special effects to laugh at.

It's not all bad news though. The incomparable Udo Kier plays the part of the Devil's right hand man (who else). R Lee Ermey is a hoot as the straight talking US president and brings back fond memories of his role as the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket.

It's interesting to read some of the comments here since some seem to be the complete opposite of others. I have to tell you that I have see this move 3 times already (once for free and twice I paid to see it). The first two times I saw it there was a lot of reaction during and and at the end of the movie (standing ovation the first two times I saw it) and this last time I saw it there was reaction during the film but no outbursts in the final scenes and no standing ovation (of course there was a smaller audience). There are basically 3 kinds of people who will see this movie: people who understand the book of Revelation (or at least THINK they understand everything that will happen) and will scrutinize this movie based on that, people who have read some of Revelation and understand the basic idea but admit they don't understand what all of it means as far as all the details, and, finally, those people (either Christian or non-Christian) who have no clue about Revelation or what's going to happen and will walk away with questions.

I fall into the second category because I have read Revelation but it's a lot to take in and the movie only covers a small portion of Revelation. There were a couple of questionable moments for me in the movie but the main theme of Megiddo is that God wins the war. It's not about following every single detail in Revelation because face it, we can read Revelation over and over again and still NOT know exactly what will happen exactly in the end except that God wins. That's what the whole movie is about. Most people will not go to a movie and critique every little thing, even most Christians.

I went to see the first Omega Code and it was very dull and boring. After seeing Megiddo I wish they wouldn't have referred to it as Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 because this movie stands on its own. Unlike Omega Code, the acting is great, the special effects are Hollywood-scale, and you really get a small glimpse of what will happen when the beast is defeated. Someone here mentioned about them not showing Satan chained for 1000 years but I imagine that will be in the next movie they make (I don't want to say sequel because I'm hoping they don't lump the next one in with The Omega Code, too). Judging from the way this movie ended that seems logical that they will pick up there.

I recommended this movie to all my Christian friends because I saw what effect it had on the people around me in the theaters I went to and I know how it made me feel and I know if a movie can portray this kind of scene I can only rejoice MORE in knowing that the way it will REALLY be will be even greater. Christian movie-makers are getting better and this is definitely one of the better Christian movies I've seen and it's worthy of being embraced.

This movie was great!!! I haven't felt as satisfied with spending money on a movie at the theater as I did yesterday in a long time. I've been waiting to see a movie like this during my time for a long time, you know, those so-bad-its-good movies everyone is always talking about. Well, I can safely say I love those movies, but none weird enough or horrible enough have come out since the 70's. Now, it has all changed. All the acting was terrible, the special effects were worse than the intros to playstation games, the script was non-existant, and the movie seemed to overall be a super-fast paced movie with about one billion ideas thrown into an hour and a half. None of it made any sense! It was like some amazingly unbelievable psychotic view of how the Earth works. What weirdo made this movie?? Have you ever been outside?? FBI agents shooting secret service agents?? HAHAHAHA I have not laughed so hard at a movie at the theater in forever. I want to go see this again, which I havent found myself saying in quite a while either.

But my god, if they doesnt rank up there with being as awesomely bad as Sometimes Aunt Martha Does dreadful Things, Boarding House, Death Wish Club, and all the other classic Z-movies, then I dont know what does. And I would also like to add that whoever had the amazingly horrible idea of casting R. Lee Emrey as president of the U.S. - you are a genius.

I seem to get the feeling that Udo, Reese, and all the others in this movie were doing horrible acting jobs to add to it. Wasn't it awesome where all of Stone's soldiers were wearing sunglasses? And where Michael York coughed up all those bees and then fell a little as tho it had worn him out? Ah... good times..

A movie that you must see. Even if you aren't into end-time prophecy the special effects in the movie will blow you away...especially coming from a private film company. Michael York plays his part very well just like he usually does. You think that Stone Alexander (Michael York) has beaten the world with his schemes and under-handed ways, think again. Hold onto your seats because the special effects in the beginning and middle of the movie are amazing, but just wait until you see the end, WOW!

My wife suggested we see "Megiddo," and I'm glad she did. It's refreshingly different and indeed entertaining to watch a film lacking the ubiquitous dark-green haze of linguistic pollution or the hackneyed writer's block cure-all: nudity.

Entertaining though it was, "Megiddo" represents interpretations of the endtimes described in the biblical Book of Revelations or Apocalypse that are current among many of us. Might there be other interpretations that a film should consider as well that go beyond the strictly literal? Perhaps that is too much to ask of one film, given the circumstances of its production.

Humanity's struggle between good and evil was a thematic constant in this film, as in Judaism's Yom Kippur, Christianity's atonement, Islam's only now barely understood jihad (the struggle over the sinful self to be one with God's will). For all its literal stance, the film is poignantly significant given the recent horror (that humankind is wont to visit upon its own) in New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, and in other stricken areas world-wide.

See "Megiddo" (and read the book, or read the book first) and judge for yourself. Are the endtimes the stuff of spectacular special effects (some quite profoundly moving as was God's parting of the Red Sea in "The Ten Commandments"), or is the Holy Bible's text possessed of far more subtlety and significance than we think or films display?