Countdown (Jerusalem Countdown)

Considering the fact that this film was probably shot on small budget and made by folks outside the mainstream of Hollywood studios, I think they did a good job. I expect the poor ratings are sour grapes at the religious overtones, which should have been anticipated given the premise of the film. I have paid much more to see big budget films at the theater that failed to meet even a modicum of entertainment value. Thankfully technology has advanced to the point that small efforts like this one can have a professional production quality rivaling that of the large studios and their ridiculous budgets. Film making is no longer the exclusive domain of the well financed. This film is worth the price of admission if only to stick it to the big guys who are rapidly losing their creative edge.

It's really hard to be objective here with a review. Basically what we have got here is right wing Christian propaganda with political overtones marauding as an action/thriller movie.

Throw in some of the worst acting imaginable, a script that is, well, what script? there is none. Add in no continuity and a director that didn't direct and you have the most painful 80 minutes of "entertainment" imaginable.

Now being brutally honest, don't bother with this one if you value your sanity because i was ready to tear my hair out after 30 minutes but had to persevere because i had no choice ( watch or make your dinner was the ultimatum)

I go by the gold standard, if it looks like a dog, barks like a dog and smells like a dog. Well, it's a dog.

It's rather difficult to write a review for this kind of film. One is instantly inclined to use words like: childish, superficial, racist, moronic, pointless... but none of them come close.

Recent events in our times are bound to produce stuff like this. Among the many documentaries, news footage and commercial films, some are bound to play the "America: the guardians of world peace" card. But I never expected to see such a shoddily done film.

Without giving away much, I'll try to explain the plot. There are the good guys, i.e. Americans, looking neat and handsome, ready to do everything for peace on Earth. There is the Israel prime minister, although who is only seen on TV news, who gives tearjerker speeches about world peace. And there is everyone else, who are all ugly, growling, mumbling foreigners, who want to change the world order, do bad things, because they are ugly and evil and cannot stand nice, peace-loving Americans do good deeds.

I'm not saying these with any anti-American sentiments, mind you. This is actually what the film is about. It's appalling that some people approved this script and spent money for its production. It doesn't work even on a racist, "America is good, everyone else is bad" frame of mind. Your average 10-year old would approach the topic on a more intellectual level.

I realize that even the worst films require planning, time, effort and money, so I don't want to bash it all, but... who ever is responsible for this film? Responsible for the "suspect who mumbles prayers and snickers knowingly in the interrogation room" scene, done only in one million other bad movies, for instance? Or why do the foreigners write Arabic words in huge letters on the walls of the house they rent, when they are hiding dangerous stuff there? So that the neighbors would see from the windows? Oh well, I guess Arabic = evil in the childish minds of the people who approved and made this film.

I intentionally used the word "foreigner" instead of Arab or terrorist, for we really don't know who they are (although we suspect they are from Iran or Russia). One of them looks Chinese or from some Far-East country, the other looks like an Arab but could very well be Indian... doesn't really matter, for they are not American, and they are not even white. So they are evil.

I was also sorry to see a talented actor like Stacy Keach in this piece of wasted film material. Being a non-American, foreigner, evil, euro-trash, baby-eating, peace-hater myself, I haven't had the chance to see his works on theater, but I know he is vastly talented as an actor. He has been in his share of bad films, like The Class of 1999, but that was enjoyable bad. This one is just plain bad.

A very pro-Christian flick. Bad acting, no storyline, no sequence of events, stock characters that do not fit in to the story. I could go on forever with the things that sucked about this movie forever. I could not stand watching it beyond 30 grueling minutes.

The makers of this movies might have had all the best of fundamentalist Christian intentions, but the baseline of the story seemed like mud- slinging at the Arabs nations. At one point it felt like was back to being a Christian seated in a church being told how the Islam is our problem.

Please do not watch this movie if you value your creativity or even mere common sense. These characters should not set a foot in front of a camera again.

Beware potential viewers, this movie has TWO major negatives that make it a doubly awful flick:

1) It's script and plot are 2 steps BELOW made-for-TV. 2) It's clearly created by a pro-Christian organization to proselytize.

Problem is, even if you are a bible believing fundamentalist Christian, the movie is still awful. The script is unbelievable, but even worse is the long pauses between statements, when actors talking to one another. Why do they do that? Don't you know that to make it believable - ya gotta talk normal actor folks! Please don't waste 80 minutes on this.

My rating 1/10.