La profezia - Revelation

A different twist to the End Times, where technology will determine your fate. However, parts of the film's plot are flawed (blowing up a schoolbus won't mean much if all the children have already gone) and compared to Left Behind, this film lacks punch and credibility.

From the combined ministries of Jack and Rexella Van Impe and John Hagee comes Revelation, the second in a trilogy of films about somebody's conception of the end times. I say somebody's because even fundamentalist Christians are by no means united about prophesying things to come.

I've not seen the first of these films Apocalypse in which a united world government is established and the rapture has taken place. A guy who even calls himself the Messiah named Macaluso played by Nick Mancuso has taken over the world and it's either his way or the highway.

Christians are not even united on whether there will even be a rapture, but I'm of the opinion that if the fundamentalists are right and whole lots of people that you know feel that way suddenly vanish it might give some tangible proof about the Bible being real.

But it has happened and it's happened to Jeff Fahey's family, wife and daughter, who just vanished without a trace. She could never quite get him to church and he's been left behind as a result. Anyway under the regime of Messiah Macaluso those who are not followers of his are deemed 'haters' and are rounded up and also disappear in more conventional ways.

Fahey finds himself questioning what's going on and when he does he's framed for his partner's murder and forced to flee among the haters. Who in his city include former news anchor Leigh Lewis who in the first film had been the first to denounce Macaluso for being Satan.

Mancuso's got something called a Day of Wonders where folks will be asked to participate in a virtual reality game en masse. Since we know who Mancuso is, it's something not good and its up to the believer types to throw a monkey wrench into the works.

Carol Alt and Tony Nappo play a blind and a paraplegic people respectively and when they play the game they are healed and become Mancuso's disciples. That's a mighty hard thing to give up, healing from some affliction to reject Mancuso.

David Roddis has an over the top performance as one of Mancuso's acolytes who's playing his villain in the best Snidely Whiplash tradition. All he needed was a handlebar mustache to twirl at both ends.

It's impossible to evaluate these films because believer folk will hang on every word and nonbelievers will inevitably scoff. Then it degenerates into a theological not a cinema discussion. The cast give it their best to inject reality in some far fetched notions.

There was a scene that really wasn't terribly germane to the plot where a father turns in his son for 're-education' because he caught him with a Bible. I took a look on the actor, Darrel Hicks, who played the son and found he'd also later done work on Queer As Folks. Talk about an eclectic resume.

The ending is positively biblical itself. Just think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Revelation is a movie that all Christians should see. It is set in modern times, with computer technology as a major part of the story line. Jeff Fahey is one of the non-believers left behind after the Rapture...his wife and child are gone, and he is unable to comprehend what has really happened.

Nick Mancuso gives a gripping portrayal as the Anti-Christ.

...this one will petrify you. When you watch films such as The Shining... Scream... all volumes of Freddy Kruger, etc., etc., you are scared, obviously, but it really doesn't affect your inner soul. You have sort of a security blanket in your mind, because you know this is not true; it never happened.

Revelation, although, literally makes you tremble because of its sheer, true-to-life impact. It WILL happen; it's not a matter of 'if'...but 'when.' It's not a wholly bad thing, either, it forces you to look over your spiritual life and ask yourself if you're really putting what is necessary into your faith life; your relationship with God. Go rent it, feel yourself quiver.

Good production, but cheesey plot. This movie is based on end-times prophecy from the Bible concerning the tribulation period. Through the story, they show the mark of the beast coming about by means of virtual reality (Virtual reality sets are mailed to everyone in the world). I found this far-fetched and completely unrealistic. The ending was also awful. The writers of this movie must not have a clear connection to reality.