Portal da Morte

The plot of this story is interesting, coupled with the Millenium anxiety that was prevalent during the time of release. However, huge hole in plot, lack of background and poor scripting resulted in a mediocre "armageddon" movie.

The background is that an ancient, gigantic, floating rock-like object suddenly appeared out from underground after 4 billion years. Of course, scientists, together with the prerequite of military force have to investigate. David Keith, plays the main protegonist who is supposedly incredibly intelligent and works under a female diplomat.

The usual, predictable sparks appear, between male and female, scientists and the military, USA vs China (the location is supposedly close to the Chinese border in Asia).

The worst thing is that there is potential for this show to have much better ratings. However, horrible scripts that don't into details, just action, action, action, coupled with the director's inability to elicit any emotion from the wooden actors/actresses except for the extreme ones made this show a movie that only a geek would like.

There was not much I expected from Epoch, thinking that surely we would have one of these B-movies with pausing dialog and s****y script. So in some ways I was surprised, as the result was much better then I expected. What saved this film was pretty good idea and not too bad script. The main actors did well, keeping their conversation fast paced and witty. There were some parts that irritated me though, mostly to do with the government, which seemed to be filled with idiots. It had a weird balance between comedy and action, which I don't think really worked here, and even though some wit is good, they should have kept it more realistic. I especially enjoyed Brian Thompson, which we have seen in so many TV shows (Star Trek, X-File). He managed to actually act here, which he is not allowed to do often, and I think he is underrated as an actor. But the performance of Ryan O'Neal just irritated me along with a few of the others; with such bad over-acting that it was painful to watch. However, this film lacks action and the storyline went steadily down hill from beginning to end. The idea could have been used to make a pretty good action movie, with a little bit better worked out storyline, and much better casting. 5/10

Listen, I have seen REAL junk before seeing this movie - movies with worse scripts, worse special effects, worse acting, you name it. That's why I am kind of puzzled with everyone here claiming that those attributes in this movie are the worse possible. All I can think is that they have mostly or completely watched big-budget Hollywood product, and think that the only good films that exist must fit that criteria.

The movie starts off pretty well, thanks in part to an intriguing premise. And the investigation of the object and the events surrounding it keep up the interest, with some genuine intelligent touches. There is also some extra tension added with the subplot about the Chinese.

Okay, the special effects overall may not be up to a big-budget Hollywood movie, but they are far above average for made-for-video movies. (And a few, in fact, are excellent.) And yes, there are a few questionable things in the script, such as how the Chinese first react to the object when they get near it. The acting is mainly mediocre, but it's not so bad that it keeps distracting you from the characters and the events.

However, I will admit that the movie ultimately ends up being a big question mark. A lot of intriguing questions are brought up, but there is little done to answer them. Still, this is nowhere the worst movie that's ever been made. For those who think so, I say: Expand the range of what you watch! For starters, try watching movies made by Royal Oaks or Phoenician Entertainment, or movies produced by Lloyd A. Simandl!

I have to agree with the wizard. i'm stuck at home on a Saturday with the flu, and luckily I have every channel Direct TV offers, so there's a lot to choose from.

This is a very decent, made for TV sci-fi movie. Complete with philosophical issues, a few plot twists...e.g., 80% of the way through the movie, you don't know if the 'thing' is good or bad.

The actors are mostly B and C level players. But the script, and their performance allows one to become absorbed in the storyline. As opposed to many, that are just so plain horrible.......immersion into the story is impossible.

I can name 10 movies that have been released in this calender year, ones I've paid 9.00 to see in theater, that I feel are less worthy of 2 hours of my life.

I'd classify this, as definitely worth watching for free....if its on TV. Not worth going to see at the theater. Not worth making a special trip to blockbuster, but worth tucking away in the back of your mind for one of those nights when everything else is checked out.

I give it a 5.

Doc

Ahh, the critics who are so quick to dismiss this made for TV movie often make me wonder what they're really looking for.

I picked this movie off the shelf of Blockbuster thinking "hey, unknown Sci-Fi movie, must be awful, but I bet there's some sample material for me in it." What a shock when I got it home and found it was actually clever and worth watching!

To begin with, the script is actually pretty smart, and filled with surprisingly witty dialog that had me laughing out loud at parts. The CGI effects are as good as they get for a movie of this budget, and are better than I expected them to be. The story, while mildly predictable, keeps you thinking, and is certainly of a bigger scope than the standard "five people trapped in a unknown alien artifact" that I expected. Any story that acknowledges politics and an outside world has to be given more credit than some viewers (and commenters here) would care to admit.

Overall, if you've got a rainy day and are looking for a little diamond in the rough, this isn't a bad way to spend two hours. There are faces you'll recognize, some intelligent unfolding of the story, reasonable cinematography and direction, and Epoch is an overall entertaining bit of work. 7.5 out of 10.