O Refúgio

The movie is supposed to be about a nuclear incident, you see the explosion then everybody heads to Ross home. No explanation of who caused the incident or why, just people hiding at the Ross home and securing it from who knows? No aliens, no crooks, no evil people, just hiding from nothing. A huge lack of a Christian theme, no spiritual message, not a movie I would identify with Angel Studios. It was like 2 separate movies, one about hiding and protecting each other from an unknown enemy, and one about finally getting Faith and everything is then ok. Very, very disappointing for Angel Studios. If this movie is a sample of where Angel Studios is heading, it's no wonder The Chosen filed a breach of contract dispute with Angel Studios which was decided in The Chosen's favor. Angel Studios has chosen to dispute the judges ruling and file an appeal. The boys from Utah are on the wrong path. I'll add I got 2 free tickets from Angel Studios, and I would not even have watched it for free it I knew what it was about after I watched it.

Cringe. I was pretty excited for this marketed "stand alone" movie, and I was sure it was going to develop throughout. Nope. Apparently this is a pilot, and I really wanted to convince myself that I wasn't giving it enough grace, based on what is previewed at the end. However, there is no reason to watch the rest of the series.

As a religious conservative myself, I really wanted to like this movie. But when the girl's "can I...pray for you" line was delivered awkwardly and distantly to the guy seeking comfort after his mistake (instead of her leaning in to offer a touch, hug, or even a quiet ear to listen), I laughed, then I groaned, then I lost all hope that the rest of the movie would be able to portray a good message convincingly. Sorry to say, this is Angel's first big flop, mostly due to its deceptive marketing, disjointed narrative, and failed dialogue (not to mention, the morality of message is very inconsistent).

I waited for this movie for months. I had allowed my anticipation to build to that of a child awaiting Christmas morning. Wanting that one gift that blows the rest away only to open all your gift and find you didn't get the one that matters...Angel Studios didn't gift me my one gift. Instead they gave me a huge build up into a mediocre movie that is basically a long advertisement for a new series. Very little action. Very little scenes showing what's actually happening through America after the bombs. I felt robbed and tricked at the end. I'm not happy about the way they built this up. This could have been the movie of the year. If anyone walks away from this saying they are fulfilled and happy with the production then they are not in being honest and are only attempting to be kind. I can not deny the disappointment my family and I felt as we walked out of the theater.

The movie was pretty good for what it was, but I believe the type of scenario that played out at the beginning, with the US coming under nuclear attack and the power grid going down, would have been much better if more people could relate to the aftermath of such events. Less than 10 minutes into the movie, 98% of people who have made some sort of preparations for such events were left out of the rest of the movie, and the 2%, or less, who might know someone with such accommodations and security were the only ones left to imagine themselves in that type of situation, unless, of course, you were one of those people who were totally unprepared, standing outside the gate begging to get in. Like I said at the beginning of this review, the movie was pretty good for what it was, but unfortunately, it was unrealistic to "prepper" viewers. Maybe Angel should think about making another movie that relates more to average people in rural areas who are prepared, to one degree or another. Maybe the storyline could be about a family, or families, living through such a scenario of events from their own homes and properties; their struggles to hang on to what they have; to keep their families safe and fed, and the tuff decisions that have to be made concerning those who were un or under prepared, including friends and neighbors.

But, that's just me thinking.

This was not a "movie" it was clearly a Series Pilot.

As a pilot there can be a lot forgiven, as a movie it was not great.

Zero character development and the "plotting" style of story development is transparent and poorly executed with characters constantly making unnatural choices to move the plot toward predetermined events.

Totally missing is any level of discovery where the characters organically develop, making natural feeling choices that grow the story.

While the highlight opening scene on the ocean was fantastic, it jumped in making it difficult to understand where they were, how they got there, and why they were on their mission. In its own this was ok, being dropped in to the story so abruptly could allow the viewer to build their own narrative about the situation.

However it got worse from here. Who is the owner of the homestead, why has he set it up, what is his background, and how was it funded, perhaps as a series this will be explored over time, but as a movie it made it difficult to understand the core foundation.

Just one of the countless examples, a city official that stops by demanding an accounting of who and what is on the homestead so they could collect taxes, just a few days after the world entered a crisis. Very awkward and unnatural, however this was clearly just a poorly executed plot setup for a later encounter.