Blast and Whisper

CISCO CASTILLE - Blast and Whisper, AKA Elijah's story (2011) Newcomer Mehran Haq's (Disney's Step Up) acting in first-time director Mark Moran's "Blast and Whisper," where he plays the famous prophet Elijah, is truly one of the best lead performances I've seen in recent movie history!  During the few scenes without him, the movie moved at a slower pace.  While he is in the frame, you can't take your eyes away.  Very comparable to the brilliant performance of Jim Caviezel in "Passion of the Christ"! 

Haq makes the role seem effortless, as if he were born to it, and his supporting cast, especially his devout companion, Cylton Collymore Jr (Obadiah), delivers an outstanding performance as well, and would receive my vote for best supporting actor this year. Both, when together on screen, are magnetism in the flesh.  It's hard to see them apart from their roles. They just seem to merely be, utterly, the characters directed by Mark Moran.  Also to be noted, and not missed, is the return, and extraordinary performance of accomplished actress Libertad Green (Queen Jezebel/Jazz), who's role as the arch villain of this biblical epic sets the stage for the ultimate journey and test of faith and salvation for Elijah, and the children of Israel, from the one true God!  My one quibble about the movie is the slow pace during some of the scenes with less accomplished talent than Haq, Green, and Collymore. Although these scenes made the movie slightly uneven, it is abundantly worth the watch! Bravo! Post script to this review: Sources say that Mehran Haq the actor apparently hasn't been spotted for 40 days and 40 nights!  Could it be that he, too, like his namesake, has been taken up to heaven in a flaming chariot?

I found Blast and Whisper interesting and compelling. The movie shows some serious creative talent. The actors, music tracks, and photography are quite good. In a few places the low-budget props and special effects were showing, but there are quite a few impressive close-up shots. High quality, especially considering the budget was probably under one million dollars. Compelling, thought-provoking dialogue.

I found it an interesting take on some of the themes of Elijah's life, and the society of his day.

The plot conflict between Elijah and the "witch queen" "Jazz" takes off upon the discovery of a strange sacrifice. Elijah's refusal to take up arms makes him seem ineffective, although he begins a quiet but determined destruction of the pagan shrines.

It create a compelling story. Memorable and unique. The posture of people trying to sleep on the ground in the daylight, the investigation of the pagan altars, all were memorable.

Excellent film. Resonant and thought-provoking.

Wow. I can't believe any of these positive reviews were actually from neutral viewers. This movie was exceedingly bad. I don't shut off many movies in the middle, but this was utterly unbearable. From the awful music (using the term loosely), to the ratty wigs, to the generally bad acting across the board, to the lines that were barely sentences, I just couldn't persevere any more.

I laughed out loud when I saw one comment here comparing it to "The Passion of the Christ".

The camera work was pitiful as well. Obviously it was done with someone's home video camera.

Just don't waste your time as I did mine.

I really can't see anything in this film to cause me to give it more than a rating 2. The acting is like watching a group of school teenagers in a play, nothing sounds believable and one can tell the lines have been rehearsed, robotic in some scenes.

What annoys me about these "biblical" type of films is that they are too American. Here they tried to use old English grammar, which by the way was something we all laughed at for it wasn't the way it was spoken back then along with the solid American accent just didn't work. Even the costumes and the props were not real enough. In some scenes you can tell the props were cheap material made from cardboard.

Shame because the story itself is great.

Blast and Whisper adapts a story that anyone familiar with the bible could tell you. It is about a man of God named Elijah. Elijah believes in God and in his heart knows that vengeance against those who can't abide by God cannot be handled properly by men or women. When people deserve revenge the most, in that case it becomes God's turn to deal with the problem. That is exactly how Elijah handles the situation with a very serious threat. In reward to Elijah's letting it be His problem, God handles the problem: he punishes for Elijah. Later, he helps end the punishment. The threat has a name: Jezebel. We don't exactly hear that name in Blast and Whisper. Instead we hear the name "Jazz." Also, instead of God's name we hear, "the Half- Remembered One." These substitutions of other names make it next to impossible for someone expecting to watch another Bible movie with low production values called 'Blast and Whisper' to track what happens and match it against the Bible. What happens instead, is that it does track with the Bible. Only, instead of having a critical mindset watching the film (I refer to a reviewer who has read the Bible) and lining it up with scripture, that audience instead is distracted from their purpose and watch it only for sheer enjoyment. But when the credits roll at the end, you realize that you've been watching a Bible movie all along! This is amazingly refreshing to have happen. I was expecting to find out lots of flawed interpretations of the Bible, lots of low production values with the drought and the blast that God sends crashing down from the sky, and poor acting. Instead, in a matter of minutes I lost all track of where we were in the Bible, and simply enjoyed the film for what it is – a low budget period adventure set in the Middle East. And to my astonishment when I reached the end of the entire story, which did not call for me to line it up with scripture because of these clever substitutions of lots of names throughout the entire course of the movie, I realized happily in retrospect that everything did track quite well with the Bible! My hat's off to Breadwin Productions for an amazing and unusual experience for a low- budget production!

E. Sugalski Glenn Lyon, Pennsylvania