Homestead

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.

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.

Remember that movie a few months ago from Kevin Costner called HORIZON? It started like the makings of a great movie, but then about 1/3 the way into the running time, they decided to just slow everything down and not move the plot along anymore, because it was a miniseries pilot rather than an actual movie. Well that exact same thing happens here, and it really bummed me out because I loved the opening of the film.

Going back to THREADS in the early 80's and even the pilot episodes for such shows as "Walking Dead", "Survivors", and "Jericho", I've always felt hungry for a well-directed (and especially a well-written) realistic portrayal of society falling apart at the very opening of the apocalypse. The closer these shows and films get to full on realism, the more interesting they get, but it never seems to quite hit the threshold of believability. The closest of course would be THREADS, but that film is hampered a bit by its low budget and unrelenting bleakness, plus it's a "broad-brush" film that doesn't really focus on the personal journey of the characters with much depth. Most of these films follow characters who are essentially unprepared victims who run around like headless chickens, looting and killing each other. There's very little attention paid to the rebuilding of society unless you stick with the series.

What's fascinating about this film is that it seems to follow the world's best prepper; a billionaire who owns a large property, stockpiles many months worth of food, and hires a large staff to run the place. It's a much more fascinating concept to me than following some loner wandering around because we get the makings of a small society trying its best to function and dealing with the various crises and things they didn't plan out. I have a feeling it'll be a pretty satisfactory miniseries (assuming that there are more episodes coming), but unlike a lot of my fellow Gen-Xers, I have little patience to sit down and binge-watch or maintain some loyalty to an ongoing series. I'd much rather watch films in the form of closed-narratives, which is something that this film does not offer (nor did HORIZON) in the slightest bit. There's nothing satisfying at all in the end but a lot of unanswered questions.

The key scenes such as the incident with the hunters feels very poorly handled, and the attempt to make the killer character conflicted and then suddenly get over it rang completely false and hollow as well. The film has a lot of tough guys posing with guns but ultimately has practically no action, which is frustrating when you can spot many, many opportunities for it along the way. Ultimately, the film lacks in entertainment value unless you really are drawn toward prepper culture and want to see what sort of blind spots you may have in your own prepping strategy. There are those who are practical and those who are idealistic, and the film seems to favor the idealists without really showing the consequences of ignoring pragmatism in a doomsday situation in which it's absolutely critical. I guess that may be the downside of watching a post-apocalypse movie with an ever-so-slight religious bend to it, though this is worlds better from something more overt such as LEFT BEHIND.

Movies from Angel Studios are definitely improving when it comes to the acting, writing, and the overall quality of the films.

Homestead takes a very scary topic, and starts us off on the day of the incident, to show how quickly things would likely collapse. There is little to no backstory on the characters or the state of the world. What you learn about the characters you get from conversations that occur. This can be both good and bad - good in them at the plot moved along at a fast pace, bad because you aren't invested in them as people.

Some of the archetypes used are a little "one note". I was initially exasperated with the usual portrayal of the veteran types and their rigidity. But, it is definitely part of a character arc to show that people can and will change through experiences, so it actually works and I expect more in depth development as the follow up series progresses.

It does definitely stick to a redemption arc through faith, and has a few very obvious allegories (like Jesus using loaves and fishes to feed the masses), but I didn't find it over the top, forced or done in an unrealistic way.

It's a flawed film in some ways, but what film isn't? The debates have dialogue that could have definitely been written better. The direction could have been more on point. The effects of the attacks could have been shown a little more. But overall, it was still a good film and we all enjoyed 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).