lhikan-50572 Reviews

Revelation Road: The Black Rider (2014)

It's not abysmal, but a lot of work is needed

[4/10 · 5 November 2016]

The acting sometimes feels rigid, and some of the extent of situations seems unrealistic without additional context. Between the 3 (current) films, there's also a lot of filler with little plot progression. That trend continues in The Black Rider.

In order to keep up with the fight scenes of the first two movies, a lot of needless filler was added, pushing most of the real plot to the second half of the film. The fight scenes also weren't very well-paced and were like long breaks from the plot instead. They could learn a thing or two from Marvel on how to keep things flowing without the awkwardness.

The religious message is prevalent, though at times used with questionable accuracy. As with the first two movies, the Christian message is awkwardly juxtaposed with a protagonist with a penchant for killing. Though I have to give props for at least addressing the issue, it seems to be completely forgotten for the rest of the film.

The main turning point, both as the MacGuffin and in the tone, is the Shepherd. This is the only main character who doesn't seem to be awkwardly juxtaposed with the message of the movie - though he's also far from an action star.

I love ruminating on the book this movie is (loosely) based on as well as movies that attempt to interpret / depict the events. Though not quite cringe-worthy, the movie just doesn't have much going for it due to feeling like a single, stretched-out episode. When the series is complete, an abridged version might be better worth watching.

The Mark (I) (2012)

A bit dis-integrated and stretched thin

[3/10 · 16 October 2016]

Being as spoiler-lite as feasible, here's my review as a Christian viewer.

Christian films, particularly Christian fantasy films, often struggle to balance plot and religious undertones, which for the most part don't mesh very well in the film. Here, the action and religion seemed to be a bit divorced, with the religion being more isolated and forced. Flashback scenes can be used well, but when most of the spirituality is isolated to these scenes the divide just seems to broaden (and somehow I missed that it was his brother talking about God until near the end). Less concentrated but more spread out spirituality could have made the film feel more unified.

I was also cringing at the explanation of the girl who was shot in his past as that seems to be a very ego-centric to Messiah-complex theology. The purpose seems to have been to take the conversation to God and the problem of evil, but there are less problematic ways to bring up the Bible.

The plot also seems highly questionable, beyond the guns used on a plane not being more disastrous. Very little background background is given regarding the movie's MacGufin, a microchip, or why a an obvious-villain-trope group is after it. The promo for the sequel at the end of this movie gives more of these details than this movie. Much of the film is excessively stretched out and probably could have been condensed into 15-30 minutes. The whole side plot about getting into the cockpit seemed far from believable.

Characterization of non-background characters didn't seem to go beyond stock characters for the most part. Real security should have been able to pick the villains out easily before they boarded. We also know nothing about them, particularly how they know about the chip and why they're after it. I mean, existing microchips aren't exactly worth trying to take out a plane. Plus, there was little done to distinguish the captain and the other uniformed dude who got shot, bloodied his shirt more than necessary, and didn't bleed to death with the lack of real medical support.

Overall, really can't recommend this film for anything more than (sparse) background for the sequel, The Mark: Redemption. The potential for a good film fell short of the "mark" as it were.