Homestead

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.

Acting ~ 6 ⭐ The best performance by far came from Bailey Chase. You may know him from Longmire. The script did not give the actors much to work with, but this guy handled what he got well. The lead actor, Neal McDonough, who is supposed to help carry the film, was stiff and underwhelming. Everyone else was just, well, not that great. Bailey raised their average.

Story ~ 4 ⭐ The most important part of any film, the story was clunky and quite frankly a mess. The writers broke the first rule of writing, which is to tell the truth. This is an 'action lite' movie, it's heavy-handed and preachy, and the structure is whacky. It's two episodes of a TV series trying to be a movie but missing the mark by far.

Cinematography ~ 5 ⭐ Middle-of-the-road cinematography with bad lighting at times. Not much else to say here.

To Boot At the end of the film, there is an ask to pay the movie forward - to buy someone else's ticket who otherwise might not have the money to see it. This has been done before by Angel Studios for Sound of Freedom. It worked beautifully then, but here's why it won't work this time.

Unfortunately, Homestead is not a real film, and the studios that put it out know this. Angel Studios is using a carrot-and-stick tricky marketing to launch their TV series.

They've given movie-goers two poorly written TV episodes bolted together, and if you pay someone else's way to see it, they offer to give you more episodes to watch at home for doing so.

Summary Don't see it and tell your friends to take a hard pass and maybe we will get a truthful story instead of tricky marketing next time from the makers of Homestead.

Overall Terry Review ~ 5 ⭐

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.

This movie seemed interesting based on the short synopsis that I read beforehand but I would have skipped it entirely if I knew that 1: it becomes very heavy handed on its political and religious views once it gets its foot in the door and 2: it ends in an unsatisfying way followed by a lead actor urging you to scan a QR code that lets you purchase the ending of the story after you already bought your ticket. Yes, I'm serious. This movie is not just bad, its not just borderline propaganda, its an advertisement for a streaming service that ransoms the ending of the movie. I hope this practice starts and ends with this movie because it is downright abhorrent, and the people behind the decision to paywall the ending ought to be ashamed of themselves.

I'd rate this 0/10 if I could.

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).