Revelation: The End of Days

I am giving "Revelation: End of Days" an extra star ONLY because I am a big fan of the "found footage" (aka "faux documentary") genre. I loved "Blair Witch" and "Cloverfield", and I think that "September Tapes" is one of the most underrated films of the new millennium. The style of "Revelation" is similar to "ST", but this couldn't be more blatant fundamentalist Christian propaganda if it were being broadcast on CBN, starring Kirk Cameron, and with a special cameo by Pat Robertson. The fact that History Channel produced it is rather odd. I know that they have had several "documentaries" that were very theologically biased to please the devout, but this is beyond even those. It is like Ed Wood cross-dressing as Leni Riefenstahl in a conservative Sunday suit. If that mental image frightens you, then definitely avoid watching this at all costs. :)

Like many other movies and miniseries about this topic, this work is horrifically bad. It was poorly written, acted, and produced. It is almost laughable how awful this thing is. This is worse than some of the bad science fiction movies that I watch for kicks. It sticks to a convoluted interpretation of the Christian apocalypse that opportunists like Kirk Cameron, Jerry B. Jenkins, and Tim LaHaye have used to line their pockets for years, but the overused plot not even the worst aspect of this thing.

The shaky camera style is reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, which fits well with the other poorly executed parts of the miniseries. If you are prone to vertigo, migraines, seizures, or motion sickness, especially if these have been triggered in the past by past movies or television shows, you might want to avoid this for health reasons. If not, just avoid it for quality reasons. It's not entertaining enough to justify wasting so much time on it.

A lot of reviews I've read, for many different things, start off with, "I didn't expect to like this as much as I did," and for me, this is very true of this release. The shaky camera work only put me off in the first 10 minutes or so, as I realized what the mini-series was doing. This was not filmed in a way that called for tripods and good lighting. It was filmed to look like a chronicle of the end of days.

A lot of people have commented that the story didn't match the bible or that there were liberties taken with the Good Book. I didn't much care about that. I was looking to be entertained and for almost three hours, I was. The main characters in the form of a documentarian and front-of-the-camera talent, were both engaging and convinced me that in the world of this film, they believed in what they were experiencing. Some of the Canadian accents were noticeable, but not off-putting, just unusual to an American ear.

Shout out to the editors also. They seamlessly intercut their filmed footage with real news footage and although I didn't notice any missteps, others seem to have done so. That rarely bothers me as I don't sit down to watch something to analyze it for accuracy, or to enter a "Goof" here on IMDb. Even the ending was well-done. There was really no other way to do it and not look ridiculous, so bravo to that too. All in all, a good evening if you're in the mood for adventure, some biblical prophecy, and lots of things blowing up. Recommended.

2021-They did a great job on making this. Believe!

This absurd fiction piece is unbelievably boring. It is not worth watching, or should I say it is unwatchable. The cinematography is annoying, the editing is erratic, the plot is not engaging, the story is contrived. It begs to believed at every turn. The fact that this attempt at suspense is on the History Channel. This attempt to lure unsuspecting viewer to poor biblical programming demonstrates the desperate alliance between deluded Christian evangelists and Hollywood carpetbaggers. These stories lack substance and foster dangerous conspiracy theories and give validity to barbaric eschatological fantasies.

Revaluation: the end of days is religious propaganda disguised as entertainment. Why bother calling it history when it is obviously fiction and supposedly a prediction of future events by a book that couldn't describe the world around it or one basic scientific reality. Not one! If The History Channel wants to show accurate biblical history, they should return to the previous programs and historians, archaeologists, biologists, chemists, cosmologists, and other purveys of fact, and in fact, history.