I heard that Christianbeat magazine nominated this film for "Christian Film of the Year" in 2002. It's a sad state of affairs for Christ if this film is the best the Christian community has to offer in film. Fortunately, this film did NOT win the award...and, I'm quite aware this is NOT among the best Christian films around.

The DVD cover looks really cool, but that's about the only thing that works with this film.

The story is about as Christian as a story gets...and there is definitely preaching along the way. Three lawyers are sent to the Phillippines to defend a corporation against toxic pollution charges...while they are there the Rapture occurs...this is the story of trying to survive.

The film is written and directed by Timothy Chey...he also appears in the film. The film also features Helen Lopez as the opposing lawyer, and the other two lawyers are played by Dirk Been and Joel Klug...ironically, both have appeared on the reality tv-series "Survivor."

The film has a few interesting special effects, but generally is a failure. The script is over-the-top preachy, the acting clearly amateurish. There were several sound editing mistakes that were painfully obvious dubbing errors. Even with a low-budget, these errors simply shouldn't have been so obvious.

So, why only a "D"? Am I just a sympathetic minister? Nope. Actually, that makes me hold it to a higher standard. There were a couple things I really liked about this film.

First, of course, it was nice to see an action film with actual tenderness in it. A male and female character who cared about each other without passionately kissing, without ending up in bed in the middle of a major catastrophe. Instead, they actually protected each other, took care of each other and displayed kindness. I loved it.

Secondly, some of the cinematography was pretty amazing for a low-budget film. Some of the sky shots were downright beautiful, and some of the action scenes were well shot. I wouldn't call them entertaining, but definitely well shot.

Even if you are a Christian, you can live without seeing this movie. In a year where "Passion of the Christ" and "Gospel of John" really brought the bible and the life of Christ to life this film comes off looking like a high school production.

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic