User reviews

Films released by church-based organizations rarely succeed, but TBN, a group which calls itself a Christian organization, has been trying hard recently in releasing some Apocalypse-based movies. This organization may deserve some compliment for its efforts.

In spite of my compliment for their effort, I still think that TBN's recently released film "Megiddo" (2001) is enjoyable but rather shallow and cartoonish. The film's numerous special effects and computer-generated animations, which are reminiscent of images in John Milton's "Paradise Lost," does not remedy the film's cartoonish nature. The film does not have the necessary artistic depth because of several reasons. One of the reasons is the comic book-like simplistic character development of various characters (especially Stone Alexander). But the fundamental flaw of this movie is its lack of exploration of the real nature and danger of the devil. I am not a theology expert, but I was told by priests and ministers that the devil is so dangerous because it attacks our mind and soul, not using scary monsters or modern arsenal of top-notch weapons, but using evil spiritual powers. I was told that the devil is not just a cartoonish monster portrayed in this film. It is so dangerous because it is a supernatural being with no physical form to be destroyed (or confined underground like the devil in this film). Fiery special effects cannot fully portray the devil's work because the devil's battleground is our soul and mind, which are very difficult places to be portrayed cinematically. Even though it shares some of the imageries with this film, "Paradise Lost" is an artistic accomplishment far superior to this movie because Milton successfully described in psychological and philosophical detail how the devil attacks our soul.

This film tried to depict the struggle between God and the devil and the Biblical Armageddon with numerous fireworks and computer-generated animations. However, "Megiddo," the end product, merely looked like a super-charged version of Marvel Comics or Arnold Schwarznegger action films. The struggle between God's army and the devil's army, as described in the Bible and in literary works like `Paradise Lost,' is a battle which may occur--or may have occurred in the past or may be occurring at this very moment--in the spirit world, a dimension totally distinct from our physical universe. The nature of this struggle may be far beyond the power of human perception and comprehension. The struggle may not follow the laws of physics. How can a movie director depict such a struggle even with the help of computer animation and expensive special effects? What the director is doing is to cinematically depict a struggle which may not be able to be captured on film.

Other than the film's fundamental difficulty of trying to cinematically capture the struggle in the spirit world, the film's script has many flaws which make no sense whatsoever. For example, when the FBI came to arrest President David Alexander, why was the president protected by only four or five Secret Service agents? I have seen President George H. Bush in San Jose, California and recall that he was protected by dozens if not hundreds of Secret Service agents. Also, at the end of the film, why did Chancellor Stone Alexander invite many of the world leaders to come to Megiddo with their tanks, jet fighters and infantrymen? I do not understand the practical need to indulge in such an expensive undertaking. Maybe he just wanted to enjoy the sight of all those tanks and jets assembled in one place. But wasn't he too old to play soldier? Moving so many men and equipment costs outrageous amount of money. If he wanted to meet all the world leaders, the chancellor could have simply asked them to come to Megiddo without their tanks and jet fighters. Lastly, why would an intelligent man like President David Alexander think that he could single-handedly penetrate the defense perimeters of the enemy's armed camp and assassinate the enemy's commander-in-chief (i.e. his own brother)? Every intelligent human being knows that armed camps are heavily guarded around the clock by numerous sentries. Maybe President Alexander is really an accomplished ninja! There are numerous other flaws in the script which make no sense. All these logical inconsistencies contribute to the film's comic book-like nature.

Moreover, I was disturbed by the film's right-wing isolationist message. The film's depiction of the United Nations and European Union as nests of the devil reminded me of Bible-inspired paranoid conspiracy theories voiced by some American right-wing groups. By depicting the rest of the world as demon-controlled, is TBN advocating the takeover of the United States by right-wing groups who call themselves `Christians?'

I do not think that this film was very successful in portraying the Biblical Armageddon. Cinematic portrayal of such an immense, supernatural struggle is an impossibly difficult project which may never be successful. Nevertheless, I still would like to compliment the director and producer of this movie for their valiant attempt.

This is a mediocre film with a somewhat confused script, but good to great actors still make it worth a watch. If nothing else, it's great to hear Michael York read the ancient texts. He also injected some great Shakespearian quotes. Also, R. Lee Ermey is a great Marine "tough guy" President.

This film promotes some views that are not politically fashionable (i.e. a concept that a highly popular yet evil world leader will charm and manipulate the world, and the concept that the US should govern itself).

Some people are "shocked, shocked to learn that gambling" excuse me, to learn that a film actually markets some political and/or religious viewpoints in its story.

How naiive! Many films today market some kind of political and/or social agenda, but if their views are politically fashionable then few complain.

But just maybe someone will get curious and read the Bible books of Revelation (and Daniel) for him or herself.

Remember that Hitler and Stalin and Lenin (to name the top evil but charming dictators of the 20th Century) had charm for their followers...An Antichrist would certainly be a larger, more powerful type...waiting to charm us all.

Taking into account it is very hard to sum up prophecies that cover decades of end time into 90 minutes or so, the movie is very well done. Excellent performance by all the key actors. The battle scenes at Megiddo look like the movie came from one of the top regular studios. Could it have been done better? Yes. Could it have been done better at this length? That would be harder.

Michael York must have laughed all the way to the bank on this one and this presumes his check cleared from Paul Crouch. He gives one of the most outrageous performances ever put on film. Acting classes in overacting can be built around what he does with Stone Alexander the anti-Christ he portrays.

Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 gives us a bit of back story of Stone Alexander who as we saw in the first Omega Code was checked in his march to the apocalypse by Casper Van Dien. Van Dien was smart enough to stay clear of the sequel.

We get a bit of back story on Stone. He was the oldest of two sons of media mogul David Hedison, the other Michael Biehn. Biehn gets to be president of the USA and York the head of the world. As we know York is also the devil's spawn.

This film is bad, really bad. It's a compilation of all the nostrums of the end timers, the xenophobic nationalists, and general all around religious kooks. And believe me York knows this, but this is an opportunity to throw thespian restraint thrown to the winds.

Michael York is having a ball with this part. As Charles Laughton said 'they can't censor the gleam in my eye' and no one would try with York.

One of the worst of the end time films. But a chance to see this kind of overacting doesn't come that often.

I keep getting suckered into watching these horrible Christian movies. I was tortured by Omega Code, and this one is no better.

Basically, if you're a Christian and need propaganda to feel good, you will love this movie. It is full of Christ-affirming propaganda.

If on the other hand you have an actual appreciation for good cinema, this is a horrible, horrrible movie. Apart from the illogical plot and pathetic effects, Michael Beihn and Michale York must really be starving for money. Neither of these guys is a bad actor, but their performance in this movie is truly awful. I got the sinking feeling half way through that neither of them really wanted to do this movie, but because TBN shook enough money in their face, they took it.

Save your money. Go to church. Avoid this low-rent crap.

This piece of cinematic excrement deserves it's own place in, pardon the expression, Hell. It was as though they—the deluded producers—dug up every burned out, over the hill, out of work actor in the Screen Actors Guild and bribed them with hard, cold cash to star in this monumental turkey. I just watched this piece of junk on one of those Born Again Christian networks, and I'm quite sure that whoever put this waste of time on the air will also be sharing a special place in the Netherworld for their crimes. Michael York, usually a class act in everything he's worked in apparently wanted to know what it was like to star in a porno film with his clothes on. He was about as convincing in the Satan role as Billy Graham playing John Holmes. The fact that he actually was a co-producer of this crap gave credence to the cold truth that just because you can act doesn't mean you can produce a decent motion picture. What a monumental embarrassment this must have been to the veteran thespian. And Michael Biehn, who probably hasn't worked since The Terminator, didn't stand a chance. Even the action sequences, which should have saved this piece of junk fell as flat as the rest of this epic waste of money, mind, and manpower. The stunts, consisting mainly of uniformed soldiers flying through the air like Superman on crack, seemed to be produced by school boys who just ditched school to participate in this eye sore. If you find many of the fairy tales depicted in The Holy Bible to be extremely hard for an intelligent adult to believe, wait until you feast your weary eyes on this tale of superstitious nonsense! This big budget cartoon, instead of "saving souls," will no doubt have fence sitters staying away from churches in droves. You've been warned.

I really enjoyed this film despite hearing all the negative comments going into it. I found that although the film doesn't cling to 100 % accuracy regarding biblical facts that it still delivers the point in a meaningful way.

I found the casting very good. I have always liked Michael York and Michael Biehn is always solid. The production values were very good for not being a $100 million film and I especially enjoyed the helicopter night raid. The special effects were pretty good all around and the pace of the film was very brisk.

The films strongest asset is the fact that it makes you really look at world events in the context of biblical prophecy. There is obviously a lot of stuff going on in the world that makes you think about it even more after seeing a film like this.

Overall, a very good film that surprised me and that definitely does not deserve the severe pasting some individuals have given it.

This movie was very riveting and intense. I thought the actors were all very good and natural, although I might agree that sometimes it was a little over-acted (though I didn't think of that while I was watching it). The graphics are great--the best I've seen yet in Christian movies, and good even compared to Hollywood movies, for the most part. It did not really have a gospel message and was not even a very Biblically accurate portrayal, but since I believe there will be a 7-year tribulation, it is something to think about. I watched it with some family and friends, and we all thought it was a powerful, well-made movie, although we didn't think the message was that clear.

What a waste of time. After this movie I realized that it was the Faith Movements TBN productions that stand behind this film. I have found out after reading some "heavy" stuff, that the Faith Movement is really wolves in sheep clothes when it comes to the different christian groups and churches. In this movie you will clearly see that: 1. They don't even mention the name of Jesus Christ in the entire movie, they call Him the nazaren. 2. The focus is set on Satan and not Jesus Christ our Saviour. 3. It's a miracle if somebody receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour after watching this movie. 4. When the Anti-christ brother, David Alexander, comes into this church in the town, every people thinks he is the messiah and they come to him and ask him to save them. 5. This movie have much plot holes, and things that don't match with The Word of God. This is just a few points of many, that I could mention, that makes this film too bad. Watch out for these TBN productions. I've watched "Carman: The Champion" and it disapointed me too, when people call it a christian film. Watch the "Left Behind" movies instead or the "Apocalypse" movies. They are much better. This movie doesn't deserve more that 1 out of 10.

My wife suggested we see "Megiddo," and I'm glad she did. It's refreshingly different and indeed entertaining to watch a film lacking the ubiquitous dark-green haze of linguistic pollution or the hackneyed writer's block cure-all: nudity.

Entertaining though it was, "Megiddo" represents interpretations of the endtimes described in the biblical Book of Revelations or Apocalypse that are current among many of us. Might there be other interpretations that a film should consider as well that go beyond the strictly literal? Perhaps that is too much to ask of one film, given the circumstances of its production.

Humanity's struggle between good and evil was a thematic constant in this film, as in Judaism's Yom Kippur, Christianity's atonement, Islam's only now barely understood jihad (the struggle over the sinful self to be one with God's will). For all its literal stance, the film is poignantly significant given the recent horror (that humankind is wont to visit upon its own) in New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, and in other stricken areas world-wide.

See "Megiddo" (and read the book, or read the book first) and judge for yourself. Are the endtimes the stuff of spectacular special effects (some quite profoundly moving as was God's parting of the Red Sea in "The Ten Commandments"), or is the Holy Bible's text possessed of far more subtlety and significance than we think or films display?

Terrible piece of work! A film that wanted to make a big statement about parts of end times prophecy and just turned out pop trash. What a pity! There are some good actors who must have received poor direction. It is such a waste to see Michael York sputtering out melodramatic monologues where subdued performing would have been better. And Michael Beihn being our patriotic hero and "savior"...he must be looking back at this film and shaking his head in embarrassment. Udo Kier also gets lost in this mess. Poor direction, overacting, a patchwork of CGI and stock footage makes up the world chaos and battle scenes. But what really kills this production is the story. The book of Revelations has made good fodder for pop Christian end times stories. But please, making the US of all countries the leader of the coalition against the devil? All the patriotic and faith prayers of the US president? As a Christian, I was offended by the whole thing. If they were making a pure piece of fiction, it would have been low grade fare to start with. But TBN at the production helm implies they meant it to be a serious drama about what end times would actually look like. And the results are laughable. Read the book of Revelation yourself and be challenged and blessed. Don't waste your time on this lousy film.

What greater praise can I bestoy on a picture than to say-- "Battlefield Earth was better, much better"

Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, fails horribly on many levels. Some are technical, some are plot wise, and many come back to the general lack that these filmmakers have in cinematic movie making.

8Xentertainment has released a decent movie before ("Carman: The Champion"), so I was surprised, but here goes--

Errors, in movie making: first off, this movie needs to ask itself, "What am I?". Am I a sequel, a prequel, a both, a set up for a holy trilogy??? Going into the movie I thought it was a prequel. The movie poster itself says it is a sequel, and the movie itself never references The Omega Code at all. The title is simply "Meggido" (so technically neither).

Casper Van Diem: huh he is actually in the movie??? the movie jumps so much in the first 40 minutes, that we go from a voice over about the dawn of time and then about the time of Jesus, then different people discussing Richard Nixon, Gunsmoke, and JFK, to a fire, to a militare school in early years, to fighting over girlfriends, to graduation, to patricide, to european union (in the early 1990's???-um error???).

This is the first mess that is the 40 minutes or so of this trash.

Basically, the movie is hard to follow (its a prequel for parts, but then its a sequel. Where the heck is the original The Omega Code then?? paste them together, so we can actually remember/notice Van Diem in this movie and , OH YEAH,, so that the movie will actually make sense) If you even follow the movie to this point (we are apparently in a sequel, so please remember those subtle plot points from 2 years ago), the world is now at war with an E.U. leader, but they don't know it (this is so, Left Behind, Apocalypse, Tribulation, Retribution).

Please, if you want a "christian" movie go see those (Apocalypse being the one to skip). Heck, if you want any wakup movie on the topic, see those. DONT SEE "MEGGIDO".

The world at war, had a separate battle between brothers and demonic spirits.

Again, please go see a different movie (The Omen, Damien:Omen II, The Final Conflict:Omen III, and Omen IV:The Awakening are much better).

The rest of the movie is no more original.

Basically, Meggido is an unoriginal ripe off that spans 40 years in 40 minutes, has stupid acting/speaches, and cannot be classified as anything related to the original. Cameo appearences that could be fun, make no sense, and the ending can only be a sequel....

The search for the next Worst picture Razzie award need look no farther.

Even Michael Beihn cannot save this dud.

Meggido is a definite loser of a movie, but its my Razzie winner.

This movie is a steaming pile of garbage from start to finish... I'm looking at this as a MOVIE and not some "Living Bible" exercise... it's not! This is a terrible, terrible movie, EVERYTHING in it is pompus, silly, pointless, over the top and simply a pathetic excuse for a 'movie'... In the end who could care what the "message" is, it's buried under inept directing, BAD, BAD acting, moronicaly on-the-nose and borderline silly dialog and casting.

Christians need to stop lying to themselves and others that this is a good movie -- it is not. It is an embarrasment to anyone who worked on this who call themselves film professionals... Open your eyes, take off the blinders and be truthfull... Lying is a sin :-)

I knew this was going to be bad going in, so I expected something absurd and got it... it wasn't a total waste, I like to watch old Ed Wood and schlocky Roger Corman movies too...

There is NO directing in this movie at all... if so, then the poor man must be blind and have no arms or right foot... The military school scenes were a laugh -- didn't anyone notice that in '1976' everything looked like 1996???? The hair, clothes and military garb -- high-tech body armor and expensive yuppie paintball guns in the early 1970s? On what planet was this movie set?

The acting and special effects made me cringe at every moment... All of the actors seemed to have been given the same direction -- "Act like Charleton Heston in 'Omega Man'! No wait, 'Ben Hur'... oh, who cares?"

Didn't ANYONE on the crew notice that Michael York was two inches shorter than his "father" in the modern scenes when in fact the actor playing his younger self in 1976 was an inch TALLER than his father???? Hello? Apple box for Mr. York! Any idiot could see that the second the two men stood next to each other... this is sad.

The Dialog looping sounded like it came from thew worst radio play ever recorded, and the over-the-top biblical dialog was too, too much. The word SUBTLE is very powerful -- hey, christian filmmakers... check it out in the dictionary, take two and call us when you've learned how to make a MOVIE, not a ego-driven mess like this...

Does ANY christian think that an educated person, an educated 'non-christian' will see this movie and be so overwhelmed with it's power that they will be saved? Come on... only if they can stop laughing at the movie long enough to pick up the phone and make a tax-deductable contribution to TBN... Brainwashed operators are waiting!

Of course, this movie gets some EXTRA nasty reviews from persons who despise its message (drawn on the amazing Books of Revelation---& Daniel)!

And some who are believers are uneasy with some of the movie's premises...and with some plot holes...

Yet... thought "Megiddo..." was somewhat better at showing us how this evil Leader is formed...(Stone Alexander played by Michael York).

We all should be giving our kids ideas of what NOT to value in a National or even World Leader. you might use these films to teach students or grade school or older kids to avoid "Dictators who Charm the Populace & then DEvastate Them!" .

And if Alexander seems a bit over the top...just watch some old Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin footage.

If you are a believer (or are curious)...check out the Biblical books of Revelation & Daniel...they describe the earth's end. Not easy to understand...but amazing reading.

You've got to see this film, the true nature of the demonic is revealed and how it ultimately bows down to the the wrath of God. Based on the book of Revelation, this movie is based around the anti-christ and his rise to power. Good vs. evil abound as the battle of Armaggedon takes place at 'Megiddo.' Stunning special effects are in this movie which is a drastic leap from Independant film makers. The acting is much better than in the original 'Omega Code' and the budget was more than twice that amount. It shows as this movie really took me by surprise. The film turned out a good number even though the 314 debuting theater screens was not enough to punch it into the box office top ten. Definitely worth checking out.

I watched Megiddo out of curiosity. It seemed interesting especially me being a catholic. I thought that it'll be a piture of what the armageddon would be. I expected to be terrified, terrified that I would change my current indifferent attitude towards the religion my parents chose for me when I was born. Well... If the end of days is going to be something like THAT then I better look out for a trying hard, pychotic-who-wants-to-own-everything kind of guy and make sure that in order to be saved, I won't believe in him.

The movie is entertaining but it is not seriously depicting the content of the bible. The movie just literally translated what is written. It's the type of movie I would use to scare children to eat their vegetables and not to promote world peace.

I don't want to be another Christian that just writes good things about a Christian film because it's Christian. I want to give my honest opinion. In the past TBN and the Christian market has made some really bad films, and it should be said, even by Christians. Why? Because the consumer should decide what is good or bad, and as Christians we should demand good Christian films and not just be satisfied that there are Christian films in theaters, whether they are good or bad. We have to remember that these films will represent our faith and will be seen by non-christians. In my opinion God deserves the best, and if we want these films to witness to the public they most compete with the quality of secular films. The only way that we're going to see good quality Christian films is if we the Christian public demand it and not support bad Christian films. I know that we should support our fellow Christians, but not films that are going to mis-represent our faith. I feel that Left Behind and the first Omega Code were pretty bad movies. I took a non-Christian friend who's a big movie buff to see the first Omega Code and I felt that I had to apologize for the film.

With that out of the way, and after upsetting most other Christians that will read this, I have to say something positive. Megiddo was to my suprised and delight a good film. It was very commercial and main stream. By far it has the best dialog of all Christian films, something that past Christian films have lacked in. The actual film quality is much better and the effects were decent, the film doesn't look like video lit for a newscast. It still is in need of a better score. But with all that it is very commercial. Mind you that I went in expecting the worst and came out very satisfied and with a new hope and expectation that future Christian films will continue to improve and appeal to the main stream and secular market which should be the focus of these films.