Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire Blu-ray Movie Review

At least the video quality is more revelational this go-round.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 1, 2015

The Revelation Road series (Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End, Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire, and Revelation Road 3: The Black Rider) is a Christian-oriented film trilogy that fictionally depicts a vision of the end of the world as seen through the eyes of the mysterious Josh McManus (David A.R. White), a nonbeliever whose physical prowess and military training help him to survive the immediate aftermath of the apocalypse but who faces an obstacle towards eternity through his lack of faith in Christ. The series operates on a modest budget and lifts its message of salvation above all else. Audiences expecting endless explosions and perfectly choreographed action should look elsewhere, but viewers in search of a faith-based and somewhat gritty tale of the end days on a small scale should give the franchise a look.

Help me.

Spoilers for the first film follow.

Revelation Road 2 picks up almost immediately where the last film ended. Josh is still being held against his will by an armed hotel operator who refuses to allow his guests to leave without payment. Hawg (Brian Bosworth) continues his spiteful pursuit of Josh, seeking blood for Josh's justifiable self-defense killing of his comrades. Josh narrowly escapes the hotel and a confrontation with Hawg, but he ultimately winds up on the road with Beth (Noell Coet) who, after having met The Stranger (Bruce Marchiano), feels compelled to help Josh in any way she can to see him come to terms with what's happened and guide him towards salvation. As Josh and Hawg head for an inevitable showdown, Josh must reconcile his place in life and the prospects for life after the apocalypse.

Revelation Road 2 spends a sizable chunk of its runtime in flashback, first reshaping what the audience knows about Hawg and his gang and, later, and to a lesser extent, the truth about where Josh has been, what's been done to him, and why he's so good at what he does. It's important development but in many ways dramatically mishandled. It's simply too much not for the character construction and dramatic payoff but in terms of raw flow interruption to the main, present-day story narrative. Of course, that, too, often becomes mired in tedium as the film feels like it's going in circles, particularly through a sluggish middle stretch. Revelation Road 2 is so focused on its spiritual overtones, which are plentiful here and far less subtle than those featured in the last film, that it often forgets to keep the audience interested along the journey. By the time the spiritual underpinnings come to fruition in the final act, chances are the audience will watch it with fatigue rather than with favor, touched by what the movie has to say but at the same time troubled that it was such a needlessly long and windy road to get there.

From a technical standpoint, Revelation Road 2 is about on par with its predecessor. Returning Director Gabriel Sabloff continues to feebly attempt an energy and style injection into the movie with a barrage of skewered and otherwise nontraditional camera angles that only serve to distract from the narrative flow rather than accentuate a moment or reinforce some critical plot point. It feels like a way to mask the film's other technical shortcomings, both in front of the camera and the script's limitations alike. Then again, one must remember the film's meager origins and greater purpose of Christian messaging in the guise of entertainment. Everything else comes secondary, but one cannot help but feel that the film, and its message, would actually benefit from a more traditional visual delivery, mixed with a tighter edit and a firmer script that doesn't rely so heavily on lengthy flashbacks. The film does feature a few good performances. David A.R. White and Brian Bosworth both impress in lead roles, but it's Bruce Marchiano who steals the show in a small but critical part.

Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Revelation Road 2 is a leaps-and-bounds improvement over the first film's Blu-ray picture quality, but it's still by no means excellent. The flat HD video source is glossy but manages to reveal much more in the way of complex texturing on faces and clothes. General image clarity is rather strong. Colors are healthy and vibrant, evident around the dinner table scene near film's start and scattered elsewhere throughout, though many of the harsh, arid exteriors don't find much nuance in the palette. Black levels are deep without exhibiting excess crush. Flesh tones appear natural. The image sees its fair share of technical problems. Banding plagues many scenes, light compression artifacts litter some backgrounds, and aliasing appears in various places, two of the most glaring examples being on a red dress as seen around the 28:15 mark and along the straight lines of a car around the 31:58 mark. Still, the image is perfectly watchable, but strict videophiles should prepare for disappointment.

Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Revelation Road 2 is also a sonic improvement over the first film's Blu-ray. Whereas that release featured a paltry Dolby Digital 2.0 track, this film expands to a full 5.1 presentation, albeit still in lossy format. The improvements are obvious. There's a much bigger stage and wider range. Surrounds are used frequently and with good balance and natural immersion in the delivery of various sound effects. Though there's not a true sense of reality to any one element -- rolling thunder, nighttime ambience, action sound effects -- the track still manages to at least offer a fairly dynamic experience that keeps things interesting from a sonic perspective. General clarity is only acceptable across the board, and music lacks both natural fidelity and the same sense of width as the sound effects; it's generally more cramped in the middle with only mild stretches to the side. Dialogue, however, is generally clear and well defined.

Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Revelation Road 2 contains several extras, including a 30-minute featurette and an audio commentary.

• Behind the Scenes with David A.R. White (1080p, 29:28): White's cell phone serves as an eye and ear into the filmmaking process.
• Special Word from Brian Bosworth (1080p, 7:57): David A.R. White introduces the actor who discusses why he signed on to the film, screening the film, and his salvation.
• Blooper Reel (1080p, 5:00).
• Animated Storyboard (1080p, 2:07): A computer rendition of an action scene.
• Trailers (1080p): Revelation Road, Revelation Road 2, The Mark 2: Redemption, The Book of Esther, and This Is Our Time.
• Audio Commentary: Actor David A.R. White and Director Gabriel Sabloff discuss the film's subtitle, story, tone, film construction, performances, characters, film editing, and much more. It's a good, well-spoken track with which fans will want to spend some time.

Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Revelation Road 2 accentuates message over technical merits. As far as the latter is concerned, the film feels its size: compact and cheaply constructed. As for its message, it's overt, but it depends on one's emotional response to the larger story to really work. The film can't ever quite find that balance between pacing, character development, and, yes, technical prowess to keep the audience interested and invested by the time the film reaches its climax. Pure Flix's Blu-ray release of Revelation Road 2 features adequate video, passable audio, and a fairly healthy assortment of extras. The Blu-ray proper offers a substantial leap in quality (though still meager by general standards) over its predecessor, so fans of the first should have no reservations about picking this one up. Unfortunately, the third film in the series (see link above) was announced for Blu-ray but cancelled prior to release. Those interested in how the trilogy ends will have to find another way to watch.