Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		1.5
Audio		1.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End Blu-ray Movie Review

Video and audio aren't revelatory.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 26, 2015

Meager production muscle and major Christian messaging define Revelation Road, the first in a trilogy of end-times Christian films from Pure Flix Entertainment. As the title suggests, the film dabbles in Biblical prophecy as written in the book of Revelation and how it might be seen and experienced here on Earth if it were to happen today. It focuses on a small group of people in an isolated corner of America, a move that certainly cuts down on budget but at the same time allows the filmmakers to build a more intimate narrative that can focus on the people, not on larger-scale goings-on around them. In short, the movie necessarily plays to its budget but can't escape it, at least not around the edges. It still looks, sounds, and feels confined to a narrow window of low budget limitations that hamper the experience but don't necessarily harm the message.

Got 'em.

A traveling salesman by the name of Josh (David A.R. White) finds himself in the middle of nowhere and chased by a freak lighting storm. The world is moving towards a state of upheaval where largely unchecked criminal elements roam the streets. When he stops to peddle his wears -- bullet proof vests -- to a mom-and-pop gun and convenience store operated by a man named Frank (Ray Wise), the store falls under attack by a gang of vicious bikers led by Hawg (Brian Bosworth). Josh springs into action and, somehow, kills the invaders and saves both Frank and his granddaughter Beth (Noell Coet). Local law enforcement asks him to hang around town for a few days. He's hailed as a hero by few but seems unwanted by most. Unfortunately, Hawg and his surviving gang members plot revenge. It may take divine intervention to stop them in round two.

Revelation Road seems always -- desperately, at times -- forced to balance its small budget and big ambitions, to reconcile the differences between its money and its message. The movie simply cannot escape its financial limitations and frequently plays like a high end student film cobbled together with friends and relatives who supplied their own wardrobe, cars, locations, and even firearms to the production. And for a movie meant to be dramatically bleak but ultimately hopeful and epic in purpose but focused on message, the lower end feel doesn't always help it in the end. Sure, there's less to worry about, less temptation for the audience to drift off message and admire the technical prowess rather than the Biblical foundations, but the movie is sometimes so simple in execution and so meager in presentation that the viewer is unwittingly pulled out, anyway, because the movie eventually comes to be defined more by its technical simplicity rather than its dramatic complexity. The filmmakers desperately try to mask the budget with a barrage of "artistic" angle shots and plenty of artificial smoke and haze, but the end result is still a movie that, sadly, winds up being more about what it isn't than what it is.

Mild spoilers follow.

However, Revelation Road does effort to drift away from Christian cinema convention by constructing a story built around violence, doubt, and fear. Gangs rove the streets, lawlessness abounds, and, even as the police still exist, people are largely left to fend for themselves. The entire film is bleak and hopeless with the only real escape from the darkness and unending occurrences being one's faith in and salvation from God, figuratively to be sure in terms of characters' emotional states and literally by film's end. The main character isn't dark, but he is mysterious, outwardly a nobody and inwardly a nobody, too, considering his lack of faith which is one of the film's central themes. But he's also a fighter, a Jack Bauer type, perhaps, whose secretive past allows him to "live another day" in the present (so too does his lack of faith, though certainly by the end "life" takes on a whole new meaning). Still, even the movie's most action-intensive and bleakest scenes -- several shootouts and the near constant reminders that the end times are coming by way of flickering lights and thunder -- Revelation Road still feels physically underpowered and dramatically uncertain, two problems which will hopefully be remedied in the sequel which is announced at the end of the film and will presumably begin where this one stopped.

Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Revelation Road's 1080p transfer isn't pretty. The flat, glossy, and poorly detailed presentation, sourced from low-grade digital equipment, is riddled with issues. Banding is frequent. Aliasing and false colors run rampant (look at the cop's shirt collar at the 22:30 mark or Josh's eyebrows when he first enters Frank's store). Poor black levels, heavy blockiness, and smeary details define a dark sequence around the 44-minute mark. Random red stationary dots linger at the bottom of the screen at the 46:30 mark and again at 54:20 mark. Jagged edges are occasionally visible, particularly in several still photographs of the car's radio dial seen near film's start. Colors are flat and dreary with no vibrance even on the brightest shades, seen predominantly on products lining the shelves of Frank's store. Details are forgettable, offering fair clothes and terrain but often falling flat and pasty. This is near the bottom of "passable" by any video quality standard.

Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Revelation Road's Dolby Digital 2.0 (192kbps) soundtrack is hugely disappointing. Even at reference level, everything falls totally flat and plays with only cursory volume and aggression. Forget nuance and broad sound detail. Dialogue is shallow. Gunshots are puny. Revving motorcycle engines fail to even approach that beautiful guttural, deep, rumbly posture. Lightning strikes fizzle. Music is lifeless and dull. The best thing about the track is that it's audible, barely, and dialogue is presented cleanly enough to understand what's being said. Sound effects are identifiable but no more. This is easily one of the worst soundtracks on Blu-ray.

Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Revelation Road contains a commentary and a featurette.

• Audio Commentary: Actor David A.R. White, Producer Jeffrey Peterson, and Writer/Director Gabriel Sabloff discuss the "Rapture" genre, story construction, cast and characters, narrative and dramatic details, and more. This is a fun and breezy but informative track that fans of the film will love.
• Behind the Scenes (1080i, 23:11): Cast and crew discuss project origins, cast and performances and what the actors brought to the roles, the story's plot and themes, the Christian film industry, stunts, and more.
• Trailers (1080p): Revelation Road, The Mark, The Mark 2: Redemption, The Encounter: Paradise Lost, Escape, and Apostle Peter and the Last Supper.

Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Revelation Road's message isn't fully buried by its low end production values, but the budget is a constant hurdle the narrative must always overcome. Even considering its meager budget, the movie manages to, at least, showcase some fair acting along the way and build a couple of mildly interesting characters. It's also important to remember that the film is simply part one of a larger series, so any individual criticisms (beyond the technical shortcomings) must ultimately be considered in the context of the greater whole. Pure Flix's Blu-ray release of Revelation Road features bad video and awful audio. A couple of extras are included. This is essentially the DVD dropped onto Blu-ray at 1080p (even the menus are of the DVD era). Considering the extremely low entry price point, the release comes recommended, warts and all, for anyone looking for a spiritually based Action/end-times film.