vincentlynch-moonoi
This is not a perfect movie, but I think it is better than many reviewers -- either professionals or our amateur colleagues here -- give it credit for.Let's start with the cast. Demi Moore has had a career that has been somewhat up and down, and maybe a little more down than up. But in a few films I thought she did quite well, and this is one of them. I was not impressed at all with Michael Biehn as Moore's husband. I'm not familiar enough with him as an actor to make an overall judgement, but this was not a very convincing job. Jürgen Prochnow does alright here as three different characters, but not well enough that I want to see him in other films. I feel the same was about Peter Friedman, here in a double role. I thought Manny Jacobs did rather well in a small, but key role, but I don't see where he has remained very active as an actor. So let's summarize the cast -- it's "okay". Nothing stand out good or stand out bad.Special effects. There are some, and none are impressive...well, the earthquake scenes are handled fairly well...but everything else is marginal. For example, snow in the desert...looked really fake. The hail storm...obviously ice from an ice machine.The story line. I think it's a fairly decent version of the old apocalypse tale -- the end is near -- and here, only Demi Moore can stave it off. What I do think is clever is the way they tie the apocalypse in with a death sentence for a retarded man; that was pretty clever. Should you watch it. Well, as I said, it's better than it's given credit for, but at best an average film. I can take it or leave it. I've given it a weak "7".
ironhorse_iv
The end of the world has come, and it's in the form of the Seventh Sign. Directed by Carl Schultz, the movie reference to the seven seals described in the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament of the Bible. Sadly, I wish I was watching Ingmar Bergman 1957's Seventh Seal, 1976's Omen or 1968's Rosemary Baby, instead of this. This movie didn't had the large budget, or the eerie presence in its script to pull off the Day of Reckoning vibe. The seven seals in this film seem weak for the most part as you as the audience see only small bits of its power; from small earthquake that only the camera can feel. To the oddly cut, the scene of one river turning red, but other rivers nearby are alright to drink. To how oddly, the seal boiled the ocean around Haiti to the point, it kills the fishes, but not human beings feet or knee deep in the tide. It's not creepy at all. Where is the scary fire and brimstone!? It's disappointing, because the movie has no mention of the opening of the first four seals which calls for the Four Horsemen, each with their own specific mission to attack the world. Where are they, in the movie? How come, they weren't mention? The movie takes too much in creative license in the Seven Seals that it no way, felt accurate or solid. The movie kinda drop the plot line half way through the film, as the letters from stop being open, and things just happen to happen. Anyways, none of those events, really matter to the main plot, only serving as background to the real meat of the story. Doing the opposite of what Demi Moore's similar character in 1996's 'If this walls could talk' does, a pregnant wife, Abby Quinn (Demi Moore) pursuits to save her unborn child from being abortion by God's plans. Yes, the seventh sign is really about the morals of abortion. The movie really felt like they, the producers were trying so hard to fit, two different type of movies into one. How in the dogma hell, did you get that, from the interpretation of the bible's Seventh Seal? I don't see seven angelic trumpeters who in turn cue the seven bowl judgments as a metaphor to abortion. If such creative license with Christian prophecy offends you then stay away from this movie, as it doesn't make lick of any sense. Honestly, this movie doesn't know the different between the Seventh Seal and that of the Guf. If the movie was call the 'Guf' based off, Jewish mythology. This abortion plot would make more sense, because in the film and in the myth, The Guf is the Chamber of souls, where souls of the tree of life fall into. When heaven ran out of souls, the world starts to die, as there is bodies in which has no souls to put into. The movie makes it even more confusing, as Abby is haunted by the memories of not saving for Jesus during the Crucifixion. Yes, Abby is doom to have miscarriages throughout her life, because she didn't die for Jesus. Awful jarred preachy message, there. How does, one giving one's life to Jesus, save the world, anyways? You're still going to run out of souls & people are still going to die. Somehow, it did in this movie. In the end, she doesn't really give in to Jesus, anyways, but God and Jesus is like, let's put this apocalypse on hold, because the mother was willing to trade deaths with her unborn child. If the movie is saying that, then the whole Guf running out plot doesn't make sense. Honestly, how do you run out of souls, if reincarnation can happen in this world? It would seem like abortion would be more welcome, if reincarnation tend to give souls, bodies after bodies, time after time. It's not like she give away her soul to somebody who didn't had a soul, anyways, because a soul is what makes you, you. She just put her soul in a new body. To be truthful, the whole idea of God's judgment day ending the world is dumb, in the first place since God giving human, free will is an illusion joke. Needed to say, the cheesy faux-apocalyptic is too pad out to make sense. The movie pacing is awful. Lots of oddly place drawn out boring exposition scenes like the meteorologist scene, or the young Jew that Abbey befriend chatting with a Christian priest scene. It would be cut out. Then, there is the nudity that wasn't needed to the point, because it made no sense. If she wanted to save her child, why was she going to kill herself? Without spoiling too much of it, there is a few semi-good twist and turns, here, involving both Demi Moore's Abby Quinn's character and that of Jürgen Prochnow's David Bannon. Surprising, most of the acting in this movie is pretty good, but deeply limited. The one actor that stood out is Jürgen Prochnow who can play mysterious roles, very well. His performance is brilliant. The thing that stop the acting from being great was the exposition. The delivery of those lines are just out of place. The score music by Jack Nitzsche was alright. Nothing too worth noting. It did combines some orchestral themes with the sounds of Gregorian monks like chanting. It makes certain scenes, watchable. Sadly the production suck. Depending if you're watching this on VCR or DVD, its color saturation in this transfer is muted and drab. This reflection both how dated of the film is and the seemingly independent, low budget television-oriented production, it had. Overall: It plays out like a Lifetime TV lecture drama about the power of faith, than a thriller. If they kept it closer to a horror movie, than a preachy movie. It might be more entertaining.
gcd70
This story, which is most definitely based on the prophetic last book of the New Testament, that of Revelation, holds some entertainment value but remains sadly and irresponsibly inaccurate.It tells the tale of the Seven Signs that are to herald the end of the age and the judgment of all humanity by the Almighty God. For Hollywood however, director Carl Schultz tones down the Biblical prophecies and humanises the plot to gain a wider audience.For unbelievers, "The Seventh Sign" may well intrigue or perhaps bore you, depending on taste. Tragically though, this movie will leave many believing a very wrong doctrine: that mankind can save himself.Sunday, March 22, 1992 - Video
