Movie Review: The Moment After 2 (The Awakening)

By David Mackey

I had high hopes for The Awakening. Signal Hill Pictures is one of my favorite Christian film companies and has worked on a number of excellent, high-quality films such as Mercy Streets, The Visitation, and Thr3e. My favorite Christian actor, David A.R. White also plays a key lead role and took part in the production of the film, so this also raised my hopes. I was sadly disappointed.

The film starts out well-enough. The opening cinematography is beautiful and the music haunting. In fact, throughout the film the cinematography and music continue to hold out top notch, as everything else falls flat. Significant shots are taken throughout the film that stretch what had been previously done by Christian camera people, but this cannot make up for the film's other deficits.

One of the weakest aspects of the film was the selection of characters. Everyone feels one-dimensional, flat, and simplistic. David A.R. White, Brad Heller, and Logan White are the most dynamic characters in the film, but overall even they are flat. The Christians are the good guys, the global government are the bad guys – plain and simple; there are no shades of gray. Each character plays stereotypical roles and refuses to show the complexity that is human life.

These one dimensional characters are probably the direct result of a poor script, like most of the films' other weaknesses. With the great cinematography, music, and acting skill that was encompassed in this film I can find no other causal reason for the poor results overall.

Part of this is caused by the genre in which The Awakening attempts to insert itself. The apocalyptic genre is far too over-crowded and there really is no need for one more film in this arena for at least another ten years. If one is to try this genre one must come up with a unique storyline, otherwise the film will feel too much like its predecessors – Moment After, Apocalypse, Tribulation, Revelation, Judgment, Left Behind (all three of them), Gone, Vanished, and the list goes on.

But the problems go far beyond genre. Besides the one dimensional characters, the storyline is essentially one dimensional – there is no mystery, nor any great drama. The movie flows slowly from start to finish, with the greatest pace of excitement coming in the first five minutes.

Still, that isn't to say the film didn't have its good moments – in fact, moments of genius. Rather the film was spattered throughout with "good ideas" which would have made for a great movie if the connective tissue had not been of such poor quality.

For example, there is great tension built up between White and Colon's characters. White and Colon were lovers, but when White was sentenced to prison and eventually death, Colon married another man. Now the two are still deeply in love. Sadly, the film, rather than honestly dealing with the issue, for more than five minutes summarily executes the husband by a third-party hand, leaving White and Colon free to pursue their relationship.

Another example is Brad Heller's moment of anger after his good friend is executed by the world government military. He breaks out into a rage, calling on his right to be angry, struggling with surrendering this anger to God – for a moment the one-dimensional character disappears, but then the film trods on.

The film attempts to be realistic in its grim portrayal of violence, but at the same time summarily executes it. While there are several scenes of gun fights, these scenes are generally relegated to only a few seconds. Yet, at the same time one powerful and well-architected fight scene occurs between two lead characters. This is then followed by one of the best portrayals of demonic possession I have seen.

The film struggles with issues such as marital infidelity, violence by Christians, God's purpose and other topics, but unlike other productions such as Mercy Streets and Hidden Secrets which successfully grapple and offer dialogue on these questions, The Awakening attempts to offer answers but comes across as dry and unoriginal cardboard.

If you are a hardcore Christian film fan and want to see some great cinematography, some excellent acting by White and Colon, a few good fight scenes – rent it. Just be forewarned that you will alternately be surprised by the quality and yanking your hair out in frustration

About the Author: David Mackey is a network engineer from Pennsylvania who, in his spare time, leads a local youth ministry and runs several websites, including Dave On Movies (www.daveonmovies.com) where
he tracks and reviews developments in Christian and Family films.

{mos_fb_discuss:30}