Here we have the unexpected sequel to the unexpected remake of an adaptation of a series of Christian novels about the biblical Rapture. The 2014 remake scrounged enough coins from between the cracks in the sofa to hire a solid cast – including Nicolas Cage and, um, Chad Michael Murray – to put on a movie with a bigger budget than expected. But it took this long for them to cobble together the sequel, replacing all the A list actors with… well… with Kevin Sorbo (back for more of that C Lister in a D List Movie borrowed fame).

I’ve always looked at this franchise as a chance for some good old fashioned apocalyptic fiction. If a character has to get down on his knees and praise Jesus, then that’s just the part of the story needed to get us to some mustache-twizzling antichrist paranoia.

And that’s largely what this movie is. Since the 2014 film was only half the first book, it’s up to this flick to introduce the not-at-all-evil Nicolae Carpathia, a man who you might confuse for Dracula because, well, because his name is literally Carpathia. And how fearless reporter (now NOT played by master thespian Chad Michael Murray) Buck Williams has to dig up proof about the conspiracy to take over the world. Oh, and Kevin Sorbo has to wander around looking grumpy until he has his literal come-to-Jesus moment.

For the first quarter to half of the movie, I was actually enjoying it. Ignoring the preposterously cheap news set, the film is well produced and the acting is ok. I really enjoyed the conspiracy theory tinfoil hat stuff, even if I was occasionally throwing four letter bombs at the tv for preaching to the choir. Because, yeah, this film is repugnant enough to start mixing in all sorts of current right-wing demagoguery into the mix. You know, all that Covid-19, anti-vax, anti-mask, anti-lockdown, Fake News, and social media right-wing persecution jazz. If the movie got to Christmas, I’m sure there’d have been a War on that as well.

But then the movie gets into its second half which is more focused on Kevin Sorbo’s conversion to Jesus. And man did the movie get boring and preachy. Most faith-based films are bound to have a down-on-your-knees moment… it’s literally the rising action, climax, AND falling action to some of them. The better ones don’t spend THAT much time on it… or at least not as much time as this movie does. It just gets tedious and repetitive, often literally repeating the same themes or ideas from scene to scene. The conspiracy thriller nosedives at this point, getting quite dumb and corny as it wanders through the motions.

This movie ultimately fails for having a bad script that’s badly balanced between its plot and its themes. I wanted to be the guy in the crowd to stand up and say “No, but seriously. It’s a pretty decent film”, but they failed. They managed to cobble something together that’s just profoundly boring. I suppose those in the audience having their pre-defined beliefs confirmed might find it uplifting. But I am not them and they are not me and this movie isn’t all that.

Score: 58