Reviews & Columns |
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
DVD Talk Forum |
|
Resources |
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
Columns
|
|
Six: The Mark Unleashed
Hardcore, born-again Christian propaganda has its place, and that place is in your face if you run into an evangelist or watch a movie like Six: The Mark Unleashed on a lark. Or you may watch it out of devotion, and that's OK too - but there's not a lot of middle ground for this vaguely futuristic thriller starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) and Stephen Baldwin. Sadly, while Six will certainly hammer home those homilies many of us are pretty familiar with, such insistence on sermonizing renders inert any meager thrills laid out for the washed and unwashed alike.
From a secular standpoint, Six seems to employ heavy reverse psychology in fronting its blunt, glum message of salvation. In some unspecified point in the future, The Corporation controls the world through intense indoctrination and subcutaneous computer chip implants. A fairly evocative (if not repetitive) introduction features a group of new recruits being hypnotized by some sort of unholy Chenbot. Being able to live for 200 years while having sex with multiple partners appears to be the pitch, and we soon learn that this seemingly free society has a dire cost. You got it, The Corporation is Satan, an entity that's erased all evidence of freedom, (DVDs like Schindler's List and Braveheart are now considered contraband) employing smooth-talking persuaders to convince the unconverted that Satan is the answer.
Yes, those methods, with their insistence on fierce devotion and conformity of thinking, might seem familiar to anyone who's ever gone to Bible School, but whatever. Tom (Morgan) isn't buying it, until he's recruited by The Corporation to find and betray a latter-day prophet named Elijah Cohen. With atheistic verve Tom opts instead for doomed imprisonment, wherein Christians, and others who refuse dancing to Ol' Scratch's tune, wind up looking at their headless bodies from a basket. Lucky for Tom he winds up bunking with Baldwin, who basically spends the rest of the movie quoting scripture until the holy ascend to heaven via cheap-jack guillotine. Even with humanist Cohen providing succor to those suffering The Corporation's barbarous regime, this is a surprisingly grim, Old Testament view of Christianity. Although it's clear our story takes place around the time of Revelations, (a nasty time to be alive, so I'm told) what we're entreated to do is suffer on earth until untimely death frees us to party in Heaven.
However, what looks to be a decent time in genre-land turns out to be a real dud. Baldwin - who doesn't appear enough to warrant top billing - cements this movie as a preachy downer. All he does is quote scripture with impish, smug piousness. Forgiving Christians might let such rote acting slide, but it's no wonder he couldn't make a go of it in Hollywood. Morgan (and in a two-minute cameo) Eric Roberts bring above average game, but Morgan's shoulders can't carry the whole film, for when not sitting around in prison-prayers circles or reading bible passages scrawled on cell walls, our heroes either enjoy poor, low-budge flashbacks, engage in so-so rebels-n-rangers action or suffer painfully un-cool torture sessions with limp stylistic editing tricks: the type of tricks 65-year-old squares use, vainly hoping to impress cloistered teens. But it's not enough to add any type of sheen to this message - so get saved or go to Hell, guys!
Full of cheesy music, grade-school dialog and broad performances, Six is unimpressive. The devilish characters - obviously made-up with pasty skin, sunken cheeks and raccoon eye-shadow - virtually roll their eyes while drooling and cackling. These guys are evil, mind you! Baldwin might as well stroll slowly while offering the benediction, (although when not preaching he manages a few genuine performance moments) and everything else is pretty thoroughly spelled out for you again and again. In fact at one point, my wife misses the finer details of some bit of quoted scripture, crying out, "what the f*ck does that mean?" Thankfully over her fading cries we hear a character say, "I'll tell you what it means." This is a movie that doesn't want you to miss anything. So now, as Daniel Baldwin moves to Portland to start a movie production company, ("The Baldwin we got is all fat," my wife moans) we must diss his slightly more svelte brother Stephen, and his latest foray into conversion. Six doesn't provide nearly enough entertainment for secular audiences, (like the much more even-handed Fireproof) but should also fail to wow those Bible Camp tweeners it's meant to affect - those kids are saved already anyway, so what's the loss?
The DVD
Video:
1.78:1 widescreen anamorphic images accurately reflect the slog towards penitence that is Six. Colors are suitably muted and stylized for this look at hell-on-earth, though naturalistic, the drab schemes ultimately bring you down. Black levels are fairly deep, but levels of detail are not that hot. While the image is a bit soft and grainy for DVD standards, an occasional overuse of digital noise reduction also has a tendency to make it look like Baldwin's hair is moving independently of his skull - or maybe he just wears a loose toupee.
Sound:
English Digital Stereo Audio sets no standards either, with odd metallic echoes often accompanying sound effects and background noise. However, most dialog is clear and easy to understand. Balance between dialog and music is fine - even if the music isn't great, at least it doesn't drown out the dialog. Otherwise, being only a stereo mix, sound design isn't terribly dynamic.
Extras:
A Director's Commentary Track also features the producer - Kevin Downes and David A.R. White, both of whom actually play major roles in the movie. Mixed bits of silence as the pair listens to dialog intersperse standard behind-the-scenes talk, on-message talk, and a nice amount of light-hearted humor. A forty-minute documentary titled, The Making of Six, blends EPK materials with more in depth production talk and lots of clips from the film. The 1.33:1 ratio doc suffers from occasional poor sound, including some annoying buzzing, during some interview sequences. Eight Deleted Scenes run a 13-minute course, and three-and-a-half minutes of fairly amusing Bloopers Reel material, and six Previews for other Christian movies comprise the rest of the extras. It's a good collection of extras - though containing the usual suspects, if you catch my drift - for an underwhelming movie.
Final Thoughts:
Six: The Mark Unleashed trades drama, interest and dynamism for heavy propaganda. I've nothing against religious propaganda, (except when it's used to incite violence and oppression) but it's not my cuppa. But if propaganda is going to be the vehicle, at least make it compelling. Six's future shock story is bland, simplistic and largely poorly-acted, meaning those who might need saving will Skip It, while those who end up watching might be in some church basement with other parishioners already, and even they will be unimpressed.
www.kurtdahlke.com
|
Popular Reviews |
Sponsored Links |
|
Sponsored Links |
|
Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices
|