Berzerkirsrage
Don't listen to morons who reference pseudo history. It was a good effort, and those idiots who whine about wrong uniforms, and bad acting, have never made a film and don't know what they're talking about. Will this film win any awards... no. But bigger budgets, bigger names, and bigger producers have made much worse films.Also, if you're going to get into history, some of the scrolls were written in Greek as well as Aramiac (Canaanite languages such as Phoenician) but remember you're watching a MOVIE!!! Meant to entertain and pass the time. Buttheads who sit with their history books open to pick fault with such trivial things is asinine.
Sonofamoviegeek
This must be the only movie with serious pretensions that exceeds in cheesiness Steve Martin's production in the movie "Bowfinger". To be fair, the people who made Ba'al may have had a smaller budget than Steve Martin's character had. Let's face it, the Black Sea doesn't really resemble an inlet on the West Coast of Canada. After all, it's a SEA, people. Sebastopol isn't ever visible from Turkey, not even on a clear day. Plus BC Parks information boards don't mark archaeological sites on the Turkish Black Sea. Plus, the construction crew look as if they're right out of a bar in Prince George, BC rather than Turks. Finally, the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept in Jerusalem. They're so important to the Jewish people that Israel doesn't let them out of the country, not even on tour. They have squat to do with Sumeria and the Hebrew alphabet was invented a millennium later. The Sumerians wrote on clay in cuneiform. Finally, the Dead Sea Scrolls are not written on stiff hand-tooled cowhide. They're written in ink on fragile sheepskin parchment that sometimes took a year to unroll. See them for yourself at the Shrine of the Book.I can forgive a low budget if the actors and screen writers turn in a decent effort. Nobody shows up for work in this turkey. The actors don't even try to make the stilted dialogue work. Lexa Doig turns in a particularly shameful performance, substituting a deer-in-the-headlights expression for emotion. The script writing appears to be the result of a committee. (OK on the rogue geologist versus the military, Mort but we also need a dying Indiana Jones plus we'll have four McGuffins, not one.) I could go on but you get the idea. See this only if you want to add more goofs to the list.
Rabh17
This was looked like a cheap, "Dig-up-old-things-and-people-die" boilerplate Mad-Scientist flick.But wait. . .Old Archaeologist (Mad) starts digging up buried amulets-- except he's not after them for Archaeologist fame. By the time the other scientists realize he's (Mad) and up to no good, the God of Storms is already wrecking havoc and creating superstorms.Meanwhile, a Gov't Weather Watch bureau is tracking the unexplained storm growths and trying to dispel them without sparking an international War. The meteorological hand-wavium isn't overwhelming but adds enough of a scientific pseudo-explanation of a supernatural event to give a facile ring of believability to the story.The God Ba'al itself is pretty cool. It's done well as a nice FX. And it's plausible: Ba'al is supposed to be a God-- not a creature. And on the ground, the viewer is taken along on a nicely timed build-up of tension as the Mad Archaeologist keeps skipping ahead of everyone to get the next amulet.This movie is a well-turned gem of a lite Friday Night pop-corn thriller that doesn't fall into the rut of cheap ridiculousness. So within its merits, this Made-For-Cable "B" movie is darn good!Now having said that. . .this Movie doesn't win any awards; this Movie isn't a pack-tha-house blockbuster; this Movie isn't tour-de-force Cinema. People-- it's JUST LITE ENTERTAINMENT!! Don't try to be a New York Times Critic! Just Watch it! I call this one a Friday Night flick for a reason-- Powerhouse flicks are for Saturdays in my book. And for you Military Buffs out there-- remember that most of us civvies don't know a Lieutenant from a Corporal. If Military Rank Inaccuracies bother you that much-- don't watch this one.Oh. . .and this movie is Kid-friendly and Girlfriend Neutral.
friedman-8
This is a ridiculously funny TV movie, though I doubt the producers planned it that way. The dialogue is stilted, the acting is wooden and the plot is completely nonsensical. However, it's really good for a laugh. Canadians will get a kick out of watching for the ridiculous Canadian goofs. (Like much on SciFi, this picture was produced in Canada -- Vancouver, natch.) Listen for the secondary characters with their Brampton accents... the Canada Post mailbox in the background... and my favourite, the US Navy Lieutenant with bars on his collar and corporal's stripes on his sleeve (reminds me of the MASH episode where Radar gets a "field promotion" to a Captain-Corporal). To make things even better, the rank chevrons point downward, a-la Commonwealth usage. Hell... you'd think someone in the crew would have noticed this?
AD
