boy_in_red The end of the world is always intriguing subject matter, for the religious and non-religious alike, and with cinematic explorations of the Apocalypse such as the Omen it's themes are at least vaguely familiar to even those of us not raised in Christianity. Revelations does not stray far from the formula in that respect- the birth of the anti-Christ, the second coming of Jesus, it's all handled or hinted at in ways that will not wow us with originality, but it does manage to place them in a contemporary context without alienating the audience- we are drawn into the story, and it is believable to us.Bill Pullman and Natascha McElhone play the spiritual equivalents of Mulder and Scully, but with the gender roles reversed. It's a well-worn concept- the believer and the pessimist having to work together to achieve a common goal, but credit has to be given to the actors, who do bring something new to the roles, and make them characters we can acre about easily. Natascha McElhone conveys the wide eyed Sister Josepha Montafiore with such conviction that you find yourself envious of her sense of almost child-like wonder. Bill Pullman also shines as a jaded man who has lost so much.Revelations also follows the recent trend of focusing on family- it's something I noticed recently in the cancelled sci fi show Invasion. I think it's an effective way of bringing the events occurring around the characters home, quite literally, for the audiences, and for a theme as huge as the world ending, it's a way of not overwhelming the audience with ideas- this is not a cinematic epic, it's very much about the central characters.There are of course weaknesses with the show also. Prisoners who share a jail with Satan worshipper Isaiah Haden are very easily "converted to the dark side" and it's not completely believable because they are treated as a homogeneous group- they are in jail therefore they must all be unrepentant people who will side with Satan in order to feel good about themselves. It just doesn't work, and considering the depth in writing in some aspects of the show, it's a stark contrast. Similarly, the brief references we get terrorism are handled in a very Christian-centric manner. In a show that deal with God and faith, you would expect some exploration of different religions, and the different forms in which faith and a belief in God can manifest itself, but instead I felt we were being spoon-fed things that boiled down to "good" and "bad@ and that's not what an adult audience wants.Despite these weaknesses, it's unfortunate that the show was not given an opportunity to grow- I would have been very curious to see the direction the show would have taken, particularly with more episodes per season to really explore the themes laid down in these 6 episodes.I would certainly recommend this to people who are interested in the subject matters stated earlier, and for those in the mood to get into a story that won't take weeks to see through.

l-loch One of the worst movies ever. Very hard to understand. Most of the time I could not understand what Miss McElhone was saying. It was all kind of garbled as was the whole movie. The ending left everything up in the air. There really was no ending. Everyone involved in this fiasco should be totally embarrassed. I kept watching it every week hoping it was going to get better... it just got worse...Also most of the film was so dark it was, at times, hard to make out the scene. Also too many characters so it was really hard to follow what little story line there was. By the time the whole thing ended I was hoping the whole world would blow up just to put this movie out of its misery. As my summary says ... one word to describe... AWFUL .....

glentom1 Did I miss some key part of this mini-series? I watched all 6 parts. Granted, I missed a few minutes of some of the parts, but at the end of Part 6, I had no clue what happened.I have liked Pullman in other things, and he may be the only reason I followed this mini-series, but even he could not pull it out.This movie was the worst TV mini-series I have ever seen. I kept waiting for some interesting, thrilling epiphany, but it ended in such a whimper that I was left shocked.Maybe they should do a Part 7, if for no other reason than to explain why they did the first 6.

moviemaster I started watching this "mini-series" when it began, replacing the now less than stellar "West Wing." I thought it was not unreasonable, although all the angelic interferences with the death of an auto writing brain dead patient seemed unnerving. How would I know that the first episode was the best? Instead of merely delving deeper and deeper into the mysteries of religion (christian, that is) and its relevance to daily living, this storyline began digging deeper and deeper in search of a plot. In so doing, it became more and more ludicrous. But I stuck with it because I am one of those saps (that NBC is counting on) who once started, tries to maintain interest at least to see what will become the conclusion of this dreary, over-acted "prophet of doom" nonsense. THEN, I read today in the LA Times that what I've been waiting for may never come! This "mini-series" is merely a pilot to help boost their ratings amongst the gullible saps who go for this stuff. Imagine, another season of this mealy mouth drivel with everyone looking mystified, bewildered and bewitched for 22 weeks more, at least. Mon Dieu!