Daniel Craig Movie:

				Salesrank: 284433
		Our Price: $63.00
		Used Price: $56.70
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Epoch [Region 2] Reviews:
It has a bit a of everything!
2006-03-15 - There seems to be much confusion about this movie. First, Amazon has two sites for this movie (Epoch and Epoch 2000) with totally opposite rankings reviews and obviously equally sales rankings. Let's see the good points stated so far (which I agree with):

-Realism: All the pieces are good...........the ever-present military does what the military usually seems to do: get confused, issue contradictory orders as a result, and get more confused. Governments do what governments do: squabble over who owns something that no human agency could possibly own.

-Humbleness: I found "Epoch" to be a very enjoyable movie where I didn't need to think for a bit. Compare it to "Sphere" and it seems like a sci-fi masterpiece! The story is not the usual large-monster horror film like UFO usually does. It's about an alien artifact that is found in Bhutan. The army is sent to investigate it. Many theories rise up and there are a few neat effects sequences. The movie never tries to rise above its own intelligence. It never once insults the intelligence of the viewer, and it never stretches anything out to a ridiculous length. The special effects are extraordinary, the best UFO has ever done. The story is simple enough, but not stupid. True, when you get right to it, it's another direct-to-video movie. But not once does it try to pretend its anything more. I liked it.

-Originality:
*The plot ties in nicely to some theories of evolution and the development of Earth.
*This movie made me think about the origins of life on earth - it explores the intelligent design but by whom versus darwinian evolution, such speculations set in the context of military conflict over a strange uncontrollable object in Bhutan, on the border of China.

-Acting:
I particularly enjoyed Brian Thompson, who played Captain Towers. Initially a stereotypical Rambo type, he reveals a side unexpected, and he turns into kind of a hero.
(It was already time for him to start playing good guy since his start in an actual Rambo type movie, "Cobra" 20 years ago.)

Those who gave low score to this movie had no point other than their own opinions. Well, if you've watched movies too often -say more than 3 a week- for many years (as many folks have), this movie might not surprise you but I'm doubtful something will. I enjoyed the movie all along and found concrete reasons to appreciate it.

Notes: 1) Reviews are editable and 2) the other reviewers correctly summarized the movie.

Epoch
2005-09-21 - Great Movie! Different take on the whole terraforming premise. Goes fast once the action starts!

DECENT SCI-FI FLICK...
2005-06-26 - I recently caught this film on the Sci-Fi Channel, and I found it to be quite enjoyable. It is certainly better than some big budget science fiction films that I have seen ("Battlefield Earth" or "Solaris", anyone?). The cast of actors does an admirable job with the script, and the special effects are more than adequate.

The story line is pretty basic. A giant monolithic structure suddenly appears out of nowhere in Bhutan. The United States government immediately sends military personnel and scientists to Bhutan at the request of the local government. Meanwhile, China, the adjacent country wishes to do likewise, causing a conflict that will have a surprising outcome.

The monolithic structure appears to contain an alien force with technological capabilities far beyond that of anyone on earth. Mason (David Keith), an engineer suffering from an incurable terminal illness, has been taken under duress to Bhutan in order to try and ascertain the physical properties of the monolith, investigate its structure, and gain entry. Ryan O'Neal has a small part in which he plays the role of Mason's superior and appears to be a liaison with the military that wishes to take a more strident, aggressive role in the matter.

Mason, as do the others, eventually discovers that the alien force within the monolith appears to have healing powers far beyond anyone's imagination. This discovery does not prevent the United States government from making a knuckle-headed decision as to what to do with the monolith. Mason and a female scientist then try to right what went wrong. An intriguing outcome provides some food for thought, although much of what is touched upon in this film has been covered in other films.

For those who enjoy science fiction, it is certainly worth a rental.




Decent direct to video effort.
2005-01-16 - Not half bad for a low budget DTV effort. I've seen worse (including the abysmal 'Deep Shock' also starring the wooden david keith) and of course, much better.
This one tells the tale of a massive structure rising from the bowels of the earth. It hovers in a desert where different groups vie to study its mysteries. Of course, theres the eternal man is to sick to live theme running through (ala The Day the Earth Stood Still and to a lesser extent 'The Abyss [extended version]). Still, Epoch is mildly enjoyable and I was thinking of what kind of movie this could have been with a more solid script and a bigger finacial backing. I think the devlin/emerich team behind Independence Day and Day After Tommorow could have made yet another end of the world hollywood pap trap with this material. Alas, there is no starpower or big studio to be found here. Instead the tale is brought to fruition by some outfit called UFO Films and features David Keith, the fallen Ryan O'Neil and an assortment of other B grade character actors (including Brian Thompson and his obligatory scenes of rage) I've seen elsewhere. The effects are steady but not spectacular. The storm scenes and sets were strong points whereas the rising of the monolith at the beggining of the film was an example of Godzilla like blue screen effort. In godzilla, its pricelss, here its not good.
The DVD itself is bare bones. No features other than a crappy trailer. The transfer is junk to with no clean up of the print and its not even displayed in its proper widescreen ratio. I just love when movies show us locations and time in the print at the bottom of the screen and the edges are chopped off.
Take Epoch for what it is and you may enjoy it. Go in looking for a big time hollywood effects blockbuster and be prepared to be let down.

Epoch 2000: So-so SF
2004-08-24 - All the pieces are good. A Mysterious Object appears in central Asia. Our Hero is recruited (under duress) to analyze it. He has no special qualifications, except for being generally good at figuring things out. He tries desperately to do the job he was ordered to do, but the ever-present military does what the military usually seems to do: get confused, issue contradictory orders as a result, and get more confused. Governments do what governments do: squabble over who owns something that no human agency could possibly own.

The end of the world begins, Our Hero is destroyed at ground zero in a nuclear explosion, he recovers nicely, and we get a happy ending. The pieces are good, but come together as an ordinary story.

Parts of the movie have a recycled look. Roger Dean used mysterious inverted cones on album covers in the 1970s. The white-on-white inner sanctum imitates Kubrick's 2001 (also from the 70s). The inexplicable healing forces have appeared lots of places, the movie E.T. among them. Epoch's creators certainly have been rummaging around in the effects closet. The good news is that they had the sense to pull out and try on some respectable material.

It's a safe, watchable SF movie. There's not a lot of violence, and adult themes appear only as hints off screen. There are lots of better movies out there, but lots worse too.

//wiredweird