Six: The Mark Unleashed (2004)

or faith. a film with, at the first sigh, a very precise target. and this fact impose to ignore the artistic value or the presence of Eric Roberts and Stephen Baldwin. the warning about the anti-Christ mark, control of masses, the fight for freedom, the way of Damascus and the links between very different men. nothing original. but, in same measure, it is more than a religious film. its political message could be, for a part of public, more important. because it is the illustration of the old war between state and citizens. sure, not used in the right manner but useful for serve the idea. the conspiracy theories, the fear about the last days, the need of hope, the memories about lines from the book of Apocalypse. each is part of the idea who defines this film.

an useful film. for Christians and, in same measure, for the searcher of answers in crisis period. useful for discover a great problem in Christian circles debates and its solution. so, for large part of its viewers, the film is far to be a Sci. Fi. but a predictable script. as Greek Orthodox, I am not the fan of manner to present the problem - in Protestant way - but it could be one of forms for remind the prediction from New Testament. so, it is only a Protestant movie with its virtues and, for a part of public, its errors. a good movie for message. but it only presents but not has the ambition to convince. a film who reminds many black utopia but, in same measure , the word from Apocalypse. a film who reflects many social fears of last decades.

Just wanted to add that this movie has excellent writing, acting and I assume directing (not really sure what a director does-but the movie's quality, I assume, is dependent upon the director). Surprise, it is Christian related. The low marks attributed to the film are most likely Christian bashing hate mongers who have taken time off from their bigoted forums where they hate blacks, gays, illegals and Jews. Well at least their hate-speech here means other groups are getting a break from hate-crimes by these people.But back to the movie. It is adult oriented,in the true meaning of the word, and may not be suitable for sensitive children. It chronicles the very real Christian haters as can be found in the Christian-bashing reviews which have nothing to do with the movie itself, just its Christianity. The movie lacks heavy-handed Christian proselytizing, even though it gets close at time. But close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades and it is neither.It is ironic that the review-bigots lend credibility to the very story line that Christians are a minority persecuted by the majority of hate- mongers. Thanks to all the atheists for making the case for the movie. So if you are a Christian, enjoy the movie. If an atheist, go back to burning crosses on the lawns of Jews or blacks or whatever else you do for fun.

With such recognizable stars as Stephen Baldwin and Eric Roberts in it, Six, The Mark Unleashed has quite a bit more production values in it than you normally get from a Christian film. Note the producer is Paul Crouch, Jr. of the Crouch family of Trinity Broadcasting Network so it's not like they're short of funds.The creative end of this film is Kevin Downes and David A.R. White who are the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of the Christian film world. Note their respective credits, you'll find it almost exclusively in that genre.Both of these two are getting a little old to be playing juveniles although Downes has quite the baby face, just like Matt Damon. They're a couple of petty criminals who get caught with some stolen items, but more important than that, they're caught with a counterfeit mark. The mark of course is the mark of the anti-Christ and it's a computer chip planted for thought control. That's an automatic death sentence.In prison they're tossed in with Jeffrey Dean Morgan who neither buys into the thought control of the world 'Leader' who's come to power or with the Christian apocalyptic theology. He's a former cop and that makes him a good candidate to infiltrate the Christians and kill a new 'prophet' with the shegetz name of Elijah Cohen. Morgan's ex-wife Amy Moon dreamed up this assignment. Morgan escapes with White and Downes who has now become a believer. The rest of the film is what happens to the three of them.Baldwin and Roberts lend their names to this project in strictly minor roles for box office. Usually these films immediately go to the Christian television circuit with a limited if any kind of run on the big screen.If you're a believer this film is better than average, if you're not the story will be silly and trite. Reviews for these kind of films are wasted because the audience is a built in one, dictated by religious beliefs. Kind of like a Star Trek movie in that way.