CRINGE FACTOR: 1
I am sooo drunk right now...
Starring: Kirk Cameron (Buck Williams), Brad
Johnson (Rayford Steele), Clarence Gilyard Jr. (Pastor Bruce Barnes), Janaya Stevens (Chloe Steele), Gordon Currie (Nicolae Carpathia)
Director: Bill Corcoran
Synopsis: One week after an act of God sweeps the globe, causing millions to vanish, U.N.
president Nicolae Carpathia (Currie) has emerged as a true world leader, promising peace and
answers to a confused, frightenend world. To GNN journalist Buck Williams (Cameron), pilot
Rayford Steele (Johnson), preacher Bruce (Gilyard) and Ray's daughter, Chloe (Stevens),
Carpathia represents something far more sinister. Together, they decide to spread the truth
about Carpathia, while still struggling to cope with missing family members and their feelings
for one another.
Nicolae force chokes the cameraman.
Review: Tribulation Force is less one cohesive movie and more a bunch of little
vignettes about how everyone is coping with their beliefs in a world after the Rapture.
Trouble is, none of them are terribly interesting. Practically every conflict in this movie
is internal, which bogs it down considerably, and most of them are resolved predictably in
church scenes or group prayer sessions. That would be okay if Tribulation Force were
only a half hour long, but it's three times that, with the end result being one terribly
boring movie. As with most of the other Christian films produced by Cloud Ten Productions,
this one has good production values and decent performances by its cast, although Carpathia's
accent could use some tweaking. And again, we are inundated with soap opera names: Buck
Williams, Bruce Barnes, and my personal favorite: Rayford Steele. Ugh! One final criticism
is that, considering the scope of the disappearances and how recently they happened, the world
seems a little too normal in Tribulation Force, and Buck and Chloe act more like
brother and sister than potential romantic partners. In fact, just for fun, turn the volume
down all the way and watch how Chloe interacts with Buck and Ray, who is supposed to play her
father. A little creepy! If nothing else, Tribulation Force does a fine job of
getting the Christian message across and presenting a pretty clear-cut description of the End
Times as recorded by the book of Revelation. And, hey! No Len Parker!
FAVORITE SCENE: Chloe's avoidance of Buck after she mistakenly assumes he's engaged. Ray
gets some cute lines in when Buck shows up at the Steeles' house.
