Rating: B-
Dir: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Star: Michael York, Michael Biehn, Udo Kier, Diana Venora
Hmmm… given recent events, releasing a movie about the Biblical apocalypse seems like bad timing, or perhaps proof that God does indeed have a sick sense of humour – either way, you’ll be excused the occasional uncomfortable shift in your seat. Happily, Michael York, whose Antichrist was the best thing about the first film, returns – this time he has Udo Kier as his assistant, so we can be forgiven for cheering on the powers of darkness, since not only does the Devil have all the best tunes, he also gets the best lines. [It took me a while to work out why his smile was so disturbing, then I realised – it’s exactly the same as Tony Blair’s…]
After a rapid romp through Antichrist’s early life, we find him ruling Europe, and his brother (Biehn) President of America after the previous incumbent (R. Lee Ermey) suffers a mysterious heart attack. Things escalate rapidly towards Armageddon, which is realised in spectacular and quite effective fashion, at least until the final transformation, which looks like it comes from a Playstation game of dubious quality. The nicely non-religious feel of the movie (no-one really mentions God much) also goes right out the window at the same point, in favour of the same loony fundamentalism that damaged the original film’s ending. Still, York and Kier have a lot of fun, while Biehn does that square-jawed hero thing as efficiently as ever. Has the apocalypse ever been as entertaining?