DVD Jerusalem Countdown

It's rather difficult to write a review for this kind of film. One is instantly inclined to use words like: childish, superficial, racist, moronic, pointless… but none of them come close.

Recent events in our times are bound to produce stuff like this. Among the many documentaries, news footage and commercial films, some are bound to play the "America: the guardians of world peace" card. But I never expected to see such a shoddily done film.

Without giving away much, I'll try to explain the plot. There are the good guys, i.e. Americans, looking neat and handsome, ready to do everything for peace on Earth. There is the Israel prime minister, although who is only seen on TV news, who gives tearjerker speeches about world peace. And there is everyone else, who are all ugly, growling, mumbling foreigners, who want to change the world order, do bad things, because they are ugly and evil and cannot stand nice, peace-loving Americans do good deeds.

I'm not saying these with any anti-American sentiments, mind you. This is actually what the film is about. It's appalling that some people approved this script and spent money for its production. It doesn't work even on a racist, "America is good, everyone else is bad" frame of mind. Your average 10-year old would approach the topic on a more intellectual level.

I realize that even the worst films require planning, time, effort and money, so I don't want to bash it all, but… who ever is responsible for this film? Responsible for the "suspect who mumbles prayers and snickers knowingly in the interrogation room" scene, done only in one million other bad movies, for instance? Or why do the foreigners write Arabic words in huge letters on the walls of the house they rent, when they are hiding dangerous stuff there? So that the neighbors would see from the windows? Oh well, I guess Arabic = evil in the childish minds of the people who approved and made this film.

I intentionally used the word "foreigner" instead of Arab or terrorist, for we really don't know who they are (although we suspect they are from Iran or Russia). One of them looks Chinese or from some Far-East country, the other looks like an Arab but could very well be Indian… doesn't really matter, for they are not American, and they are not even white. So they are evil.

I was also sorry to see a talented actor like Stacy Keach in this piece of wasted film material. Being a non-American, foreigner, evil, euro-trash, baby-eating, peace-hater myself, I haven't had the chance to see his works on theater, but I know he is vastly talented as an actor. He has been in his share of bad films, like The Class of 1999, but that was enjoyable bad. This one is just plain bad.

Considering the fact that this film was probably shot on small budget and made by folks outside the mainstream of Hollywood studios, I think they did a good job. I expect the poor ratings are sour grapes at the religious overtones, which should have been anticipated given the premise of the film. I have paid much more to see big budget films at the theater that failed to meet even a modicum of entertainment value. Thankfully technology has advanced to the point that small efforts like this one can have a professional production quality rivaling that of the large studios and their ridiculous budgets. Film making is no longer the exclusive domain of the well financed. This film is worth the price of admission if only to stick it to the big guys who are rapidly losing their creative edge.