Plot Summary
Chad Turner, a former criminal, has been chosen to be a human prototype for a biometric computer chip some call the Mark of the Beast. After the chip is inserted into his skin, Chad becomes a different person, more powerful than before. But he soon finds himself on the run from a powerful world leader, Joseph Pike, who seeks to take the chip and use it for his own means: world domination. Chad takes a businessman, Cooper, hostage and convinces him to assist him in keeping the chip away from Pike. But they suddenly find themselves trapped on a place in the middle of a global catastrophic some refer to as the Rapture. With multiple assailants after them, Turner and Cooper must navigate the uncertain waters and avoid death at all costs.
Production Quality (.5 point)
Beyond a clear video quality, there is little to be excited about in The Mark when it comes to production. The movie is filled with poorly constructed action scenes, wild explosions, and maddening gun-wielding chases. Not much effort was put into sets and locations, as a majority of the film takes place on a plane, which brings to mind many other apocalyptic movies. The editing is passable, but there is little true content to deal with. The musical score is a stock action soundtrack. Basically, this type of movie is been there, done that.
Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
In this possible sequel to In the Blink of an Eye, several potentially interesting characters are thrown together on a transatlantic flight to discuss the world’s political scene and to escape from the antichrist’s henchman. John Patus has used this plot before and used it again after this movie. With the chip in his skin, Turner is basically an invincible character, not that plot devices like this have stopped action protagonists from being invincible before. With mind-numbing action sequences, there is little to no actual plot in The Mark. Character development and meaningful dialogue are traded for firing guns and yes—crawling around inside of a plane’s engine area while it’s in flight. While Turner and Cooper could have been interesting flawed ‘heroes’ with agendas of their own, they were not. The antichrist character is unbearably cheesy. The bottom line is that the apocalyptic stuck-on-a-place plot has been done before and needs to be put to rest once and for all.
Acting Quality (.5 point)
This particular PureFlix cast is not extremely cheesy, but they are just not that great. In the wake of cheap action, emotions are discarded and line delivery is reduced to monologuing and pontificating. Where there was potential in the actors and actresses, it is not harnessed.
Conclusion
Centering a plot around a character that has been forcibly given an artist’s conception of the Mark of the Beast is not entirely a bad idea. Such an idea has the possibility to breach new genres and reach different audiences than usual. However, movies like The Mark only cause the apocalyptic genre to become further viewed as cheesy and not worth anyone’s time. As it stands, Christian apocalyptic movies mostly are not worth your time. No matter where you land on eschatology, movies like The Mark are pointless and empty.
Final Rating: 1 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 