WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Thorne One of my favorite Hartley movies. (As if there could be a "bad" one.) Although, this may be a bit more on the religious side of things than we would normally expect. Nonetheless, it still maintains that Hartley slant to which we've all become accustomed.First picture Jesus and Satan discussing their ideas, opinions, hopes and regrets about the impending end of civilization. Now imagine the entire conversation taking place over a few drinks in your neighborhood bar. And as an added conversational (not to mention visual) distraction, let's toss in PJ Harvey as the sultry companion (aka Magdelena) to Mr. Chist. Then, just for grins, in the background, an ever present Salvation Army Band (played by Yo La Tengo) to serve as an added diversion. The road to moral justification has never been such a pleasure.Quite possibly more questions than answers, but therein lies the fun. And Mr. Donovan is subdued brilliance, as always.

Framescourer It opens - and for half an hour, runs - like an educational programme on the Old Testament, although not without humour. The movie finally begins to grow wings when the biblical cant gets dropped. In a scene of mixed success Martin Donovan (Jesus) decides to renege on kicking off the Apocalypse and the final quarter of an hour is a sort of humanist 'what's all the fuss about?' play-out, gilded with optimistic conjecture against a (retrospectively, miserably ironic) long shot of the WTC twin towers.Apart from Donovan's authority, the acting is split. There's the thespian melodrama of the rest of the cast: this, though formally contrived for biblical presentation, is appropriate for the modern, paranoid comedy that Hartley's aiming at. But I was also pleasantly surprised at the contribution of PJ Harvey (credited thus, and in danger of existing within the film solely as the pop star entity she is, not least in a set piece scene in a record store and a perilously patchy soundtrack to which contributes). She remained cool - a sort of disingenuous lack of focus - in the manner of many pop icons who have taken to film (I'm thinking the Jagger of Performance here) but nonetheless maintained a convincing integration with both cast and project.Ultimately affirmative, but this bittersweet essay is a bit too much like one and relies more on the perseverance than the imagination of its audience. 4/10

bob the moo Jesus returns to earth at the end of 1999 with Mary Magdalena in order to carry out the law as approved by his father – opening the book of life and judging the living and the dead according to the law. Meanwhile Satan amuses himself in a bar with a gambler and the good-hearted waitress that has taken to looking after the man. However Jesus has second thoughts and begins to wonder if the letter of the law is a fair approach to take to the humans who have perverted the meaning of what was laid down so many years ago.I have seen this twice now. I watched it a second time because I had completely forgotten what it was about since my first time – my second viewing revealed why this was the case. The film is very arty in presentation, which is partly due to the use of the digital video which allows blurring etc as part of the production. It is also arty in content to the extent that it feels like a student film where they are trying to be deep but only succeed in being pretentious. The plot is not fully explained and any theological reasoning done by Jesus and Satan is best only touched on as deeper thought on the dialogue exposes a weakness and lack of clarity in the logic.The acting is also art-school type that is a surprise to me as a Donovan fan. I know the subject didn't help but I felt he didn't bring Jesus to life (pardon the phrase!). Ryan's Satan is worse as he hams it up – never more laugh inducing when he stops to talk into microphones planted all round the street! PJ Harvey is an interesting Mary but not a good actress. The two humans in the leads (Simonds and Nikaido) are interesting but not really used to any great effect. Their strand of the film is the most interesting but is lost in the latter stages of the film.Overall I accept that this is an experimental film but I had hoped for more from such a talented group – the director along had made me watch it. However the end result is a cross between a pretentious student film and a poor arty theatre production.

hurkeybyrd This is my favorite Hal Hartley movie. All his movies are small gems. I love independent movies and I hope Hal Hartley never goes mainstream or sells out. What if the Lord Jesus did come back and loved his people so much that he could not open the final book and destroy the unbelievers? It was nice to see P. J. Harvey in a movie since I am a fan of her music. Don't watch this if you are a fan of cookie cutter Hollywood movies, you will be disappointed.