Customer Reviews

Ba'al: The Storm God

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was stunned by the obvious amount of Sumerian research incorporated into the very literate script of this excellent movie. Though Ba'al's father's identity remains controversial, the movie father, El, is definitely one of the "candidates." The quality of the various actor's performance is generally quite high and, incorporating as it does, a "mystery" as to the identity of one of the main characters, the entertainment value was engrossing throughout. I tend to sell three-fourths of the movies ordered from Amazon. This one is a "keeper!"

Pretty good little movie here with some not too bad special effects. The story
is interesting, the acting passes and the story flows without too many dull moments. But as the movies is ending...one can feel that they are running out of
money as the movie ends pretty quick..but at least has a ending and does not
pretend to be ready for a millions sequels...
Worth watching ..

I had to laugh at the reviewer who said this isn't a bad movie to buy if you're trying to get free shipping but are a few dollars short. My video collection is littered with movies that qualify under that statement! But in that litter are movies that I've been surprised with and this movie definitely qualifies. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I'm not familiar with the Sumarian culture at all, so I can't comment on that. But I can say that it had a solid story line and even though there are places where credulity is a bit stretched, well, aren't most movies like that? The acting is surprisingly good, too. All in all, I'd say it's well worth the cost. Especially if you're a few dollars short of free shipping!

This is a dopey movie. Take the hokiest supernatural movie you've seen and combine it with the most ridiculous disaster movie you've seen, and you get a pretty good picture of what's going on with "Ba'al: The Storm God." The thing that made me enjoy the stupid thing is that the writers actually spent a little effort trying to understand Sumerian mythology. It's almost but not quite "The Da Vinci Code" with even more ancient mythology. I see now the DVD costs less than $5. That's about what it's worth. But if you're a few dollars shy of getting free shipping, you could do worse than to tack this breezy, diverting confection onto your order. Keep your expectations suitably low and the story is pretty much a hoot. And the special effects aren't too bad, either. Harkens back to the days of cheesy drive-in movies and matinee specials. It's not great cinema by any stretch, but it's pretty fun, and you might even learn a little about why some archeologists are so intrigued by Sumerian culture, which might, in some ways, have contributed to the Hebrew mythology that lies at the bedrock of much that is Western civilization.

Now I don't mind movies taking liberties with archaeology and historical facts, as long as they are not stupid with it. This one was stupid. It somehow confounded the Dead Sea Scrolls (Hebrew about 2,000 year ago) with Sumerian (4,000 years ago) or 12,000 years ago according to some stones in the movie. The two do not mix. They could have used some actual Sumerian/Akkadian tablets, but no one would have heard of them, hence the Dead Sea Scrolls. An old archaeologist is attempting to find and dig up 4 hidden Sumerian amulets buried around the world. These amulets were supposed to be well hidden so no one would find them and dig them up, except for maybe the one that had four markers by it! One was placed in a nuclear test site because as a test site it has a lack of air. I didn't quite grasp that one, nor did I even try to figure out how the ancient Sumerians would know this would be a nuclear test site. Now after these amulets are dug up, a beam of light (1980's special effects) shoots out up to the sky and causes destruction. Why this old archaeologist and his team is doing this is uncertain, the old man believes it may cure his cancer, but the reasoning behind the madness is uncertain. The movie has a subplot at a highly guarded military weather center, which really doesn't play much of a role, other than eat up some time and fill in some plot points. The lead actor, Jeremy London, runs around acting and looking like Brenden Fraser's clone. His inability to act is seen after the first light beam shines up to the sky and he says "Oh my God" with a severe lack of emotion. The movie looks like it was made for TV. It has no bad language, sexual scenes or innuendos, or nudity. Not even a naked statue of Ishtar. Oh yes, it also invokes those fake Bible Codes.

If you going to make a movie using computer effects. Do NOT make the effects look like computer effects. Real computer effects look real. Very bad effects. The storyline was ok the acting was ok but for me the bad effects over shaddowed and thing else that was good.

This movie was okay, but a little quirky in parts. Archeologists go searching for missing amulets that when they are all put together in a certain pattern, they can create powerful storms etc.

Caught this on the SciFi channel on a rainy Sunday. How appropriate as any other time I wouldn't have given it a viewing. If it wasn't for an almost fair script and acting I would have totally flipped the channel. The story revolves around a wacked out archeologist wanting to bring Ba'al back to life. Two people unite to stop his fiendish plot to become a god himself. I've certainly scene better (pun intended) but after watching Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus / 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I'm willing to give more latitude to other SciFi movies. Afterall the intelligent dialogue and directing (Ziller) here was certainly better. Even with this, watching a giant storm and boring people arguing about how to stop it just didn't keep me on the edge of my seat. If you enjoyed this, seek another opinion.

CA Luster

the plot is silly the acting horrid and the cgi boring and recycled in the movie. at such a high amazon price tag i thought it would be a sleeper,,, oh boy it was it put me to sleep.

i was especially annoyed by the military uniforms that were randomly put together with absolutely no thought to realism, a leautenant wearing captains bars AND upside down corperals chevrons on his sleeve and that was a small example of the many problems. wasnt there anyone connected with this movie that was at least in the military? apparently not.

ignore the good reviews save your money and buy something else maybe 'swamp thing'

Ansolutely nothing memorable in this movie --- if I hadn't bought it through Amazon marketplace for just a few dollars I would have been very upset with myself --- don't buy this because it's a waste...