User Reviews

The plot of this story is interesting, coupled with the Millenium anxiety that was prevalent during the time of release. However, huge hole in plot, lack of background and poor scripting resulted in a mediocre "armageddon" movie.

The background is that an ancient, gigantic, floating rock-like object suddenly appeared out from underground after 4 billion years. Of course, scientists, together with the prerequite of military force have to investigate. David Keith, plays the main protegonist who is supposedly incredibly intelligent and works under a female diplomat.

The usual, predictable sparks appear, between male and female, scientists and the military, USA vs China (the location is supposedly close to the Chinese border in Asia).

The worst thing is that there is potential for this show to have much better ratings. However, horrible scripts that don't into details, just action, action, action, coupled with the director's inability to elicit any emotion from the wooden actors/actresses except for the extreme ones made this show a movie that only a geek would like.

I first viewed this film when it aired in 2000. I was impressed by the intensity of David Keith's performance. Having seen him in Fire Starter, I was glad to see him as lead in another SCI-FI film. Not a particular fan of Ryan O'Neal, I must confess this role was executed extremely well.

I enjoyed this film from Title to credits and would recommend taking a look if you enjoy the "mystery of origin" venue.

When viewing this film, take a tongue-in-cheek view of budget, location, etc. Enjoy the film for the intense action and great performances rendered by David Keith and Ryan O'Neal, try not to be too critical of plot or content. Just let yourself be entertained for an hour and a half.

Good story concept. The special effects could have been a little better. I think this is a movie made by SciFi channel. Being a made for TV movie it isn't half bad. The story reminds me of the movie "Sphere" It is worth a watch based on the story concept alone. I'm glad I watched it.

I have to agree with the wizard. i'm stuck at home on a Saturday with the flu, and luckily I have every channel Direct TV offers, so there's a lot to choose from.

This is a very decent, made for TV sci-fi movie. Complete with philosophical issues, a few plot twists...e.g., 80% of the way through the movie, you don't know if the 'thing' is good or bad.

The actors are mostly B and C level players. But the script, and their performance allows one to become absorbed in the storyline. As opposed to many, that are just so plain horrible.......immersion into the story is impossible.

I can name 10 movies that have been released in this calender year, ones I've paid 9.00 to see in theater, that I feel are less worthy of 2 hours of my life.

I'd classify this, as definitely worth watching for free....if its on TV. Not worth going to see at the theater. Not worth making a special trip to blockbuster, but worth tucking away in the back of your mind for one of those nights when everything else is checked out.

I give it a 5.

Doc

There was not much I expected from Epoch, thinking that surely we would have one of these B-movies with pausing dialog and s****y script. So in some ways I was surprised, as the result was much better then I expected. What saved this film was pretty good idea and not too bad script. The main actors did well, keeping their conversation fast paced and witty. There were some parts that irritated me though, mostly to do with the government, which seemed to be filled with idiots. It had a weird balance between comedy and action, which I don't think really worked here, and even though some wit is good, they should have kept it more realistic. I especially enjoyed Brian Thompson, which we have seen in so many TV shows (Star Trek, X-File). He managed to actually act here, which he is not allowed to do often, and I think he is underrated as an actor. But the performance of Ryan O'Neal just irritated me along with a few of the others; with such bad over-acting that it was painful to watch. However, this film lacks action and the storyline went steadily down hill from beginning to end. The idea could have been used to make a pretty good action movie, with a little bit better worked out storyline, and much better casting. 5/10

I am going to have to stop picking DVD's on their cover graphics, which was the case for EPOCH. This is a comedy ? yes ? must be because I laughed a lot. EPOCH is not just a stereotype, but a STEREOTYPE of a stereotype. Lets see what I can remember..... alien chamber with long threads of vapour inside, check. Entities a copy of the ones from ABYSS, check. Ethereal off key male voices, intermittent kettle drums with the odd bass drum to raise tension, check. Thuggish trigger happy US rangers invading a sovereign nation, check. Incompetent officers at loggerheads, check. A nuclear weapon with red number countdown, check. A scientist trying to defuse such bomb with a Swiss Army knife,check. The artifact collapsing with giant rocks falling down ( Indiana Jones, the Mummy etc. ) Aliens deciding that we are worth saving eventually, check. Last, but not least, a virgin pregnancy. I watched it all the way through ignoring the "turkey meter " warning horn. I don't normally do this so it MUST have some entertainment value which I am unable to fathom. Over to you, folks !

A pretty good "B" grade SF. I worried toward the end that it was going to "wimp out" and opt for a religious interpretation of all the various goings on. But the film stayed true to itself, offering no easy or obvious answers, while at the same time resolving its story line in a fairly satisfactory manner.

Several of the plot "twists" and characters are cliche's; however, some are not as cliche as they initially appear, and ultimately, even the most predictable ones are managed in a comparatively non-offending manner.

Worth seeing.

Epoch starts out reasonably well... even if it's not very original. An alien artifact -- a strange twisted rock-like formation -- suddenly appears in the remote country of Bhutan and the Americans and Chinese race to reach it. The Americans win and begin to explore it.

The problems for the film begin toward the end. It starts to become really stupid. There are interesting narrative threads that are just forgotten about, and people start to do moronic things for no apparent reason. I'm reading between the lines here (I haven't seen the original script so I just don't know), but there seemed to be a theme of life/death/rebirth/pregnancy and how it links with the object (particularly considering the strange Bhutan child and the final scene) but only traces remain the film. Of course, it may just have been a poorly written story... or it may have been butchered later. It does seem as though large chunks of the script were ditched in order to shorten the running time.

The film is entertaining at the start but hugely disappointing at the end. It leaves you feeling annoyed at the wasted opportunity.

"Epoch" has a pretty good premise, but oh my God does the execution blow chunks. I don't like to use the word often, but this movie is just retarded. The screenplay, the acting, the character motivations -- God. It's like a bunch of kids wrote this movie, giving the characters all childish qualities. The idiot Chinese Government, who SHOOTS A MISSILE at the big black rock thingy, and THEN blames the U.S. Government for their jets getting destroyed! And guess what? Later, the brilliant Chinese sends a division of soldiers to invade a foreign country because that country wasn't "big enough" to have a say about who comes into their country!

What a retarded movie. I swear, I've never used that word to describe any film, but "Epoch" really takes the cake.

When i saw this aired on the Scifi channel in 2006, i thought that it would be another ultra-cheesy, incredibly terrible film that Scifi usually makes but was i surprised! Epoch was a great, classic B-Movie that actually had good CGI for a TV made film, decent to good acting, and a story that actually got me hooked because it felt like i was watching something made by Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg, only on a much smaller budget. David Keith was really good in the cocky role of Mason Rand, an engineer who works for the DOD who's called in to work on a team in Bhutan where a giant towering object called the Torus lifted itself out of the ground and began to give of EMPs that traveled far across the globe, and began to heal the sick and reanimated the dead, which has doctors and scientists baffled. All in all, Epoch is a very good movie that can capture the audiences attention without being stupid and loud, and keeps to the classic sci-fi movie feel as there is not much action but more thrills, as they begin to study the Torus. This is a must-see for science fiction fans

8/10 Stars***

This movie surprised me I must say. Not to say that it wasn't predictable, because it was, but the whole production of this film amazed me. The visual effects were great! So was the set design, and to some degree, so was the direction. The only factor that doesn't quite measure up is the acting. It's sad...but true. But all in all, it's an entertaining and very thrilling film! Well worth the cost of renting it!

This is a lame student film with two good first shots and then weary predictability afterwards, which vaguely resembles "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and a dash of 2001 Space Odyssey. Ryan O'Neal is unintentionally hilarious as a professional actor trying to play a role of some commander, but everyone else does a credible job in their roles. I have seen student videos superior to this film.

Ahh, the critics who are so quick to dismiss this made for TV movie often make me wonder what they're really looking for.

I picked this movie off the shelf of Blockbuster thinking "hey, unknown Sci-Fi movie, must be awful, but I bet there's some sample material for me in it." What a shock when I got it home and found it was actually clever and worth watching!

To begin with, the script is actually pretty smart, and filled with surprisingly witty dialog that had me laughing out loud at parts. The CGI effects are as good as they get for a movie of this budget, and are better than I expected them to be. The story, while mildly predictable, keeps you thinking, and is certainly of a bigger scope than the standard "five people trapped in a unknown alien artifact" that I expected. Any story that acknowledges politics and an outside world has to be given more credit than some viewers (and commenters here) would care to admit.

Overall, if you've got a rainy day and are looking for a little diamond in the rough, this isn't a bad way to spend two hours. There are faces you'll recognize, some intelligent unfolding of the story, reasonable cinematography and direction, and Epoch is an overall entertaining bit of work. 7.5 out of 10.

Every cliche you can think of is in this movie. A good game to play is 'say the line before the actor does'. Here's your starter for 10 points ... "I'm not paid to think" (hint - a soldier's line). Would probably appeal to 11 year old boys with nothing better to do on a wet Sunday afternoon. The only good thing I can say about this movie is it would be great to show when you have a few friends round so you can pick it to bits for fun.

This is one of the sillier alien films you'll see. There's obvious attempts to use symbolism in the way that worked for 2001, but they fall flat.

The alien monolith? Hmmmm, I'm sure that's a coincidence ;)

Badly acted and with a silly script, this is a B grader if ever I saw one. One for the late night TV film section I think.

Ever had the experience of walking into a video store and seeing a box that looks interesting, so you take a risk? You get home, start watching it, only to find yourself being sermonized by some low-budget evangelical propaganda film that is nothing like what the cover suggests. There have been a lot of films coming out like this lately, so I took the liberty of checking out the company that made it to see if it was a coincidence.

The company is called Two Left Shoes Films, which turns out to be a trademark of D.E.J. Productions. D.E.J. productions is a subsidiary of Blockbuster Video and is owned by its parent company Viacom. Its function it to snap up very low-budget films of 1-3 million dollars and market them by contract to, not only Blockbuster, but loads of big chain video stores. Each store dedicates a certain amount of shelf-space to these crummy films using box art and marketing to make them look like normal films. They make a killing at viewer's expense.

I picked this up today as part of a 2/$5 deal, so needless to say I wasn't expecting much. To be honest it didn't exactly deliver a whole lot, but it was certainly better than I was expecting. Takes a long while for the plot to get up ad running, the first 25 minutes or so of the film drag on terribly. This time does serve to introduce the characters, though only one of them is really worth introducing. David Keith's character, Mason Rand, was a decent character who had some very funny lines, but the rest were forgettable and bland. The film picks up as we learn more and more about Torus, the mysterious object that rose from the ground. The CGI effects looked about as good as can be expected, which is a kinder way of saying they sucked. I guess that's a bit harsh, but the majority of the CGI looked very, very cheap. The only exception being the...er...beings in the Torus. Though it ended fairly abruptly, I think the ending was the best part of the film. Leaves you thinking, and I know that I'll be thinking about it well into next week. Overall this is better than a lot of modern day "B" grade sci-fi, but still isn't that great. Worth picking up if it's cheap.

6/10

The kind of film that you spend 30% of your life watching, because you can't help yourself... especially when you have nothing to do late at night except to channel surf and watch B movies...

Good premise of a film, got me interested, forgave the cheesy acting, didn't mind the simple FX, but the script was real bad. I could have cried.

If you have nothing better to do, go to sleep.

Yes, lots of predictable, "B-movie" stuff, but solid sci-fi, easily as credible (and hokey) as several older cult movies.

Apparently a made-for-tv movie, but a darned good one. It tackle big questions, big ideas in a nice clean package. The cast is respectable, and are allowed to be intelligent, rather than cartoon characters. I'm quite pleased that this is a 'small' movie. I shudder to imagine this as a big Hollywood movie, as some have suggested would have improved it. Not a bimbo in sight, such a nice change :) Even the seemingly mindless army-type character was allowed to develop a personality and conscience I liked it a lot. Nice to Ryan O'Neal.

Epoch is a film with an interesting, although re-hashed, derivative premise, harkening back to everything from 2001 to Sphere, this "Made for the SciFi Channel" (!?) film had interesting possibilities, but was unfortunately ruined by acting so wooden that Pinocchio seems downright voluptuous in comparison..

A mysterious "thing" crashes into Earth four billion years ago, and just as mysteriously erupts out of the ground near the Chinese border, present day, causing worldwide electronic glitches, immediately attracting the attention of the shadowy gubmint agency in DC who decides it's their job to find out what it is, send in the G.I. Joes to surround it, call in the world's smartest guy (David Keith??) to figure out its purpose, and make sure the Chinese don't get at it.

How convienient that it appears in some stinkin' desert somewhere, and not in the middle of, oh, I dunno, Cleveland.. this way the cast can be kept small, and the effects a lot easier to accomplish..

Some of the special effects, particularly the long shots of the thing, which resembles a tornado funnel made out of rock, are well executed.

The thing has mysterious powers, seemingly able to bring the dead back to life, and heal the maladies of anyone who gets near it, including the terminally ill character played by Keith.

But this whole premise is blown to bits (eventually literally).. by the horrible acting and dialog that sounds like it was written in a high school class. Ryan O'Neal and Craig Wasson, both of whom have practically carried entire films by themselves (Barry Lyndon and Body Double for two examples).. are totally wasted in minor roles. The Chinese who confront the Americans, both diplomatically and militarily, are cardboard cutout cartoon characters.

And the military sent along to keep the Chinese away from the thing while they guard the scientific probing, and eventually ordered to destroy it, are simply interchangable, unthinking, faceless toy soldiers, incapable of independent thought. This reminds me of the early scenes of the original Stargate film, where, right after being transported to the other side of the Universe, the soldiers accompanying the geek Egyptologist, have absolutely NO sense of wonder and amazement, but rather, they entertain themselves by throwing his research books at him.

Since the time of The Day The Earth Stood Still, when all Klaatu wanted to do was give the Earth leaders a groovy gift and got thanked by having it shot out of his hand, and in a multitude of other films since, Hollywood has taught us that when we are confronted with something of superior intellect, or of mysterious origins, if we don't understand it, if it doesn't look like a fluffy kittie, we are to shoot first, and ask questions later.

"Guns, guns, guns - is the signal we want to send this thing?" Asks Keith early on in the film.. although he is called in to analyze the thing, almost everything he suggests is summarily ignored, laughed at, or cast aside because, well, I suppose your average 12 year old viewer finds constant machine gun fire much more compelling viewing than a lot of talking or philosophical speculation. This is *exactly* the kind of film for people who hated 2001 because they didn't get it.

If all this wasn't enough, Epoch has one of the stupidest, pat endings in my recent memory.

What could've been a fascinating film is thus turned into unintentionally humorous dreck. Will humanity ever learn? Not if Hollywood has anything to say about it..