Considering that he is the most well-known and most experienced actor in the cast by some distance you'd think he would be. Lloyd really gives his all and the eccentric kind of character is one that would have suited him perfectly. Unfortunately Lloyd's screen time is far too limited to save the movie and while he is fun in places- more than his trashy material deserved- he badly over-compensates in others, which really sticks out like a sore thumb. The best performance In Zodiac: Signs of the Apocalypse actually comes from Joel Gretsch, he is a commanding lead and certainly doesn't look at any time look like he's confused or in pain. And Ben Cotton is pretty endearing and makes a real effort to make Marty likable; in fact Marty is like the bright spot when it comes to the characters. Unlike the rest of the cast they actually try to act.
That's very much it for things that redeemed Zodiac: Signs of the Apocalypse a little. Gretsch and Cotton are good and Lloyd tries but the movie on the whole is very badly acted- Emily Holmes attempts at being frightened or emotional came over as forced, Andrea Brooks is so annoying to the extent you want to reach into the TV and slap her and Aaron Douglas doesn't even try to act as the very stereotypical and painfully forgettable villain. Everybody else looked stiff and bored. The cardboard cut-outs passing for characters are as thin as paper, with only Marty showing glimpses of colour, and the actors are further disadvantaged by a clunky script, with a number of lines so cheesy that it makes the cheesiest cheeseburger seem tasteless, that gives off the sense of parody without the humour(got a laugh out of Sophie's line about her homework but that was not in a good way). As well as a story that is filled to the brim with so many clichés(with nothing fresh done with them, characters and situations) that the intense predictability severely dilutes the suspense and fun, also the further the movie wears on the sillier and more tedious it gets.
Production values are not much better at all, in fact one of the worst things here was the special effects which were half-baked at best and laughably amateurish at worst, the disaster scenes are ruined by how cheap they look and how much unintentional humour they cause. It was abundantly clear that more effort went into the making of the promising DVD cover than to the special effects, the DVD cover at least showed some professionalism whereas the effects were borderline hack-job. The colourless and one-dimensional camera work and lacking-in-crispness editing don't fare quite as badly but they don't improve things either, while the whole movie whether in the un-thrilling disaster scenes or the heavy-handed drama suffered from some rather characterless under-directing. The sound effects have a booming sensation but not in a way that thrills, in fact some of it's headache-inducing, while the score is over-bearingly melodramatic and monotonous. Overall, Zodiac: Signs of the Apocalypse is nowhere near the worst SyFy has done, but aside from two performances and the efforts from Lloyd it just doesn't work. 3/10 Bethany Cox
Zodiac: Signs of the Apocalypse
2014
Action / Sci-Fi
Zodiac: Signs of the Apocalypse
2014
Action / Sci-Fi
Keywords: zodiac
Plot summary
Archaeology Professor Neil Martin hasn't done field work in fifteen years, ever since his divorce and needing to take care of his son, Colin. Now twenty, Colin convinces his father to accept an assignment offered by Kathryn Keen of Poly Dynamics, a research company that tries to find solutions to global issues. That assignment, which continues the work of a now deceased Professor Robert Bowles, looks into an unusual find in a lead mine in Peru. After traveling to the site with Colin and Kathryn, Neil believes the find, a tablet with some astrological glyphs, including one of Planet X - the ninth planet - is part of a key to some recent natural and destructive phenomenon, including a couple of meteor storms, one which killed Dr. Bowles and one which almost killed Colin. They also uncover a seemingly radioactive stone buried behind the tablet. He believes the stone and the tablet are only parts of the puzzle to the reason behind the destructive natural phenomenon, twelve which will occur, each related to a sign of the zodiac, after the twelfth and the last one which results in the apocalypse. It is only after they take the stone back to States that Neil and Colin learn that Kathryn has no interest in the work beyond the recovery of the stone, which she and Poly Dynamics, under the direction of the Department of Defense (DOD),want to use solely to do research of its potential as an alternate energy source. Neil and Colin have to try to recover the stone and put together the pieces of the puzzle to stop the apocalypse, all while evading the DOD thugs and not getting caught in the remaining natural disasters to come.
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Not even Christopher Lloyd is enough to save it
No different from a dozen others
ZODIAC: SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE is another in an endless wave of science fiction disaster movies in which the Earth is threatened by various natural disasters and super storms. This one attempts to tie the traditional disaster material in with more esoteric material, namely each of the mini-disasters being tied in to one of the 12 signs of the zodiac. There's also some mumbo-jumbo about Mayan prophecies and the like.
In all other respects this is very much business as usual and as a result not very interesting. The cast members go through the motions throughout and deliver dialogue written by someone with a tin ear. The only face of interest is good old Christopher Lloyd but his role amounts to little more than a cameo. Otherwise it's the usual gamut of cheesy CGI effects, melodrama, and nonsense.
A Diversion
Not a bad film if you just want to relax and zone out. It's simplistic and predictable, but fine to watch. Effects are low budget, so you have to look past them. Overall, accept it for what it is. The only really negative thing I have to say about it is how much of a whiny wimp they made the son. 20 years old and no gumption; just ongoing whining.
The main protagonist carries the film, but he's supposed to when you know that the govt baddies haven't got a full brain cell between them.