AmeriGeddon

[StevePulaski]

AmeriGeddon (2016)
Directed by: Mike Norris

Dina Meyer and India Eisley.

Rating: ★

AmeriGeddon, directed by Chuck Norris's son, Mike Norris, is an excruciatingly bad film that might even debatably be condemned by those who agree with the film's conservative themes that can basically be summed up with "God and guns." Films like these are ordinarily eaten up and heartily digested by the crowd that champions traditional values, but if only they'd recognize how cheaply and stupidly they are conveyed and made to look in these films would they say that this is the kind of material that services no one.

Are they so distracted by the presence of American flags proudly waving in the backdrops of shots and subtle sneak-disses to President Barack Obama not to even notice that they are made out to be gun-loving neanderthals with an inability to spout a line that isn't cloaked in textbook, jingoistic patriotism?

AmeriGeddon is essentially an eighty-eight minute soap-opera, focusing on America following the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a real-life bill signed into law years ago with a clause stating that the U.S. Army has the right to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone suspected of domestic terrorism. When the United Nations aligns with a global terrorist organization to effectively launch an EMP and dismantle America's power-grid, martial law is enacted and the U.S. is in complete and utter turmoil.

The country's faith, of course, will be left in the hands of a gun-loving family filled with noble patriots, including service-member Brandon Lane (Spencer Neville), who is discharged from the army in order to defend his country with his family, Kelly (Dina Meyer), who ostensibly wants to create her own militia, and Penny (India Eisley) and Sam (AnnaLynne McCord), who take good notes from Sam. There's also a pesky Colonel (played by Marshall R. Teague, whom if you recall, owned a leading role in 2014's Last Ounce of Courage, if you're somewhat of a follower of this kind of cinema), who keeps popping up to remind Brandon what an all-out failure and disgrace he is to his country.

There's nothing in AmeriGeddon to suggest it wasn't birthed from a person who spent years thinking the absolute worst things about America, its people, and its institutions but not in such a way that prompted any kind of discussion or intelligent thought. For one, the controversial NDAA clause lurked in the respective congressional bill that was passed four years ago - this film is more than a little day. Nonetheless, it all very much feels like a fearmonger's alarmist reactions to what their limited knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs tells them is an objectively bad idea, and the film's reliance on terrorism cliches, intergovernmental relations being a couple briefly exchanged sentences, and black-and-white depictions of wrong and right do nothing to help nor further their paranoid case.

To my surprise, the Christian subtext in this film is somewhat muted to capitalize off of an alt-right mindset of political warfare, and prepper-level lunacy. As sad as it is to say, by the end of AmeriGeddon, dear reader, I was actually craving the former. But above any kind of criticism I can make for a film with such disregard for political pragmatism, or any drama outside of wooden characters and sterile events with limited emotional relevance, what shines through this mess is one simple thing. This film has such a lack of confidence in itself that its DVD box art actually resorted to using a quote from known-conspiracy theorist and Infowars founder Alex Jones, who plays a small role in this film if you can believe that. The adjacent quote on the box also comes from Fox News' famous morning show Fox & Friends - it's a little more credible, but still as equally desperate.

Starring: Spencer Neville, AnnaLynne McCord, India Eisley, Dina Meyer, Marshall R. Teague, and Alex Jones. Directed by: Mike Norris.