All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The following review has been written keeping in mind that this is in fact a B-Grade direct to DVD Sci-fi flick and it is often difficult to compare the entertainment value and impossible to compare production of such films to A-Grade films. Especially when it comes to Sci-Fi flicks the disparity in production is even more apparent.Please keep the above in mind before reading this review or watching this movie.I rented this movie expecting an average B-grade movie as i am a fan of b-grade flicks but i prefer ones which have had at least a limited release.Anyway i rented this movie after reading the synopsis as i felt it had massive potential.Alas this movie which started with some great promise (with this great rock rising out of the ground and immediately doing mysterious things right in the beginning of the movie) and held the tension till halfway through the film, but it was all downhill from there.The special effects were again not to bad for a b-grade scifi film also the filmmakers were smart enough not to waste good money on expensive and overdone special effects and concentrate on the plot instead (albiet not to well).The movie is clearly inspired by 2001/2010 a space Odyssey but does little justice to an idea that could have easily been made into a big budget film if it was better written.The acting is not bad at all with only a one scene where a Chinese man gets shot with any actual hamming.The background score is quite nice though unoriginal and adds to to the mood of the film.The visual depictions, save for one good one of the core of the torus were again inspired by other works, but good never the less.The concept of the political drama was indeed the best part of the film and a concept that could have well been exploited for making a great movie, if the makers had done any research they would have found that Bhutan's foreign policy is in the hands of India and adding multiple players in the politics could have indeed made this otherwise humdrum scifi flick into a great one.The fiction itself held some great potential and displayed some brilliance I loved the part where the hero asks the opinion of a religious person so that no angle is left uncovered. The sci-fi centric dialogue itself could have been milked to make this entire movie enjoyable but sadly it was not so.In view of the above the lack of action scenes is sorely missed as the screenplay itself is to weak to make this movie enjoyable without any real action.In all an average B-movie that held some tremendous potential but failed to deliver.Watch this movie if your a Sc-fi buff(there is no action ) and are left with no choices or you have nothing better to do and this is coming on TV.

The movie's plot, though rather hard to follow at times has some real potential in it. The acting was far better then many I have seen in other made for TV movies and the special effects were not bad at all. The plot itself is extremely deep and can require too much thought for those looking to watch a regular sci-fi flick but there is too much left out for those looking to see a complex movie with answers. Had this project been taken up by a larger studio it could easily have been a great sci-fi hit that would last generations.In conclusion, I recommend the movie for anyone who is looking for a decent flick to watch in the summer hours when you may not have anything else to do.

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.