Movie Review - Firequake

Firequake

2014

The Cast

I am a lover of B-Movies and usually the worse the better. I say this because usually the writer, director, and actors will generally try to give us something entertaining - and I thank them for that, a lot of my happiest times have been in front of B-Movies. However, there are times, such as this, when it appears that nobody really gave a damn about the film. Which is a shame as the concept isn't too bad for an ecological disaster flick. As we are running out of fuel we need to find new ways to generate power and Dr Eve Carter, played by Alexandra Paul, has come up with a way to use the sustainable energy from magma to create clean and free energy. The trouble is that this is where the writer ran out of good ideas and hit the cliche book for inspiration. Everything from here on out is so "By The Book" it's risible and ridiculous... and very boring as we've seen it all before.

I have to give credit to Paul and her co-star Browne who played Killian, as these obviously didn't get the memo and decided to actually try and give a decent acting job with the script and direction they were given. Sorry to say that this just wasn't enough. The worst actress, by far, was Barker who played Dr Carter's daughter, Nikki. Though she was supposed to be sixteen she looked to be more in her thirties and delivered her lines with the force of a sledgehammer. As for the rest of the actors, well they ranged from dire to wooden.

The direction of the film didn't help any as the director was very poor at creating an atmosphere of tension and excitement. He just plods the audience along with the story. Instead of sitting on the edge of my seat I was twiddling my fingers in an effort to stay awake. Even the special effects that were on offer were substandard - they didn't even rise to the dizzying heights of poor.

The one thing that made me smile was that all the roads in Prague appear to lead to the same intersection. When Dr Carter and her daughter are searching the town for a pharmacist and insulin, they seem to get stuck in a temporal location warp. Which doesn't allow them to leave one particularly badly staged intersection. It's also amazing that in all of Prague the bad guy can home in on them amazingly fast.

There's an awful lot wrong with this motion picture and very little that's right... and nothing to recommend anybody to watch. Stay well clear of this film.

I give this a blisteringly bad 2.5 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - Asteroid: Final Impact

Asteroid: Final Impact

2015

Frostbite Pictures

Amazing DC / Marvista Entertainment

5.25 / 10

This film starts off a sound disaster movie with the said asteroid of the title disappearing.  When astrophysicist Steve Thomas (Mark Lutz) wants to use his asteroid tracking site to find the missing rock he finds it's now being used by the military to spy on the populace.  After he blows the whistle he loses his job, his reputation, and friends.  Then after a deadly meteor storm hits America he comes to realise theirs greater issues at hand.   The missing rock has become a dark asteroid, which is undetectable by normal technology, only Thomas' satellite will be able to see it.  However, things only get worse as it may be indestructible also.

This, for the most part, is a respectfully written, directed, and acted film.  Daniel Winters creates a nice story of distrust and the consequences of one's actions, even when they are the in the right.  The actors do a good job of bringing the characters to life and generating a believable universe.  While the director, Jason Bourque,  keeps the pace fluctuating in all the right scenes to create excitement.  The special effects are decent though nothing ground-breaking, they are used well and to their greatest potential to strengthen both the story and film.

Unfortunately, and it's a big unfortunately, the ending lets the story down to the point of breaking the believability and leaving the viewing audience feeling cheated.  It feels rushed, crude, and childish, which is a shame as with a better and more reasonable and realistic outcome this film could have been a rare thing - a TV movie which breaks out of the average mould.

So if you like disaster movies this may be worth watching as long as you remember that the ending needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.  If bad movies bring a smile to your face when something incredibly awful and silly happens then the finale should bring a smile to your lips as it did mine; if not then stay away from the film.