Customer Reviews

10.5: Apocalypse

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This sequel to 10.5 is a disaster freak's dream come true. We get destruction of Hoover Dam; Las Vegas sinks into the sand; Mount Rushmore crumbles, and Houston is dessimated.
While probably not geologically accurate, I found the movie pretty much enjoyable except for the too lengthy rescue sequence in Las Vegas, but the first half and the final third are pretty involving. There are no super star performances, but you get adequate ones from Kim Delaney, Frank Langella, Dean Cain, Oliver Hudson, Beau Bridges and Carlos Bernard. The CGI effects are pretty decent and although some of it is reminiscent of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, there have been a lot more disastrous disaster films, so if you're a genre fan, you shouldn't be too disappointed.

...just because this silly movie is one of those that has the potential to be one that's so bad it ends up being "good," i.e. trying so hard to be serious that it ends up being unintentionally hilarious. I'll leave aside the predictable plot twists (e.g. "let's all celebrate now, 'cause we've beaten it, oh wait, oh my God, turns out we're not out of the woods yet"), and the ridiculous scientific premise, 'cause after all this is supposed to be science fiction/disaster/adventure, and there's no law written saying that reality suspension is necessarily bad in such a movie. A lot of the comedy potential is in the nauseatingly petty, overacted middle-school drama going on between supposedly adult characters--which they somehow have the time and energy to indulge in even while the entire world is crumbling around them. This lends itself to derisive laughter as well as cynical contempt for all concerned--you might find yourself rooting for the ever-expanding crack in the earth to swallow them all up and give a nice, juicy, self-satisfied belch. This movie could thus end up being a cult classic.

However, all this comedic potential is ruined by the annoying, amateurish camera work--the entire movie feels like it was filmed by some 8-year old who just discovered the zoom function on his parents' video camera. In and out, in and out, in a little further, whoops, a little too much, so pan back out just a smidge, then zoom in again so fast it makes your head spin. This goes on in EVERY SINGLE SCENE, the idea being, I suppose, to create "drama" or "tension." But such a gimicky technique is simply being used here to try to artificially infuse drama into the most banal of scenes. In this it fails miserably, succeeding only in creating intense irritation and utter loathing for the cameraman, the editors, the director, the producers, indeed the entire movie. My suggestion: don't waste your money on this cheesy dreck--even only one star is too much for this clunker-- if you feel like you can't live without seeing it, wait until it appears again on one or more of the cable channels--which it seems to do with startlingly contemptible regularity. And if you are the sort of person who DOES feel like they NEED to see a movie like this, then, well, I'm at a total loss for words...

This movie, has 2 parts on 1 DVD. its about 3 1/2 hours long. its full ofeverything from EarthQuakes, to Floods, to the U.S. splitting into 2 continents. I watched it all, in 1 evening. Its a GREAT movie. BUY IT!!

I REALLY liked this movie with the special effects and most especially because it was a sequel to the movie 10.5, which was EXCELLENT. The same main characters were brought back, which really made this movie great. I love castrophe movies and special effects and these two movies are two of my favorites. I have watched them MANY times, and always pick up things that I missed the first few times. I even rewatched them again this week.
I would recommend this for content, actors, sequence settings, and special effects with a different twist on an earthquake episode.

You have to suspend disbelief to some degree to enjoy any disaster movie, but the follow up to 10.5 requires a bit more than I'm comfortable with. The action was decent and the acting was alright, but there were some fundamental flaws in the premise and conclusion that were really hard to swallow. There were a few subplots going on that really didn't enhance the story for me, but they were worth enduring to get to the next action sequence. If you enjoyed 10.5 as I did, then you'll probably enjoy seeing what happens to our heroes next.

Yes, this movie has scientific inaccuracies (just about every disaster movie has some of these) but that doesn't mean this is not an entertaining flick. I've always been a sucker for doomsday/natural disaster movies like 'The Day After Tomorrow' and this movie was no less enjoyable than the others. If you're an expert in science or whatever, shelve your knowledge to enjoy this movie. One of the reasons I love these movies is because of the special effects. Seeing Lake Mead boil and overflow the Hoover Dam was one of the sweet spots in this movie. It's pretty good for a TV movie and a definitely entertaining flick. If you like earthquakes, ever-increasing disaster, great special effects, and the premise of a world that will he changed forever, then you should enjoy this.

As with 10.5, this movie was believable and entertaining. Although I found some characters to be a little annoying, overall performances were great.

...then you'll probably like this one, since it's practically the same movie. I myself really liked the first one. It was fun on a no-brainer level and the cast, led by the very likable Kim Delaney, was at the very least capable, given what they had to work with. It sounds like I'm bashing these films, but really I'm not. I enjoyed both of them, but I have to admit this one left me slightly disappointed for two reasons. Warning, spoilers ahead!!


1) The death of David Cubitt's character barely an hour into the film. I thought he was a good partner and possible love interest for Kim Delaney's character and the way that he was eliminated was ridiculous, to the point where I seriously thought they were going to bring him back towards the end, bruised but still alive. And after a short crying episode from Kim, he's never mentioned again! Not once in the whole second half of the film! Not even when her father comes back. Weird!

2) The way too abrupt ending. Honestly, when I noticed that there was only three or four minutes left to the film and the fault line was still heading towards the coast, I thought "there must be another part to this" or perhaps the DVD inexplicably left out the ending. But no, the fault line hits the Gulf Of Mexico, the President utters a ten second speech, and the end credits pop up! Are you kidding me? What happens to the rest of the cast? Yes, the Oliver Hudson character and his wife make it (in my opinion the least interesting characters), but what about the President's daughter and the doctor she was working with? What about the woman who was heading up the rescue efforts in Las Vegas? Didn't she need closure too, considering at the beginning of the film she was still reeling from an accident a year or so prior to this? All these subplots are thrown to the wind. One almost gets the impression that the filmmakers ran out of money and just tacked on the ending.

So, in conclusion, yes the film is flawed, but hey, these films aren't meant to be taken seriously, so sit down, put your brain in neutral and enjoy.

This movie was incredible! It was a good movie, only the rescue operations in Vegas was almost boring, because it was too long. But my favorite part was the fault line. Those were the exciting parts. This thing
has volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and more. "Apocalypse" means everybody DIES, and nobody lives.? Well, for those people who like disaster movies, this is totally worth buying.

As I understand, this is a follow up from another mini series. Since I never saw the previous one, I was a bit surprised to how this begins. The movie (wich is really a 2 part mini series, also put together as a 2 parter on this disc) really begins in the middle of a starting disaster. No intro story whatsoever. I even checked to see if I didn't somehow accidentally started the disc somewhere in the middle instead of beginning. Anyway, once started, it really keeps going.
Like I say in the title, I thought it was a nice filling for a rainy weekend (wich it was now here), and in my case a saturday evening and sunday afternoon. I rated it 3 stars since it is a tv series. Was it a "real movie" for the cinema's, I proabably would have given it 1 or 2 stars. But as a tv series or tv-films go, I think this was quite entertaining.
The acting isn't top notch but barable enough. It is really all action so once started there's never a real dull moment, wich is good I think. Focus everything on the action and people won't notice the b-acting and mediocre CGI, I guess is what the makers were thinking. ;) And it works. The CGI is of mediocre quality I think but then again, this is a few years old now and I guess they don't get as a big of a budgets for these things as for cinema-movies with big stars in it. And keep in mind that really LOT is going on! I mean almost half of the US is being destructed here!

Yes, in my opinion a nice filler for a long rainy day or 2. Especially if you like disaster movies. And the price is more than fair. Though I do wonder if you shouldn't get the dvd instead of the BR since I didn't had the idea the picture was really "Blu Ray worthy." And the sound is only regulal stereo wich is a shame. This kind of thing screams SUBWOOFER ofcourse, but alas..