Customer Reviews

The Deadly Shift

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Birds flying east, now there's a portent of doom if ever I saw one (and I have to take their word that the birds were actually heading in the wrong direction). This movie has it all and yet nothing. The earth is slowing down, there are radiation spikes, but happily, there's an unqualified theorist (Charles Shaughnessy) who knows exactly what's going on but he's off in the wilderness pouting so a great deal of coaxing has to take place before we get to the part where everyone needs to run screaming. There's also a few stall tactics along the way involving an old flame (Tracy Nelson) and her brother, the expert scoffer who helped send the unqualified theorist into the wild. There's even an anti-nuke message thrown in for good measure (like we really needed that).
Normally, I love doomsday on cue movies, they can be quite amusing. Usually though, they are amped up so high with a sense of urgency that you're easily carried away before you can start questioning their premise. Here though, they have the opposite problem. This movie is so low-keyed and laid back one wonders what the problem is....the world is slowing down, so what? The scenes of destruction are few and far between and involve a lot of Styrofoam in place of chucks of concrete. The only actors I enjoyed watching were Clive Revill and Beth Grant, as for the rest....eh.
At least it was short. But I won't be watching it again, not a keeper.

"Deadly Shift" is a solid, little disaster flick. While it's not as splashy or...as loud as a "2012", it's an interesting story about a doomsday situation (fictional I hope, but still pretty cool) and how a group of characters have to get over themselves to deal with it.

The leading man is not a typical hero. He's a scientist, a geek (no offense intended), whose ideas made other eggheads (offense kind of intended) write him off as nuts. He is so rejected that he retreats from the world and from his friendship (and love). You really feel for this guy. Only his widowed father joins him out in the wild off the grid. Then, when a nuclear incident triggers a chain of events that looks a lot like his doomsday scenario theory, the very people who once poked fun at his ideas, including his best friend, come to him looking for answers. Harsh.

The way these characters bump heads (or eggheads) felt very real--sometimes tense, sometimes tender, and sometimes a chuckle. Clive Revill, as the father, is a zinger trying to get his scientist son, Charles Shaunessy, to get back in the fight. Ken Barnett, as the best friend, has to man up, admit he was wrong, and back up his friend. And Tracey Nelson and Kieran Hutchinson are doctors coping with a situation that keeps getting worse. So, as the world comes apart, the characters have to come together. And that, more than any special effect, is what made the flick work for me.

This movie really makes you think about how far from this situation are we really. I give it five stars, it grabs you and it makes you really angry at how the government can have one ***hole that could have end life altogether because of revenge rather looking at the consequences, and how a fraction of a second could have changed the world.

There is so much more that could have been done to make this movie more convincing. The Great Los Angeles Earthquake or 2012 it is not.

CAN'T RATE THIS PRODUCT YET, AS I HAVE NOT WATCHED IT, I LOVE DESASTER MOVIES AND I HAVE ABOUT 30 IN MY COLLECTION OR MORE. I AM SURE IT WILL BE A GOOD ONE LIKE ALL THE REST THAT I HAVE WATCHED