The Black Hole

In this SciFi Channel original, an accident in a nuclear lab in St. Louis causes not only the creation of a black hole, but unleashes an alien creature that feeds on energy. A scientist and his female partner team up with a maverick general to solve the growing menace while the military embarks on a typical blow-it-up solution that could wreak disaster for the world.

I found the idea of a small black hole created on Earth intriguing, and it was interesting watching it eat up everything around it. (So it "can't" happen, but hey, it is science fiction!) Unfortunately, screenwriter David Goodin, who is responsible for "Larva," another TV movie that flopped, again shows himself adept at giving us a general plot and characters who are tired and clichéd. You know, the implausible story of the world-threatening event that is handled by the lone scientist (instead of every intelligent professional in the world) and simplistic government officials who make FEMA look good! Even if we accept this script as a mediocre formula tale, we would hope for at least semi-intelligent dialogue and a director who had some slight ability for pacing. (Tibor Tacaks has, according to IMDb, directed some 28 films, and I don't think any of them rated over 5). Perhaps with such a weak structure, we can forgive the wooden, lackluster acting from a cast who must have figured at least it was a way to make a quick buck.

I'm pretty tolerant of formula sci fi, even when the premise is implausible, but this one is bad even for a TV movie.

As a resident of the city in which the movie took place, I enjoyed it mostly for the amazingly silly geographic liberties the filmmakers took with St. Louis. I knew it was going to be entertaining from the moment the Planetarium/Science Center - one of the most well-known buildings in the city - was labeled as the stand-in for the nuclear physics institute where the whole mess started.

From there, it was a silly and stupid ride through bad science and locations that left most of my family going, "But isn't that building in the area they just said was destroyed?" My favorite moment was after the Arch and Downtown St. Louis were destroyed and then we saw Judd Nelson racing down a road...in downtown St. Louis...toward a darkened but obviously still visible and untouched Arch.

The actors performed their roles with earnestness and deserve credit for doing what they could with the silliness of the plot.

In St. Louis, the scientists Dr. William Hauser (Kevin Beyer), Shannon Muir (Kristy Swanson) and Kent (Dan Buran) accidentally create a black hole during an experiment. While investigating the phenomenon, Dr. Hauser and Kent die and the army comes to their laboratory under the command of General Ryker (David Selby). Shannon tries to call the prominent Dr. Eric Bryce (Judd Nelson), but the scientist does not answer the phone since he misses his daughter Kayley (Julia Sinks) after the divorce to his ex-wife Elizabeth (Jennifer Quackenbush). When he is contacted, he comes to the laboratory and soon he finds that the experiment has also unleashed a creature that feeds of energy. The Powers That Be wants a nuclear attack against the creature, but Eric warns that the action will increase the black hole. He also believes that the creature may be destroyed and the black hole closed if they are attracted to each other. However, only General Ryker supports his theory while General Tate (Peter Mayer) wants to bomb the location.

"The Black Hole" is a stupid and corny thriller. The one-dimension characters are not developed and Eric in the beginning is an alcoholic scientist that misses his family and in the corny end is a hero in love with Shannon, who seems to be the pivot of his divorce. The military personnel cannot be that imbecile, using the usual weapons against the energy creature to be vaporized on the next scene. The idea of bombing the black hole and the creature is taken by people without any knowledge is totally unintelligent. And the character that performs the President is disrespectful so ridiculous he is. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Buraco Negro" ("Black Hole")

well,this movie was pretty bad.bad acting,bad story,mediocre special effects,and bad dialogue.the two main actors,Kristy Swanson and Judd Nelson seemed to be phoning in their performances just for a pay check.the supporting cast wasn't great either.the story was silly,and very slow.and i'm no physicist,but i'm guessing a lot of the science was inaccurate.in some movies,that doesn't matter to me.for example f the movie is exciting or has sympathetic characters,or a good storyline.this movie has none of those.i just could not get into this movie,and really just waited for it to end.the ending was abrupt and anti climatic,which isn't really surprising since the whole movie was anti climatic.for me,The Black Hole is a 3/10

I am not going to waste too many words on this simply horrific movie.

The only thing that matches the poor acting the inconsistency in the time line and story telling.

The Arch which is supposedly torn down by the black hole... can be seen standing in the background near the ending.

Additionally.. if they shut down the power... the city lights would've been out. While even at the very end all the lights are still on. Which makes me think... if you know the creature absorbs energy... turn it off straight away! The only thing going for this movie is the alien if self, which doesn't look too bad.

Avoid at all costs if you can.