Le Jour de l'apocalypse

A Syfy Channel original TV movie starring Greg Grunberg who apparently was in the once-popular TV series Heroes. He's kinda funny, trying to make a joke for everything in this disaster of a disaster movie. He and his buddy reference tons of real movies, particularly disaster flicks which they know backwards and forwards. Everything they know about surviving disasters they've gotten from those movies which has even turned them into end of the world preppers ready for any end of the world scenario. And of course that saves the world here. Oh no, is that a spoiler? Who cares, it's a crap movie that really does nothing but suck.

3.6 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

Pretty darn entertaining disaster-flick which jokes around a lot with the genre and never really takes itself too seriously, which in this case is a good thing

Most SyFy-movies have that problem that even tho the plot is ludicrous they take themselves seriously a lot of times, occasionally that makes the movies 'so bad they're good' but more than often they end up being just plain bad

So this one was a delight too watch, cause it gets everything right, Greg Grundberg is great in the lead and sets the tone and carries this movie on his shoulders

Not so good effects as expected but it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the film

Actually the script although predictable isn't all that bad, not any worse than Armageddon or whatever...

Yeah a nice surprise

Pretty average for a sci-fi channel movie, though the humor level is a little higher, and the presence of Brad Dourif, Neil Grayston (Fargo from "Eureka") and Greg Grunberg (from "Heroes", who rises far above the material) makes it much more watchable.

The earth is being bombarded by plasma balls, which fry people and stuff, but that's only the beginning. A far greater threat will destroy the earth unless our intrepid geeky movie line-quoting video store clerks can save the day (oddly, the most unbelievable part of the movie is that there's still an open video store in existence). The special effects are not bad, and the acting, apart from a few really noticeable Canadian accents, isn't bad either.

While I understand the low ratings of this movie, I think if you watch it in the spirit in which it appears to have been made, it's really a fun movie. End of the World is a tongue-in-cheek homage to pop culture, sci-fi and (of course) disaster movies. The pop culture references alone were fantastic, and the actors are clearly in on the joke, not taking themselves or the cheesy script too seriously. Greg Grunberg is adorable as always. I expected this movie to suck wind, and was pleasantly surprised. If you're a fan of disaster movies and looking for lighthearted escapist fluff, watch this movie & enjoy a few chuckles.

END OF THE WORLD is your usual bog-standard SyFy Channel disaster movie that perhaps feels even more generic than all the others put together. It's directed by the prolific Steven R. Monroe and written by Jason Bourque, who also directed his fair share of other numerous similar low-budget disaster movies.

The one thing END OF THE WORLD does differently is to self-reference other movies in the genre, sometimes from the same studio and sometimes better-known efforts. Brad Dourif plays the crazy old-timer who might just have the knowledge to tackle what's going on, and there's a rather ingenious clip from ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST utilised at one point, which was rather neatly done.

Otherwise it's business as usual, with a bunch of stock characters, failing actors, and unfunny humour. The CGI effects of the solar flare attacks are as non-impressive as ever, and the various disaster scenes lack the kind of oomph you'd expect. It turns out that the END OF THE WORLD finishes with a fizzle rather than a bang.