Tempête à Las Vegas

This movie was pretty much bad in all respects from the acting to the poorly written script but it did have some good comedic and action scenes. The special effects were horrendous for the most part but the cinematography was decent.

This movie is as bad as a summer in Indonesia, without air/con. Watching it injured my soul: ultra-bad comes to mind. It is similar in smell to old sneakers, soaked in a swamp and stuffed into Icelandic shark cheese. Life is not fair and this movie proves it. The CGI made me hate computers as a rule, despite a career utilizing them for pure purpose. Luckily, this film was commercially supported and there were some delightful adverts during the break. I've enjoyed many holidays in Las Vegas ( none of which involved the mixed-metaphors written herein) and can say safely that no great English/Egyptian sword threatens a visitor: on the contrary; beware of gonorrhea and of crabs.

Another SyFy Channel movie bites the dust... uhm, I mean sand.

Wow, this movie was really, really cheesy and bad. Sure, this is a SyFy Channel movie, but still I gave it a chance. You know, it could just happen to be one of those rare SyFy Channel gems that actually entertain and prove to be watchable. However, such was not the case.

The story in "Blast Vegas" is about an old ancient Egyptian curse striking down upon Las Vegas, with a blistering sand storm, threatening to kill all people in Las Vegas. And of course it is up to a handful of college kids on spring break to stop this supernatural curse.

Indeed, the storyline was just laughable and nowhere resembled anything that had any purpose whatsoever. There is simply no fun or entertainment to be found in this movie.

The CGI effects were bad, pretty bad. Especially because there were so many flaws and errors in them. For instance, a massive sandstorm blasts Las Vegas for a long time, yet there is no single layers of sand to be seen anywhere. And people venturing openly into this sandstorm have no problems having their eyes wide open - no sand gets into them, and then need not even shield their eyes from the stinging sand. Right, very nice touch right there.

And I just laughed so hard when the group was in the bowling alley. There were debris cluttering the desks, but nothing on the floor. But it gets better, if you pay attention to the background, all pins on the bowling lanes are still standing erect.

One thing also comes to mind, why would a Las Vegas casino have a thousand year old sword lying around where anyone could just pick it up, take it and leave with it? This was just idiotic.

Also, after a prolonged and constant blasting of a sandstorm in Las Vegas, you'd think cars and people would be off the streets, as surely there have been some kind of emergency broadcasting issued. But no, as the storm continued to roll across the city - without leaving anything covered in sand, mind you - there is still a lot of traffic on the roads.

The storyline in "Blast Vegas" is irrelevant and pointless to say the least, and you never really think that there is any overwhelming danger in any way threatening the people in the movie or the city.

The one good thing about this movie was the acting. It was sort of spoofy and held in a very low budget B-movie style. Intentionally, or just because even the actors didn't buy into this storyline and script, well, who knows? Some things are meant to remain buried underneath the sands of time, as is the case with this movie.

I love disaster movies, they're one of my favourite forms of light entertainment. They are full of improbable probabilities about the future of our planet; that at their best, make us take note and think, what if(?) At their worst, they usually make you laugh, even though it's unintentional.

So when I read that the writer, Meyer Shwarzstein with screenwriters Joe D'Ambrosia and Tom Teves had added a fantasy element I thought I'd give it a go...

The mistake was mine. My imagination had already given life to the synopsis... The film falls woefully short in every way.

Firstly, the acting was so awful I was wishing the cast would die off quicker. Even Frankie Muniz, who has proved he can act was terrible. The only decent actor in the whole film was Barry Bostwick who does a great job of portraying a constant gin drinking, wash-up, slightly sleazy, lounge piano player. It's because of Bostwick the film got the rating it did from me.

Secondly, the director handles the story material ludicrously. There is no way anybody is going to believe any of this modern fantasy tale. I know it's meant to be lighthearted and comedic but it even misses here. There are too many holes and continuity errors that are glaringly obvious, as well as some impossible situations. These are evident in other disaster films, though in this movie they are less forgivable because of how the story is handled. The pace and flow are so muddled it gives the movie a disjointed feel.

Thirdly, the special effects, are way below average. Though most movies of this ilk are low-budget the effects are usually well created and carried out to maximise the power and atmosphere of destruction. However, in this film they are so unrealistic my attention was actually broken, as I shook my head in disgust.

The writers and directors of this film should have watched Sharknado and others of a similar vein; then they would've had some idea on how to handle the subject material.

I couldn't in all good conscience recommend this film to anyone. Though if you find yourself kidnapped by Jigsaw and forced to watch this movie then you can take some solace in the fact that at least Barry Bostwick may keep you from going insane...

The only redeeming thing about this movie is that it is short but unfortunately it still manages to drag it's way to the finish line.

Poor script, terrible acting and laugh out loud special effects. I understand budget constraints and B movie status but really why bother when this manure is the best you can come up with. A little bit of research and a bit more care and attention to detail might have made it a bit less awful but why bother if this is the best that you aspire to... the director's philsophy obviously.