Have said many times about not having a bias against modest/low budget films. There have been films that are hindered by budget but still manage to be halfway decent or more because other elements are done reasonably well at least. Budget hindrances for me are not, or shouldn't be, an excuse for anything to be low quality or amateurish, when a film or such doesn't try that's when it is rated low and negatively reviewed.
'Earthtastrophe' though is not one of those films that doesn't try, although a lot of elements are badly executed there are degrees of effort which is why it hasn't been rated any lower. If anything, 'Earthtastrophe' is instead an example of a film that tries too hard and bites off more than it could chew. It has a great and very ambitious idea for a story, but sadly didn't have the budget, resources or the right people to pull it off. There was a lot of potential in the film that wasn't completely wasted but wasn't lived up to.
There is not an awful lot that 'Earthtastrophe' does right sadly and there is a lot wrong, but there are fleeting "okay" moments/elements. The best, or least bad, thing about the film is the photography, which wasn't incoherent and didn't look too drab, not great but have seen worse.
Scenery was pretty nice and had some atmosphere, and the music was listenable and fitted better than the music featured in most disaster films.
Conversely, the special effects are less than special and that's being kind, they are poorly modelled and fail to blend with everything else, plus some are used gratuitously. The actors struggle to do anything interesting with their characters and give performances that either sees them giving too much that it becomes hammy or are stiff and going through the motions. To be fair though the characters are sketchily, to put it lightly, written and severely underdeveloped, with personalities that range between annoyingly shallow or completely dull. Unclear motivations and illogical decision making (bugbears of mine in film) are other reasons why one can't care for any of the characters. The direction is pretty leaden.
Furthermore, the script never sounds natural and further suffers from being vague to the point of being incomprehensible, especially in trying to figure out who is who and what is what, and very repetitive. Do agree that the flashbacks did irritate, there were too many of them and generally they added very little. The story was an ambitious one, but it ended up feeling over-ambitious because the storytelling here was anaemic at best and even more confused and vague as the script, with too many things left unclear and the structure being a jumpy mess. There is no tension or suspense and the fun and energy is completely sucked out, down to everything being taken too seriously and a cripplingly dull pace.
In summary, have seen worse disaster films but over-ambition, severely underdeveloped and muddled writing and storytelling, an over-seriousness and lack of fun really let it down. 3/10
