Inferno

I actually watched this movie mainly because a very good friend of mine was in it (Daniel von Bargen as Gen. Craig Maxwell). However, I actually did enjoy the film. I walked into my pub just as it was starting, looked up, saw him, and ended up watching the whole thing over a couple of brews.

For avid sci-fi readers out there, I'm almost positive this movie is loosely based on an old sci-fi short story that I've seen in two separate collections I own. The name, however, evades me. For a TV movie, it wasn't bad. ***xx (three stars out of five)

Mediocre acting, enough sweat to keep RightGuard in business for decades and some of the most god-awful CGI effects in recent memory...and I'll watch it again just to see Stephanie Niznik in a sweaty t-shirt.

Plot holes galore [if the metal on the side of the building is hot enough that your wet hand sizzles when it touches, there shouldn't be a long lasting wet handprint left there, should there?]

Actually, the story wasn't that bad [loved the scene of the pile of dead birds "...just fell out of the sky this morning. Damndest thing I ever saw."] and the view of Southern Cali from space, cooking, was well done.

*** out of *****

Absolutely horrible movie. Not a bad plot concept, but executed horribly. Cliché storyline; bad script. So schlocky it doesn't even qualify for campy. This is the kind of movie that gives sci-fi a bad name.

Incredibly stupid.

This could have become a good movie. The basic story IS good. Instead, it focuses on a few stereotypical characters that seem to come from a Donald Duck magazine. To continue the analogy with Disney, the crime-story in the movie is at the Mickey-Mouse level, and the metaphors and symbolism like in Three Little Pigs.

And they really tried to squeeze in everything: There is the Love Story, the man worried about his relatives, the bank robbery, the man-to-man-fight between soldiers &c.

Not to mention all the plot holes... A dangerous enemy to intelligence in your living-room. Hopefully, it's not contagious.

• And, of course, in the end, we have to say a prayer! May they never do this kind of movie again. Amen.

The film beginning is fairly good considering its a pretty standard TV disaster movie, however once things start to be fleshed out it rapidly becomes overwhelmed by characters and subplots that do more and more to distract from the movies positives ultimately leading to enough mismatches to flesh out 2 or even 3 different films...but which squeezed in to one just distracts and detracts from the enjoyment.

Watxch out for the stereotypes from the standard liberal but tough schoolteacher and the requisite gang banging brother of a dead gang member, a disgraced because he tried to do the right thing doctor and the lifeguard he befriends - who just happens to be the ex of the mad tow truck driver...etc etc...and apparently there was some army guys too...

Such is the poorly setup melodrama and the way the story concentrates more on these characters than the almost forgotten disaster of the impending 60c+ heatwave that any potential edge of the seat tension and drama is smoothed over and its difficult to even say there was any.

The question of who dies,who survives and how/why doesn't even come in to it by the end as there's too many by the book twists to put any flesh on the bones of any individuals or plots. I simply sat and watched each mini- story as a separate as there was no real immersive interplay or connection even when the characters had some supposed back story. Just mentally tick or cross them off as they go because in most cases you never seem to want to care enough to do more than count them in and count them out again. ... Surprisingly I did find Inferno quite likable, if rather forgettable, despite the lack of depth and annoying characters and multiple subplots. For a TV movie it fills the time effectively enough, however it just doesn't do enough to warrant a rewatching in a hurry.

Overall the SF was decent for its genre/budget - outside of the weird space fireball shots. The plot was driven along with enough energy to prevent sleep, though not enough to set the heart racing either. Characters, scenes and dialogue were very mixed and this is where the movie loses points, especially the way some characters seemed to be shoehorned in to the plot but without any redeemable features (The tow truck duo - I'm pointing at you!)

Overall this could have been polished up and had a reasonable score and with one or two less characters and subplots it may have made it...but no, I'm afraid as it stands:

5/10...