Nature Unleashed: Earthquake

Ho-Dee-Ho, what should I have expected? I bought this TV drama on DVD for under 5 dollars so could I be disappointed, really? No, I wasn't and I'm afraid the standard low brow for midget minds situational disaster flick formula is in force here.

A family with teenage kids. The daughter looks like a slut, but so what? An improbable situation, a divorced American family in Russia, where Dad is an engineer, but his wife appears to have most of the smarts.

What can be said formula take over. Family divorced, and kids think Mom was a douche bag for divorcing Pop. We never learn why they were divorced or why the kids and ex are in Russia to begin with.

No matter an earthquake strikes where golly, you would think, the Russians would think maybe it wouldn't. Dumb Russies.

The rest is pablum for a 90 minute occasional glance at the screen to be sure your movie smeller didn't predict way ahead how it would end.

The brave young and arrogant 17 year old heart throb, the Artie- terribly trashy looking daughter, the very smart Mom who immediately sees a circuit board needs resistors bypassed with her cast off wedding ring.

Oh, well, you'll find this flick plays well and probably isn't a total disaster if you buy the DVD for under 3 dollars. I want a partial refund on what I paid.

I was surprised to note that the film was released in 2004; it has a very "1960's" European feel in look and soundtrack. None of the supposedly US characters looks or sounds American; the hairstyles and clothes, again, are very retro and much of the dialog appears to have been looped--without the appropriate background noise! None of this would matter if the conflicts or characters were involving--but the action is very formulaic and the acting poor.It certainly is difficult to come up with new approaches to disaster-type scenarios on limited budgets, but "China Syndrome" and countless earthquake films have already been done. As the Bible--and Spielberg in his Oscar acceptance speech--said: "In the beginning was the word..." With or without a significant budget, there first needs to be decent script, and this one just doesn't work. If the creators of Mystery Theater 3000 were still doing their magic, this film would be a perfect candidate for parody.

This is a rant, because I've just wasted time looking at another film and I'm sick of what I'm seeing:

Divorced and or on the verge of divorce scientist couples squabbling (One of the reasons I loved Locusts the 8th Plague cause it depicted a harmonious (sp) couple by and large; wow it can be done!)? And I notice no one ever pulls the one who's the co-worker aside to implore him/her to focus on what they're hired to do and push the personal history mess in the back of their heads!

Kids more likable and mature than the adults? I absolutely hated Miss Arrogant Female Scientist until the last half hour of this movie. The husband was a little more likable but after the way she addressed him in one scene; Oh My God, a self-respecting man would either, one, tell her to live with him being there or better yet call for a replacement for this job and get the first plane out of Russia.

A someone in the installation pushing for a deadline, thus causing errors which bring about the film's major catastrophe?

Kid--The couples kid--why can't this be a child they don't know?--hopelessly trapped calling for parent?

And this channel has the nerve to dub these things "an original movie"?????

Sci-Fi I beg the powers that be, hire someone, anyone, who can be more creative and dream up more exciting scenarios for these original films--Oh that can be anybody, just about anybody from the age of 10 up. Thank you.

for me,this is easily the worst disaster movie i have watched to date.i didn't find it compelling at all,and the special effects were not believable.the movie was not exciting.usually,acting is not a big concern in these types of movies.however,in this movie the acting was the worst i have seen so far in the genre.i nearly quit watching before the end,but i decided to give it a chance.regrettably,it did not improve and i lost close to 90 minutes of my life.in my personal opinion,i would avoid this movie,as it is painfully tedious.i also felt embarrassed for the actors at times.the movie was directed by Tibor Takaks,who also directed,"The Gate" another movie i hated.he has directed other things since"The Gate",but i haven't seen any of them.anyway,I'd have to give "Nature Unleashed:Earthquake a dismal 1* star.

If I did not know better, I'd have thought Ed Wood did this movie. It has its pros and cons. The story isn't bad. The setup is perfect if you're a disaster movie junkie, but does fall short of any Irwin Allen classic. The cons are the acting, the acting, and the acting.