Futureshock: Comet

Geographic goofs aside, this film is fairly good. It is essentially an educational piece platformed on a drama with multi-dimensional characters moving the action along as they provide enlightening information about such a likelihood. It addresses some of the public notions of what would happen and why and makes the distinction between what we've seen in Hollywood portrayals and what scientists know to be likely, especially with regard to prediction and intervention. The science is pretty accurate and the mood is one of the inevitable. It's not a matter of IF but WHEN a NEO strikes Earth.

The production is British but they put the object strike at Pittsburgh, my hometown. I was a bit amused. Why Pittsburgh?

Can't say I would have much faith in a bunch of scientists that come to survey the devastation reaped on the West Coast of Ireland but are so 'clever' that they fail to notice that the surveying instrument they are using does NOT have a battery. Admittedly I use this sort of gear all the time and do tend to notice minor details like whether or not I can actually turn it on or not but this crack team of experts seemed to miss that. Bet they felt silly when they got back to their base and found that all their work was lost cos they were too dumb to notice something as obvious. Not a bad film but some of the accents were a bit odd to say the least......and why is it that America always takes charge whenever Earth is threatened.....that would terrify me more than the bloody comet.:)

To date, 20% of people who voted on this movie gave it a 9 or a 10. I was one of them, and I would like to elaborate on the reasons why:

(1) The movie attempts to be realistic. The scenario it describes, broadly, is not impossible. Tomorrow might be the day we learn about "Ireland-type" impact as shown in the movie (I am not an expert on this, but my understanding is that it is true that sufficiently small objects can be detected only too late for any action to be taken). I like that there are no super heroes in this movie and no futuristic technology (although the timing might be off on some elements of the story). On other hand, as other comments mention, there appear to be many goofs, some of which are quite embarrassing; and the more technical one goes, probably, the more one finds. For myself, only a moderately critical viewer, however, this did not create mental blocks to enjoying the film.

(2) The movie underlines the importance of the development of technology and investment in outerspace / NEO exploration. In a scenario like this, no data is excessive and no technical capability of humanity is wasteful. From my very subjective perspective, space exploration is one direction of human effort that is bound to pay off in one way or another (and the movie highlights just one of the ways). My hope is that publicity to the topic and the field will create greater awareness of this in general public and will bring in more converts.

(3) The movie highlights the "higher self" of the United States, as a country, nation, and culture - the notion that a nation can sacrifice itself for the good of the humanity. From a sarcastic perspective, I guess, this can be the most unrealistic part about the movie, but I, personally, don't adhere to this. More than that, I think that most nations and people would do the same if given a chance. In a way, the movie highlights the "higher self" of humanity, which we tend to loose sight of in daily life. Personally, this was the inspiring part about the movie.

I bought this movie at an impulse and later, at home, was very disappointed to find out that it had under 5 average rating on IMDb. I almost did not watch the movie to not waste the time. I did eventually, on a mood upswing, and am very glad I did - it resonated with me. I hope some other people will enjoy it too!

Folks I live 10 miles from Shannon airport and I can tell you this - it is not located in Galway Bay and does not have a seaside beach. This show puts it about 50 miles from where it actually is. A small bit of research, say looking at a map, would've cleared this up. Dublin is not in north county Louth by the way and Queens University is not in Dublin, it is in Belfast. The very notion of an Irish university named after a British royal is insulting. The building used in the closeup shot is Dublin Castle. I like the new spin on America saving the world by the way. America takes one for the team i.e the rest of the world. An awful pile of rubbish this was.