User reviews

Alright, well first of all I would like to say that this movie is somewhat of a step up for TV aired disaster movies, both in storyline, effects and cast.

Initially, I hadn't heard anything about the movie, so I was expecting something in the likes of "The Day After Tomorrow", because I was thinking in the terms of polar caps, not magnetic poles. But the movie turned out to be quite interesting nonetheless.

The story was actually quite good and takes a hold of you, and you want to sit through the entire movie and see how it ends. Although, and hold on to your hats, you already know the outcome of the movie from the very beginning. Yes, it is one of those type of disaster movies.

Throughout the movie there is a handful of CGI effects that weren't too shabby, truth be told. Of course it is not major Hollywood million dollar effects, but they still managed to pull it off adequately enough.

And the cast of the movie, well the people chosen for the individual roles actually did good jobs with their characters and portraying them. I especially liked the performance of Jack Coleman (playing Dr. James Mayfield) and Holly Dignard (playing Cynthia Mayfield). But the other people in the movie did good jobs as well.

"Polar Storm" is actually a much needed breath of fresh air in an otherwise genre of TV disaster movies that are suffering from horrible effects and laughable story lines. "Polar Storm" manages to captivate and keep your thralled throughout the entire course, despite its predictive nature.

The ending was, well, not really that believable, but hey, it is a movie, and just meant for entertainment. Oh, and one thing did puzzle me, when the chunk of ice struck Alaska and wrought havoc, how did Dr. James Mayfield manage to get transportation back to the USA? Just something to think about...

which made me laugh all the way through - which I doubt was one of the Producers' intentions.

The Budget for POLAR STORM is Low, but then again being an SYFY channel production you have to expect that, but the FX are very poor by 2010 standards.

What made me laugh all the way through is the appalling dialogue - which is unintentionally hilarious, The acting is only adequate at best, the plot holes are many and there is very few people actually in the Film - ALL expense spared on extras it seems.

The 'star' of the film is Jack Coleman (No - I haven't heard of him either) although he will be known to fans of NBC's drama HEROES.

Written and Directed by Paul Ziller who has made dozens of B-Movies - none of which I have seen or now intend to see given how rubbish POLAR STORM turned out to be, even with my very low expectations.

BUT, having said all that - POLAR STORM was still cheesy enough to be just about watchable.

The only redeeming feature of this incredibly poor wannabe clone of "The Core" is they probably threw significantly less money down the toilet.

What a complete load of garbage. I'd rather watch a test card.

If you want details:

The script was appallingly repetitive and naive. The acting was more wooden than a sequoia. The special effects must have cost 90% of the budget. And the budget can't have been that big. The story was thoughtless and should never have made it past a one page sum up. The ending was farcical and predictable.

Oh dear God I could go on, but if I wrote a thousand words tearing this minger to pieces it still wouldn't do it justice.

It was fun watching this movie, as it shows how good, really good movies are difficult to make. In a world that surrounds itself with electronics, movie goers have become familiar with how all things electrical work. It's not good enough to come up with some bad science, illogical concepts or half hearted graphics to satisfy a savvy audience. If the Director can't afford good graphics, get good actors, can't afford good actors, write great dialogue, no great writing, choose beautiful scenery..... but don't combine the least of everything and expect to have a memorable product. Polar Storm is the perfect storm of all the worst that B movies possess. Now that I've unloaded on this half-hearted attempt at a Sci-Fi video romp, It has some redeeming features. Canadians watching this will recognize places they know, we get to see some newbies put in front of a camera and watch earth take a licking and keep on ticking. The best line , and perhaps the funniest ....when sonny shouts to Stepmom hanging on for dear life over a bottomless crevice...." Don't let go!" If you like to see what not to do as a Director, this is the movie for you.

This is the most unrealistic and definitely THE WORST movie i have seen in past 5-10 years. 100% waste of money on filming this. It's really funny how some directors can destroy a lot of money on such a project and create a failure in his career. I mean really, the woman holding the rod in the crater with her left hand, half bent, and with the right grips the belt. Vehicle which is full of electronics and is working on petrol, should not have a battery to work? Why then we all spend money to buy them if so. Hello! And who the devil will then initiate the starter like shown in this movie? Radio antenna with few thin cables? Yeah, right! The film is full of similar mistakes and therefore remains in my statement that this is the worst film that I have watched in life. (After Matrix 2) Do not watch this because it is not worth losing 90 minutes of life...

This movie is along the lines of most Sci-Fi Channel movies, but definitely a tad better - mostly because it tackles a different theme (magnetic storms / polar shift) and has a good lead character.

The basic setup of the story is that a fragment of a comet has hit earth and strange electrical storms are popping up in multiple locations. There are two sub-stories: (1) a scientist (Jack Coleman from the TV series "Heroes") tries to warn the government that the storms are going to get worst, not better and (2) the scientist's son and wife are trying to escape an area hit by one of the storms.

One thing that's very impressive is that the story can be effectively told within the budgetary constraints typical to these types of movies. The filmmakers put just the right amount into effects (simple, but passable), locations (small towns/open roads) and the number of characters (very few) to make it work.

Furthermore, Jack Coleman and Holly Dignard (who plays his wife) are decently interesting to watch - so that helps. Both carry an air of seriousness that helps keep the atmosphere of the movie in urgency mode.

If you're sick of the channel's overused themes (mutant undead/rat/insect/etc.), then this is a step up from that. It's not really good or great, but if you're hunting for sci-fi on TV and nothing else is on ... might as well watch this.

As far as this movie goes it's pretty safe to say that its' not going to win any awards so I have to agree with those reviewers that have said it it isn't in their top 10 so-to-speak. However, I DON'T agree with several who seem to have gone out of their way to castigate the film in every way possible either. It's obvious that the budget was low and bearing that in mind I think the overall result wasn't that bad at all. The acting was fairly sound, Jack Coleman, Holly Elissa and Terry Mulligan were convincing in their respective roles - and I think one reviewers 'apology' for Canada producing such a rubbish film was both unnecessary and over-the-top. The subject matter about shifting Poles causing Magnetic Storms after a Meteor hits earth is a well-used one we know BUT this WAS really more of a family-film type entertainment and NOT in the genre of Alien or Predator.The scenery used was impressive and I think as 'Family Entertainment' there has been a lot worse.

As a Canadian, I can only say I am embarrassed and saddened that my country makes such total 100% garbage as this pathetic movie. One would think that after many years of major productions, we could come up with cinema that stands up with the rest of the world. But it's pretty obvious that our film business is a total joke. The sight of Vancouver's perennial DJ and Man-About-Town Terry David Mulligan dressed up as a General, is so utterly hilarious and totally absurd that it defies description. Everything about this movie STINKS. Story, acting, directing, special effects----you name it, on every level it's got to be one of the most God-awful pieces of junk ever.

I do dislike a vast majority of SyFy's films, though in all honesty I don't revel in tarnishing them no matter how much some of them deserve it. Polar Storm is not their worst, either The Apocalypse or Alien vs. Hunter, but it is down there. Visually, it looks alright at first, but then from the half-way mark to the end, the special effects look slapdash and done with no heart and the editing becomes increasingly half-hearted. The story is another problem, for its running time like I've said with a few SyFy movies it is very thin and the ending feels like a farce more than anything else and a very predictable one at that. The script is trite complete with illogical lapses and scientific factual errors, and the characters are clichéd and I didn't care for any of them, and my guess is the actors didn't either. And the acting was so wooden from across the board. Overall, as much as I liked the theme that they tried to tackle, Polar Storm is a mess. 1/10 Bethany Cox

POLAR STORM is another in a never-ending line of incessantly rubbish disaster movies distributed by the Sy Fy Channel in America. As with the others, this one has far too low a budget to do justice to the sometimes-silly storyline, which involves a rogue comet sending the Earth's magnetic fields out of sync, causing all manner of electric storms and disturbance across the country.

Viewers of this particular genre will know what to expect by now and none of it is good. There are two plots, one involving a heroic scientist trying to figure out how to combat the storms, and the other involving his family trying to evade one of them. What it all boils down to is a whole deal of melodramatic overacting combined with a handful of ridiculous action scenes which seem to involve the same bad CGI effect over and over again of the ground cracking open. Even fans of disaster flicks will be hard pressed finding something to enjoy here.

Gripping science fiction film that doesn't let go until the stunning climax. Jack Coleman gives one of his finest performances as the one person that can stop the horror of a polar storm that threatens human life. With surprisingly good special effects and a script that is both intelligent and insightful, this film offers a plausible scenario where the terror depicted brings out the best and worst in humanity. The tension builds and the suspense becomes unendurable as the film's story takes us on a spectacular thrill ride. Let the audience judge if this motion picture is actually a cautionary tale regarding global warming but the suggestion is hard to ignore.