Within the Rock

A "renegade moon" called Galileo's Child is headed for Earth. A drilling team is sent to create tunnels to be used as propulsion channels for a nuclear detonation that is to divert the moon from its collision course. That in itself is a rough job, but add to that one very angry awakened-from-hibernation alien, and you get an entertaining film containing cool makeup effects and good character development. A good bet for a relaxing night of no-brainer cinema.

(sounds a little like two other recent movie plots huh? - this was done two years earlier and to better end than one of them - so who copied who?)

I'm one of those people that actually enjoy B-movies. Well, B-movies that aren't stupid. Anyways, I watched "Within the Rock" with very low expectations. My expectations were exceeded. Let's face it: 90'S Horror and Sci-Fi movies were mostly crap. However, this film manages to pull off being crappy with a good story, average acting, average effects, and a pretty cool monster. This film has cool fights, suspenseful jumps, and an interesting look at space-mining.For the little amount of money that was used for this film, it was used well. I recommend "Within the Rock" for anyone who will settle for an average, entertaining Sci-Fi flick.

I can't judge this film using normal reviewing techniques, because it's not a big budget, Armageddon type film that will comepletely blow you away. What it is is a mildley entertaining, fun-for-anyone-after-a-completely-undemanding-film-sort-of movie. Given millions of dollars and time, this would have been a spectacular, if completely un-original, dim-bulb film. But it's not. It was probably filmed over a month or less, for about a million dollars. For that, it's pretty damn good! It had a good script, with only one scene of bad dialogue towards the end (just think the worst, oldest cliche). Just goes to show that all you need is one talented person to start a film (I mean this films Writer/Director, who obviously knew what he was doing) and you'll end up with something respectable. 6/10 or ***/*****

Its cheap. The effects, the actors, everything on low budget. However, the script and direction are is quite good - compared to Michael Bay's Armageddon, which is extremely lame and boring once you leave out all the expensive effects and high-pay actors. Heck, it is even _with_ them, if your mind happens to wake up during the show. In contrast, this movie is original (in parts), it's refreshing low on pathos, and by far less expensive in production. I'd chose it over Armageddon anytime.

The alien sidestory is obvious, and OK. I hope director and writer Mr. Tunicliffe, whose other works are primarily in the special make-up department, will find time to hone his directing and writing abilities. There's potential, but he needs training.

Not bad for his first script and direction! 6/10, especially in comparison with Armageddon

Apparently some people are not used to made for TV movies. Possibly too young- they were everywhere in the late 60's and into the 70's. They do not have a huge F/X budget like Star Wars, Close Encounters of the 3'rd Kind, or Superman, etc. However, Within the Rock is way above the Sci-Fi 'B' movies of the 50's and 60's.

As to the plot, NASA and quite a few world governments are concerned about the possibility of a 'rogue' celestial body impacting our planet. A few years back, an object passed within something like less than a million miles of Earth- on a galactic scale, this is approximately next door. And, let's not forget the extinction level event that occurred 65 million years ago, that left iridium layers that are bigger than any other found on this planet ,and coincidentally occurred when dinosaurs became extinct.

The actors by and large were fine- sci-fi is not Shakespeare. If I wanted to watch Shakespeare, that's what I would be watching.

I liked this movie and recommended it to my sister.