Arctic Blast

Solar eclipses are effecting the atmospheric layer causing a gigantic drop in temperatures. Jack Tate (Michael Shanks) leads a climate science team based in Hobart, Australia. Unbeknownst to them, their research ship gets flash frozen when a jet of cold air blast through the atmosphere. Jack is facing a divorce from his wife Emma and his daughter Namoi is not happy. He is shocked to see their ship run aground. Institute head Walter Winslaw (Bruce Davison) is reluctant to alarm the public. Jack can't get a warning out and he has to rescue his kid.

This is pulling from similar junk-science as "The Day After Tomorrow". The difference is that nobody cared about the science in that movie. It was just an excuse to see NYC get CGI destroyed by a tidal wave. There is no such fun in this movie. The CGI in this one is pretty weak. The other problem is the way the situation is solved. It is basically a lot of computer modeling. I do have to say that this is some of the best fake computer modeling around. :) The action is mostly badly conceived. When Jack gets to the beach, he should grab her kid and yell "RUN!" Instead, he spends time to explain science to the kids and stand around waiting for them. It's an opportunity to amp up the tension. He should be raving mad which would inject some excitement. Worst of all, Jack takes off in the middle of a world wide catastrophe to go to the drug store. It's a pretty bad TV movie.

Easily one of the worst movies of all time. I'm understating it. This is the kind of bad that causes you to pause the movie so you can call your friends and tell them you are watching the worst movie in the world! Which is, of course, the very reason I loved it. I couldn't shut it off. The script is shameless, "releasing magnesium payload from high-altitude balloons..." This movie had me the whole way. You couldn't make this movie up. A killer cloud of ice, people freezing to death all over the place. A small fire that keeps the whole house from freezing and killing everybody in it. The fearless refusal to confront the obvious contradictions in the story; such as, the ability to go outside when necessary to get medicine and the ability to outrun the killer cloud by foot, when appropriate. This is a movie for the ages. Its a topical film that is all around brilliant in its ability to make you watch because you can't believe your eyes. You know its getting worse and you can't wait. If you love bad movies you need to see this movie immediately. Right now, today. Arctic Blast is easily one of the worst movies of all time. No question about it. Run out and see it today.

"Easily one of the worst movies of all time. I'm understating it."

No disagreement here!!!

This is the quintessential "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (for everyone familiar with this alltime classic low budget scifi film) of disaster genre' films.

Every hackneyed cliché' that could possibly be imagined was tossed into this thing . . . sort of like a mental indigestion.

I can only imagine what was going on at the set while they were actually shooting film for this thing.

The actors and film crew must have been barely able to keep from constantly laughing as they attempted to say their lines and plod their way through these evermore, beyond ridiculous scenes.

Either that, or everyone must have been smoking "something" during this entire escapade.

Come to think of it, the behind the scenes, "the making of . . . " footage of this unintended comedy extraordinaire actually might have been truly entertaining to watch, certainly more interesting than the actual film itself.

Trust me on this one . . . do not spend any money, as in none, zero, nada to see this clunker, unless, of course, one has a particular fetish for exceedingly bad films.

OK, I kept this as polite and civil as possible.

If you were irritated by the fact that Jack & Rose's path through the Titanic couldn't possibly have happened as they went through rooms that didn't even connect and doors that weren't even there and parts of the ship that were on entirely opposite sides without having to cross through the middle, then you won't like this movie.

It's definitely a made-for-TV type of movie and it's definitely modeled after "The Day after Tomorrow" (almost character-for-character). The science is rather atrocious, also, but if you yourself -are- scientifically illiterate or if you're just used to scientific illiteracy in cinema and therefore unphased by it, then you might like this flick. I was surprised to see SG1's Michael Shanks in what seemed to all appearances to be third-rate billing, but he was in it and he played as well as he ever does.

I'd recommend this if you're really kinda' reaching for something to watch, and you're not feeling too picky and SyFy made-for-TV quality is acceptable to you (I don't think it's a SyFy flick, but it's the same general quality). If you're into serious flicks, or if you don't care to see another "Day After Tomorrow", steer clear.

My initial response to this film was unfairly snide, searching the lead actor's face in vain for simple change of expression. But although it took some time, I was finally able to find redeeming value in this tepid disaster film; this apparent new sub-genre of divorced dads winning back their families by saving them from natural disasters might have some worth if you take a drink every time you see someone on the phone. Of course having a character talk on the phone does not contribute any sense of urgency or suspense. In fact watching people talk on the phone in films is as annoying as watching them talk on the phone in real life - but this film is annoying enough to leave you falling down drunk. Three sips for speaker-phone, two sips for a headset, this film promises a good time.