Ice Quake

The idea of a ice quake is a weird idea, but could have work for this stupid idea. But the movie itself is rather bland and uninteresting throughout. Most of the movie is spend of the family just wandering around the mountains and getting separate. That part isn't that interesting to watch and barely anything happen during it. There is a minor side about about a crazy scientist guy which ended pretty quickly. Even the military plotline is rather generic and isn't interesting at all. As for the disaster scenes, there not that much earthquake disaster that you see throughout the movie because it spend a lot of times on the mountains with just cracks on it. The movie does has some nice explosion in it. And the acting itself is mostly bland.

Ice Quake could have been better, but is a bland movie that wasn't that enjoyable.

After 20 minutes or so, I was ready to take the DVD out. It picked up slightly so I watched to the anticlimactic end. Unbelievable science and situations. Totally predictable, although I don't remember what happened to some of the soldiers. I must admit what kept my attention most (I couldn't take my eyes off it) was the colonel's drooping American flag patch. It seemed at any moment as if might fall off. Compare it to the female non-com's flag which was totally squared away. Didn't any of the crew notice that damned thing? The family also built an ice shelter above ground. I doubt they could do that with out any tools other than their hands (which would have quickly frozen). Compared to the below ground ice shelter as built by Tom Berenger's character in "Shoot to Kill", I think the Webster family would have been in a hurt locker.

While I do not like most of Syfy's movies, I do watch them to see if there are any decent ones or any with novelty value. Ice Quake isn't a terrible movie and Syfy have certainly done much worse. The scenery is quite striking, the story was interesting in concept and to start with, Brendan Fehr is cute, charming and does show at least a bit of charisma and the female didn't grate on me or strike me as too bland. However, Ice Quake isn't particularly good either. The acting, excepting the leads, is nothing to rave about, and I also couldn't connect to most of the characters, so much so towards the end I honestly didn't really care about whether they lived or died. The effects are rather generic, the film does have some dodgy flashlight technology and while it is not as bad as other Syfy movies there are many inconsistencies and errors, the one regarding the methane is just one of these. The direction and pace are both uneven, there are times when the direction is tolerable but others when it is sloppy and hackneyed and in regards to the pace the middle drags and the end feels rushed, while the script is really quite poor and clichéd. Overall, Ice Quake has its moments but it is nothing great. 4/10 Bethany Cox

For a SyFy movie, then "Ice Quake" took me by surprise and gave me a good, cold shake. This movie, unlike so many other SyFy movies, had a solid story, that you easily emerged yourself into, and it had good characters.

The movie boasts a couple of good actors as well, which help to bring the overall enjoyment up. These are Brendan Fehr (playing Michael Webster) and Victor Garber (playing colonel Bill Hughes). These two were the ones carrying the movie. But there were other good performances as well, the two children did good jobs as well; Jodelle Ferland (playing Tia Webster) and Ryan Grantham (playing Shane Webster).

As for the story, then it was a captivating and interesting story, as SyFy movie stories go, anyway. Subterranean methane in gas and liquid form are wrecking havoc on the snow-clad, frozen north. As as always in these type of disaster movies, it is up to a very small group of people to save the day. We have all seen these story lines before, so there is nothing new to be seen here. But still, it works well enough for the movie.

The effects in the movie were actually quite good for a SyFy movie. I liked them and they, for most parts, seemed real enough. And having good effects does help to elevate the enjoyment of a movie.

If you like natural disaster movies, then you should give "Ice Quake" a chance, despite it being a SyFy movies. SyFy does put out a lot of well-below average movies, but once in awhile they do come out with something good. And "Ice Quake" is one of those good movies.

Ice Quake is another SyFy Channel film so as always keep expectations low.

Two geologists (one dressed as Santa) investigate tremors on a mountain when a deep crack appears with some shimmering effects indicating some kind of gas escaping which freezes one of the geologist jumping over the crack. The mountain is releasing sub zero methane gas via earthquakes which causes avalanches placing nearby towns in danger.

Brendan Fehr is up in the mountains with his family looking for Christmas trees but ends up battling for survival as ice geysers spew and quakes occur unleashing avalanches leading him to deal with various problems. Victor Garber lends respectability as the Colonel trying to locate Fehr.

Its a rather poor film, quickly shot, below average special effects and some bad science.