Firequake

Let's face it, there may be an infinite number of ways to tell the same story and we seem to get that in sci/fi and disaster land. So Firequake has the corporate villain who pushes ahead despite problems and then faces consequences that he tries to avoid or pin on others. Then we have the obnoxious teenager who eventually comes around to love the person she starts out hating. But Firequake does have a different element that I felt made this movie a little different. Without giving away too much, the main character takes on what would be considered uncharacteristic actions out of desperation and you have to give the creators of this movie credit for giving a little twist in an otherwise ordinary story.

Such a shame that a decent, if far-fetched, idea was wasted by truly dreadful execution. SyFy have made some tolerable movies, a lot of bad ones and an even larger amount of trash. Firequake is in the trash category and one of their worst in a long time.

Firequake is a very cheap-looking movie, everything looks very drab and the camera work and editing looks as if composed in a hurry. The special effects fare even worse, yes it is low budget but is that a good enough excuse for a lack of effort and the effects looking so fake and like they belong somewhere else? Not to me. The music is incredibly generic and sometimes like a monotonous drone, nothing interesting or memorable here.

Even by SyFy standards, the script is very stilted and cliché-ridden, with forced attempts at humour, lots of gibberish passing for sci-fi and logic, plodding and often irrelevant exposition and painfully ham-fisted melodrama. The story is dull and manages to be both ridiculous and over-serious. The idea is decent but it all feels half-baked and without any tension or sense. The characters are cardboard and even more clichéd than the writing, some managing to be annoying(especially the main teenage character), while the direction is flat and the acting is a mess of overwrought and completely disengaged.

Overall, had potential but a disaster all round. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Woahhhh - got this great idea for a film, dude - superbrainy woman who is the brains behind this new energy system which is going to save the world - you can probably already see where this is going - walks away just as things start going wrong so she can be with her horrible stroppy teenage daughter who she hasn't seen for years - cretin boss decides he cant be bothered with safety systems and sets it going at full power where it breaks down immediately and threatens global civilisation - boss goes on TV to say it is all the fault of stupid woman who is the brains etc - what a total crock - YOU WILL NEVER GET THESE TWO HOURS BACK, Don't WASTE YOUR TIME

Not often have I been compelled to write a review, until now! It's not enough to say the acting is poor, but it is. The story and script is insane! None of the scenes make any sense. Where does this take place? Czech Republic? Ukraine? US? One minute it's the Czech Republic and then there is reference to how this disaster gives the US access to the Ukraine and then within, let's say an hour, they are surrounded by seemingly US troops already set up with a huge camp! It's as coherent as a 3 year old's story. I have so much difficulty that anyone involved in this, from the producers to the actors, read this before getting involved? What about the director? It's just so horrible.

Poor acting, plot holes like Swiss cheese. The most amazing thing I found is that everyone, from cops to locals, speak perfect English with nary an accent to be heard. This story takes place just outside Progue, which I am quite sure does not have American English as it's primary language. Bitchy teen aged daughter that looks like she's in her 20s, one crazy guy trying to cover up his catastrophic mistakes by killing everyone that knows she's innocent despite his claims, main character with the emotions of pudding. What happened to all the great B movies of yore? Special effects won't save bad acting and scripts.