Tag Archives: Disaster

The Day The Earth Stood Still Review

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It’s time to look at a really retro Sci-Fi film that would change the way we all looked at the genre…forever. It’s a title that you’ve probable heard many times even if you’ve never watched it before. It’s definitely a solid movie that has aged well. The monster is good and the effects actually aren’t half bad. It may have been the first big Sci-fi classic of the 50’s since it even came out before Godzilla.

The plot is relatively straight forward. A mysterious object shows up on the scanner and everyone starts to panic. It is moving too fast to be a ship and it’s unlikely that it’s a bomb. Either way, the army gets set to fend off whatever lands. A human walks out of it and reaches for his gun so the army sends him to the hospital. His pet Robot disarms a lot of the guards, but the human stops him. After a brief rest, the mysterious being reveals himself as an alien named Klaatu. Klaatu is here to wipe out the threat that the Earth poses to the universe. He’ll blow it up if necessary but he wants the world to abandon their space program otherwise. If they do that, then Earth can continue to exist. America knows that the Soviets won’t be on board with this so they prepare for the biggest fight yet!

Klaatu doesn’t actually state his mission for quite a while though. He wants to talk to everyone at once which isn’t really possible and you can’t help but feel bad for the army at times. Klaatu really doesn’t make it easy for them with his large demands and the guy should realize that humanity can’t unite on a whim. He basically states that their affairs don’t affect him in the slightest, but they kind of do. Ah well, in the meantime, Klaatu will hang out with a kid and learn more about human customs. He learns that not everyone is ruled by fear, just most of them.

Klaatu is very annoying, but hes a good character. At his core he seems to be a nice guy who really doesn’t want to destroy Earth. The fact that he came here at all supports that since he could have let Gort go on alone to destroy everything. He seems to possibly have some abilities as he escaped a hospital room quite easily. He also carries around sand that speeds up the healing process and a ray on his ship that can help to stall death. It’s all pretty useful when you’re in a hostile environment. He’s a nice guy and always stays polite to the rest of the cast. Here’s why he is annoying though.

Klaatu just can’t take a hint. He constantly asks the impossible and then ends up going with threats by the end anyway. He basically took it out on the scientist I felt and while he doesn’t fly off the handle, he’s a little unfair to the humans who are actually trying to help. He’s not supposed to be perfect though and those laws I can live with. He’s a fun lead and takes things in stride a lot better than most aliens. The rest of the cast isn’t quite important as they are merely around to help fill in the plot. The main kid gets a pretty large role as he isn’t yet old enough to fear Klaatu and instead enjoys all of the cool new inventions that he finds out. The media also does a good job of burying the story as per usual.

Helen is the main heroine and she is all right although a little slow to act. She is glad that KIlaatu gets along with her son so well at first, but then her friend shows up and tells her that it’s a bad idea. She ends up just listening to him even though the guy seemed very selfish and uncaring. Their romance falls through anyway as he chooses riches over her in the end. It’s hard to see how they ever gt together in the first place since the movie does its best to write him as a very unlikable guy. He never leaves a positive impression on you. Helen cuts it a little close when delivering her final message to Gort, but she gt the job done in the end so that worked out.

It’s always fun to see everyone talking a good game about the alien while sitting at home and drinking coffee. You probably wouldn’t see that much paranoia in real life if an actual alien showed up as here even the radio kept having people talk about how they needed to destroy it. It was all handled so casually which made it all the more fun. The few dissenting opinions were quickly dodged so everyone could be in unison.

Of course, while Klaatu may have barely been an alien, Gort certainly was one. He has a cool laser blast that can disintegrate whatever it touches. That makes him a very formidable threat in this film and he looks good throughout. He comes across as a very reliable friend that you can count on and it’s never personal with this guy. He just destroys people as part of his job. No apologies accepted and none given. It would have been neat if the film ended with him firing off one last giant energy blast to destroy the world, but I suppose that would have been rather dark right?

As expected, the writing is quite good. I can’t really think of any bad lines here and all of the characters looked pretty good. Even the unlikable ones were written well as they weren’t too exaggerated. They simply went into their roles and did a good job. The film’s pacing is also rather good. If I have one complaint, it’s that the middle of the film starts to clue you in on how nothing is really going to happen. After Klaatu is rejected a few times and goes to meet with the first scientist, you know that he’s doomed. There’s no way he’s going to get his audience because the film has already told us what his goal is. By that point you can figure that he’ll never get his audience but at least he’ll get to hurl a few last insults before leaving. It may not have been the most satisfying way to end the plot, but it was still an enjoyable ride throughout.

Overall, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a good film. It reminds us that paranoia is no good and you’re better off sticking to more productive things like making memes with good messages at the end. The climax/ending of the film may not have been all that satisfying, but the build up was good and it’s still a really good premise. The opening act was probably the best part of the film and it usually is in a film like this as I love the opening reactions from everyone. Klaatu will have to work on being more subtle about his alien knowledge if he ever returns for a sequel. If you haven’t seen this film yet, then you should definitely fix that as this is a must watch for Sci-Fi fans.

Overall 7/10

Everest

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It’s time for another film based on a real life event. A lot of people have died on this mountain throughout the years. The number will continue to grow as well because people can’t resist a challenge, even if it is a life threatening one with no real reward. (Except satisfaction I suppose) This film chooses one such expedition where most of the people died, but there were some survivors. It’s certainly a lot more well done than the other real life based stories that I’ve seen lately, but I still wouldn’t say that it’s really my kind of film. Although, it definitely does seem pretty faithful as far as adaptions go.

For starters, the characters are mostly reasonable. It’s a shame that most of them have the same design so it’s easy to mix people up, but I guess that’s how it goes in the cold. Most of the characters are here to climb the mountain so they stay professional, which is always a change of pace. The leader (Rob) in charge of the main explorer group wants to make sure that everyone climbs the tower safely and is probably the best character in the film. It’s a shame that he had to choose such a dangerous occupation. Scott isn’t quite as good and while he’s pretty confident the whole time, he wasn’t as cool as the other people. He was reasonable though so I’ll give Scott props there. There was also a cynical explorer who kept on making wisecracks the whole time, but he did have one moment where it was easy to lose a lot of respect for him.

He nearly fell to his death while on a ladder so Rob quickly saved him. Instead of thanking Rob, the guy just started yelling about how entitled he was feeling and one could tell that the salt was very real. It’s hard to recover from a scene like that. The old lady was a good character to root for since she had already climbed 6 out of the 7 biggest mountains in the world. Climbing this one was a matter of honor now. If you saw my review on The Perfect Storm, you can imagine that I basically scoff at the notion of ever attempting such a feat. I’ll stick to my video games instead of risking my life on such a dangerous mountain. If I ever want an adrenaline rush I’ll quickly head to a Super Smash tourney, but beyond that…I’m pretty good at this point.

The mountain certainly looks good there so at least you’ve got the view to think about. I’m sure that climbing the mountain is much safer and quicker nowadays than it used to be, but it probably won’t be completely safe for a long time, if ever. We’re going to need some next generation clothes to warm up the body during the climb. Then it’ll finally be more feasible to go on the quest, but all it takes is a slip and game over.

It was neat to see the Helicopter essentially slide down to escape the mountain. I feel like Military Grade helicopters and planes should be able to reach the top with minimal effort by now, but I wonder if the standard ones will ever be able to go that high and land safely with all of the wind and ice that is around. It would be tough, but definitely a nice cop out for people who don’t want to take the extra risks of walking all the way up.

The film definitely seemed to take some shots at the fact that the mountain is now commercialized. It does seem a little crazy that it has become such a popular destination. At this rate, you’ll be able to add the Moon to that list as well someday. I certainly wouldn’t want to arrive on Everest to see everyone hanging out. I’d like to go there and it’s empty, as if I owned the whole mountain. That’d be pretty hype. One thing I would recommend to future explorers is that you choose your partners well. You don’t want to receive half empty air canisters or have a partner who shows up 30 minutes late and forced a few people into an early grave as a result. Everyone wants to be on point because if one guy slips up, everyone else will join the slide. Then their flags and speeches won’t mean quite as much since your family would rather have you wish them than a speech. The moral here is definitely that family comes before crazily intense risks.

One last thought that I had was that it would probably not be all that hard to build an installation on Everest. I’m guessing that there would be a lot of global tensions around that, but making a structure would make the climb a lot easier. People could actually live in this building and it could shelter travelers during the night in a separate area. I’m assuming that this hasn’t been done because it may not be feasible for some reason or it would take the fun away from the adventure. If it’s the latter, then I hope that this happens ASAP. Safety before fun folks.

Overall, Everest is a pretty good film based on a real event. I feel like they probably could have chosen just about any expedition where a few people died and one survived, but this one was certainly a very incredible story so it’s as good as any. The film tries hard for the emotional appeal and I feel like it would succeed a little more without that, but it’s to be expected in a crisis film like this one. I think deciding to name the baby while dying is a little selfish since there’s no way that the wife will switch it now, but in the end it’s just a name. If you’re looking for a good real life drama/thriller then this is a good one to check out. Now we just need to see which mountain will get a film next time!

Volcano Review

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It’s time to check out a classic disaster film! I’ve seen the world ravaged by Twisters, Aliens, Sharks, and more, but I had not seen a film that revolved around a Volcano sealing everyone’s fate. It sounded like an interesting film and I’m always up for some disaster mayhem. The film isn’t bad, but there aren’t many stand out scenes in it either, which leaves it stranded in the good, but forgettable section.

The plot of the film can easily be determined by the title, but I shall begin to describe it anyway. Mike works at a place where they handle emergencies and distress calls. Two men are destroyed from some heat and steam that arose from the ground and Mike figures that he should call in an expert. The other townsfolk, or the leader of the train company in particular, do not believe him so they continue with the trains. Eventually, this all climaxes into a big eruption as the Volcano begins to consume the land. Mike will need to gather up everyone he can to try and stop this catastrophe from taking out his city. It’ll be tough and while mankind can never hope to defeat Nature, they can try to slow it down and divert the power. Will such a strategy really be able to work!?

Of course, it’s interesting because the big fire danger doesn’t really occur until you’re around 60-90 minutes into the film, but there’s no other way to really describe the plot. We all know that the fire is going to start at some point thanks to the title so it really needs to be mentioned. Because of this, the film does suffer from some pacing problems. The first half of the film is pretty uneventful.

Volcano decided to take things slow and the first half is for character development and suspense building. This is a decent strategy I suppose, but it’s not one of my favorite ones. It works sometimes when you have to build up a bunch of different plots like in the disaster film I recently saw with Stallone as the heroes try to get out of a tunnel. It works because we get to meet and greet all of the characters. There is really only one big character plot going on in this film although we have some decent subplots. Nevertheless, the film did not need so much time to build up to the action. I think it really worked against the excitement factor in this one. The second half does help to make up for it as the battle against the lava is actually pretty interesting and it helps that Mike is likable so you’re rooting for the guy.

Mike Roark is the main lead of this film and he’s not bad. He’s one of the more heroic figures that we see, but he falls into his share of problems. I don’t get why he didn’t believe Amy when she said that a Volcano may be around. It’s really not that hard to believe and he saw first hand how hot it was underground. I don’t know, it just felt a little odd that he was so convinced that it couldn’t be a Volcano. Besides that, he did a good job of making plans and he kept on thinking of more when they were needed. He was a natural born leader and he did all of this on his day off. I can’t say that I appreciated his final move as he gave the phone to Emmit, but I suppose that it was one of the tough calls that he had to make. He ended up staying heroic overall and that’s what counts.

Kelly Roark is the daughter of the main character and she starts off as a pretty underwhelming character. Her first line made me worry as I thought that she was going to be a terrible supporting character. She didn’t really get much better for a while, but she ultimately learned what it means to be a good person and she turned over a new leaf. She’s much better than the kid that she was assigned to guard. That being said, I can’t say that Kelly turned out to be one of the more likable characters. She made the right characters, but it seemed to be more out of obligation at times and she was just going through the motions.

Emmit Reese is easily one of the main characters in the film. He’s the new chief whenever Mike isn’t around and he makes sure to use his new position for good. He doesn’t take his job with emotionless command like Mike, but he still does a pretty good job. His character was pretty good and he was someone that you could root for. I did feel bad for him at the end when Mike throws him into a tough situation, but he handled it with precision and care. Emmit may go on to surpass Mike when it comes to emergency control.

Stan Olber goes from zero to hero, but only arguably. Really, he may seem mean at first, but he’s running a business and he can’t stop his trains whenever there is a little danger. He has passengers to think of and they look forward to being in his trains. (Despite what they may say for the press) So, I didn’t mind him from the beginning, but he definitely got even better. When the stakes increased Stan ultimately stepped up to the plate and proved that he was a hero deep down. Because of this, Stan ends up being one of the better characters in the film. He may not get one of the happiest endings in the film, but he ended as a good person.

Amy Barnes is the professional who decides to help Mike out and she investigates the heat that has been taking lives and causing major injuries. She decides to evade the law to prove a point, but it only succeeds in causing a great tragedy. After that, she does help with a lot of the planning, but she wasn’t one of the more likable characters. She had some banter with Stan, but I can’t say that it was very great. She is really just a generic character who couldn’t leave a lasting impression.

Animal spoilers coming up……………and here it goes. I give the film props for avoiding the typical animal death scene. That moment nearly destroyed the film for me, but it was saved because the dog lived. Sorry if that’s a spoiler folks, but trust me..you would have found out in my review either way. I would have deducted major points if he had died. It’s always good to see the dog make it out of such a dangerous situation and show the humans that he means business. They can’t compete with such a smart puppy after all.

There is one subplot that is pretty pointless. There’s a rich guy who buys a house and then he decides that he wants to escape the danger zones before the lava gets him. He tries to convince his partner to leave as well, but she is a doctor so she has to stay and help. He doesn’t like this and he basically says “We’re through” as he walks off. The plot didn’t have a purpose in the film and the Doctor didn’t get a whole lot of screentime so it really didn’t make much of a difference. It was really just there for drama and to show us how heroic the doctor was, but we already understood that from all of the risks that she was taking.

I can’t say that the film really did a good job with the emotional deaths though. One of them was pretty good and it involved a hero. The other two involved expendable characters who we hadn’t even gotten to meet yet. One of the main characters becomes saddened for a while, but the (fake) snow quickly snaps her out of it and she joins the fight once more. The other death happens so early on that I forgot who died. They may have said the name…maybe. Still, emotionless deaths are a staple of any horror, action, thriller, or disaster film since they help to show the audience why the threat is getting real. On that account, I cut Volcano some slack since it would be hard to develop the characters and then destroy them in such a short amount of time.

The soundtrack for the film was a little too dramatic. I technically enjoyed just about every tune that the film played, but it was mostly used in scenes where it just didn’t make sense. Now, it does make sense in the fact that it gets the audience ready for something tragic to happen. The problem is that most of the scenes are just false alarms and the danger doesn’t start for a while. We get dangerous music when the train first goes into the tunnel. Then, 30 minutes later, the train appears again and the danger finally starts. I suppose that it could work as a set up, but it’s just a little too soon to work properly. While the tunes didn’t really match the setting, I still did like the music a lot. I would give the soundtrack a 4/5 and it was a lot better than most (if not all) of the other disaster films that I’ve seen as well as the average action film.

Overall, this was a decent Disaster film. I think I was waiting for more of a disaster to happen while watching the film, but Volcanoes don’t typically blow up buildings so you have to wait. It was fun to see the lava spurts and there was definitely a lot of tension. Perhaps too much tension was included, but it happens. The main character was good and the rest of the cast varied in terms of likable to unlikable. The film got the dog scene right and that earns them some pretty major brownie points. I recommend this film if you want to see a thriller with lava as the main villain, but if you really want to get excited, go watch the Daylight film with Stallone.

Overall 5/10