10.5: Apocalypse Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		0.5
Video		2.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.0

10.5: Apocalypse Blu-ray Movie Review

This made-for-TV disaster movie earns a 10.5 -- minus 10.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 3, 2009

Trying situations bring out the best in people.

Nobody expects great things from a made for television miniseries. Going in with the lowest of expectations, prepared to witness some bad acting, a poor script, ridiculous scenarios, lousy special effects, and questionable direction, audiences will generally find movies of this sort passable, perhaps even entertaining to an extent. 10.5 Apocalypse, sadly, takes the term "disaster movie" to a whole new level. The disasters in 10.5 Apocalypse aren't the only trying situations that bring out the best in people; anyone who can sit through this laugher -- for almost three hours, no less -- is a true hero, too. The movie is unintentionally hilarious from beginning to end; rarely does a minute go by that some terrible line of dialogue, a ridiculous look on an actor's face, a poor special effect, or another absurd plot contrivance pop up to keep viewers in stitches. If more than a minute does go by, well, that's a sign that nobody is paying attention anymore, a likely scenario given the absurdity of the entire experience, even considering the lowered expectations going in. Either that or the film has reached a threshold where even the most stalwart audience member has given up. No doubt, good old fashioned disaster movies make for solid entertainment if done right, even by made for television standards (Category 7 wasn't all bad, for example), but 10.5 Apocalypse shows just how devastating a poorly executed disaster movie can be.

Even George Washington can't weather this disaster.

Following the events in 10.5, a film that saw the destruction of the Los Angeles area due to a massive earthquake, 10.5 Apocalypse examines the cataclysmic aftermath of that disaster on a national scale. Really, the specifics matter little; like any other miniseries disaster movie, 10.5 Apocalypse follows several stories and a dozen or more primary characters whose lives all become intertwined directly with the developing disaster. There is the President of the United States (Beau Bridges, Max Payne) whose daughter finds herself working disaster relief in one of the hardest-hit areas. There are two brothers who are called up to work disaster relief, one of whom is married to a woman who will find herself in the middle of one of the film's most perilous locations. There is the discredited scientist (Frank Langella, Superman Returns) whose theories may be proven correct as the disaster develops, and his daughter (Kim Delaney, "NYPB Blue") who works for an alphabet soup government agency. As the movie progresses, the disasters mount, the death toll increases, the number of national landmarks and major cities destroyed rises, and just when it seems like things can't get any worse, they do. This time, a nuclear power plant finds itself in the path of a great chasm forming through the middle of the country, promising to forever change world geography, and claim the lives of a countless number of victims.

At a glance, 10.5 Apocalypse is spectacularly unspectacular; it just hits all of the clichés one after another and moves along as expected. Unfortunately, something much worse looms for those with the courage to pay attention. 10.5 Apocalypse represents a new low in made-for-television end-of-the-world spectacle. The film is terribly inept at distinguishing itself even in the least from other films of this sort; nearly every moment of the marathon embraces a hackneyed style that moves from laughably watchable in an "MST3K" sort of way in the first hour to nearly too painful and dull to watch in the final two. The acting is just awful, even from veteran Beau Bridges. There is really no other way of describing it; every actor brings something bad to the table, be it quirky facial expressions, painfully phony emotion, delivery of a string of technical jargon that sounds plum ridiculous, or even a television broadcast that seems almost happy to be covering the end times. It's completely unbalanced and out of sync. Another culprit adding to the cataclysmic failure of the picture are the horrendous special effects that populate the film. Take, for instance, one of the opening shots that sees a luxury cruise ship devoured by a tidal wave. The effect looks so phony that it wouldn't even have passed as a previsualization sequence for something like The Poseidon Adventure or The Perfect Storm. Nobody expects Transformers-level effects here, but even on a budget, what is presented here is nothing short of embarrassing. Perhaps it is just that the film tries too hard to be clever, relevant, and thrilling, and winds up being none of those, instead playing as clichéd, meaningless, and boring. Whatever the reason(s), 10.5 Apocalypse is just a bad movie, even in the confines of its limitations.

10.5: Apocalypse Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

10.5 Apocalypse features a ho-hum 1080p, 1.78:1-framed video presentation. Before getting into the specifics, it's worth noting that the film makes almost incessant use of jerky camera movements and fast zooms in and out that may bring about the onset of a headache rather than adding the desired effect to the film, which seems to be to add some immediacy and a sense of impending danger to the experience. It's a decent idea in theory, but it is used far too much here; the film is also too quickly edited to really get a feel for what's going on in most any scene. As far as the actual transfer goes, it isn't all that bad for what it is. Fine detail is moderate, particularly in close-up shots of faces. Still, the various weaknesses reveal themselves soon enough; clumps of trees and foliage look completely undefined, at times barely recognizable as to what they are from a distance. The transfer is noisy and bland as a rule. Compression artifacts appear here and there, and a smidgen of edge enhancement is noticeable in some shots. Dark scenes don't sport nice inky blacks; they're mostly all a shade of gray. Overall, the presentation is easily mistaken for what was probably seen during its original airing.

10.5: Apocalypse Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

10.5 Apocalypse won't ravage the eardrums thanks to its bland two-channel PCM presentation. The opening destruction of Hollywood fails to really impress. It's loud and jumbled, not all that well defined, but it gets the job done, and is decent for a made for TV movie. Dialogue reproduction is fine. Sound effects don't travel all that well across the front; most stay focused in the center with the occasional ambient support from the front sides. The action sequences aren't all that impressive. Whether hearing a helicopter crash, a building collapse, a tremor shaking Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam overflowing, or any of the disasters in the film, the sound is sufficient but far from exhilarating. Of course, anything with this production that may be described as "sufficient" is a win.

10.5: Apocalypse Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Apparently, all of the extras for this release were lost to a natural disaster.

10.5: Apocalypse Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

10.5 Apocalypse could have been a fun time waster in the tradition of Category 7, but every last grueling millisecond of the experience fails to be the least bit thrilling, engaging, suspenseful, or even just slightly entertaining. The story is ridiculous and clichéd (though that's to be expected and part of the disaster-centric miniseries experience), the acting is terrible, the special effects equally as bad, and the movie goes from unintentionally humorous to downright dull once even the laughing gets old. There are no redeeming qualities here, either. It's unfortunate, because even as repetitive and tired as something like 10.5 Apocalypse may be, it should still be a fun way to kick back and have some fun at the expense of a crumbling world for a few hours. Sadly, it just becomes too tedious an endeavor, and for those courageous enough to give it a shot, the movie wastes almost no time in letting viewers know that it's probably a better option just to turn it off. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of 10.5 Apocalypse is nearly as forgettable as the movie itself. The disc features barely passable high definition technical specifications and no supplements. Even at its current price of $10 for the standalone disc, it's not worth picking up.