A complete misinterpretation

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 1999)

I originally thought this movie was a sly, cynical, masterfully-made, audience-hating parody of action/disaster film cliches. The plot, of course!, was stretched beyond all plausibility. The situations, of course!, were preposterous. The science, of course!, was ridiculous. The characters, of course!, were cardboard cutouts sliding from dumb predicament to dumb predicament. Then, listening to the commentary track on the Criterion (!) DVD, the filmmakers revealed that they were absolutely seriously trying to make a straightforward mainstream action flick for teenage boys. People apparently cried at that mawkish stuff that seemed so knowingly planted to trigger obvious emotional tugs. This movie is simply entertaining crap, and the impulses of the Hollywood sludge factory are far worse than previously suspected. The gag reel and supplementary material on the Criterion DVD has more personality than the whole movie.