Mixed bag

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2004)

Great special effects, sketchy characterisations, flimsy plot-lines, a frequently diabolical script, and yet some neat acting performances make for a mixed bag. Not the best disaster movie, but certainly not the worst either. Jake Gyllenhal was engaging, as were Ian Holm and Arjay Smith. Dennis Quaid was not as impressive. I felt the film needed the Quaid character to be more dynamic, more truly terrified, transmitting that sense of urgency - the film never really developed this for me, aside from the scenes at the British testing site when the buoys were seen to be behaving peculiarly - this was slightly eery, suspenseful. Overall, however, the film builds sufficiently well to hold interest, but sags badly two-thirds in. The US refugee crisis at the Mexican border drew a lot of laughs at the theatre I was watching! The political points though were heavy-handed; a shame in view of the importance of these issues. There was an unnecessary plot-line involving Quaid's wife and a sick child, included it seemed only to add mawkish sentimentality - it actually added nothing to the narrative.