Product: Polar Storm (2009)
Rating: 2.0
the planet is saved by another puffed-up indignant scientist...
A Sy Fy original movie, Polar Storm (2009) is a poorly written film that you will probably regret watching. As planetary disaster films go, it features a variation on the typical Earth impacted by a comet scenario, but it is still jam packed with a ton of standard clichés, B-grade special effects, bad acting, and a silly plot. As we have seen numerous times before, saving the planet will depend on yet another mission involving the launch of nuclear weapons.After being struck by a comet, astrophysicist James Mayfield (Jack Coleman) is the only one who realizes that the planet's magnetic field has shifted, spelling disaster for life on earth. Mayfield's estranged father is a US Army general (Terry David Mulligan) who deals directly with the President (Roger Cross). The Government is skeptical about Mayfield's theories, but after the messed up magnetic fields generate destructive electromagnetic pulses (emp's) and cause the earth's surface to crack open (amazingly the fissures seem to mirror the path of roadways), it becomes clear that James Mayfield is correct.To save the planet, the President backs Mayfield's plan to set off nuclear explosions in the Mariana trench, deep beneath the sea. The only functional submarine is an old Russian vessel moored on the west coast, and both Mayfields are aboard for a suicide mission to save the planet. The sub makes the journey which should take days, in no time at all. Mayfield, who is apparently also an expert in nuclear weapons, arms the bombs. The sub launches the bombs, and then heads into a live volcano on the ocean floor as the only possible route for survival. This ploy is so hokey that the film fades out, and when action resumes the world has been saved. What a chicken way to end this disaster of a movie.The filler to pad out this tense drama, concerns Mayfield's schoolteacher wife (Holly Dignard), and his annoying "troubled" son. Sadly, their attempts to survive may be more interesting the adventure to save the planet. With central characters that are badly written and annoying, and a dumb plot, there's not much to recommend about this film. If you wish to punish yourself, you may be able to view it Sy Fy, before you consider spending your hard earned coin.