HottWwjdIam
There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Yash Wade
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
ichbing
I've come to expect sub-par sci-fi made for TV movies, but this is one of the worst acted flicks with stolen scenes from another disaster movie. While watching the earthquake destruction I noticed very familiar scenes of buildings collapsing and freeway ramps breaking apart. The footage is straight out of Dante's Peak! The horrific acting on everyone's part is annoying and keeps you from being able to get into the story without looking at the clock every few minutes. The fake Russian accents make it sound like everyone is developmentally disabled, not Russian. The children of the lead characters not only have different accents than their parents, but different from one another. It ends up being the age old story of the husband who did the family wrong and wins back the heart of the ex-wife by saving the children and restoring her trust and love. I know...original, huh? I want my last 2 hours back!
JimmyL5555
I read everyone else's reviews & comments and I disagree with them all. First, this is not a ho-hum, boring movie. An earthquake cripples a Russian power plant threatening a meltdown, and it's a race against time to avert the disaster. Add into the mix a Russian supervisor who refuses to accept the idea of anything wrong, and will stop at nothing to keep the truth from getting out, even if it means locking the engineer near the core, and trying to run away when confronted with the truth. That is very believable. This movie is well-paced, and doesn't take long to get started. And once it gets going, you're on a roller-coaster ride of suspense. The scene in the elevator shaft reminds me of the suspense in TOWERING INFERNO and POSEIDON ADVENTURE. The kids are very believable American youngsters trying to deal with their parents' separation, and fate forces them to work together. Maybe it's all cliché, maybe not. But I like this movie. Maybe the special effects were taken from DANTE'S PEAK, I don't know. Frankly, I don't care, since they're very brief and quick. Only when scenes are obviously stolen from other movies do I care, like when they stole footage from AIRPORT 1975 to create SONIC IMPACT. But try it yourself. You may be surprised.
disdressed12
for me,this is easily the worst disaster movie i have watched to date.i didn't find it compelling at all,and the special effects were not believable.the movie was not exciting.usually,acting is not a big concern in these types of movies.however,in this movie the acting was the worst i have seen so far in the genre.i nearly quit watching before the end,but i decided to give it a chance.regrettably,it did not improve and i lost close to 90 minutes of my life.in my personal opinion,i would avoid this movie,as it is painfully tedious.i also felt embarrassed for the actors at times.the movie was directed by Tibor Takaks,who also directed,"The Gate" another movie i hated.he has directed other things since"The Gate",but i haven't seen any of them.anyway,I'd have to give "Nature Unleashed:Earthquake a dismal 1* star.
ellenbronx
I was surprised to note that the film was released in 2004; it has a very "1960's" European feel in look and soundtrack. None of the supposedly US characters looks or sounds American; the hairstyles and clothes, again, are very retro and much of the dialog appears to have been looped--without the appropriate background noise! None of this would matter if the conflicts or characters were involving--but the action is very formulaic and the acting poor.It certainly is difficult to come up with new approaches to disaster-type scenarios on limited budgets, but "China Syndrome" and countless earthquake films have already been done. As the Bible--and Spielberg in his Oscar acceptance speech--said: "In the beginning was the word..." With or without a significant budget, there first needs to be decent script, and this one just doesn't work. If the creators of Mystery Theater 3000 were still doing their magic, this film would be a perfect candidate for parody.
