Well Deserved Praise

Dreadfully Boring

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I realize that no Academy Awards are forthcoming for this movie, but I do have some positive things to say about it. True, it is one of those formulaic low-budget 2-part mini-series about the world-destroying disaster movies in which inevitable destruction somehow gets turned around instantaneously when scientists figure out what to do and there's an intrepid astronaut/fighter pilot/etc. there to implement the plan. So, no big surprises there. However, there are a couple of odd things about it: SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ...First, the first 90 minutes are spent trying to rescue a bunch of civilian astronauts, all of who actually get killed. Second, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER the thing in Afghanistan ended up WAY different than expected, with the heroine having to kill the girl she was trying to protect! SHEESH, I didn't see that coming. I figured that when the solar flare attack (or whatever the heck it was) hit the area the tribal chief would work with the relief workers, not attack them more - no heartwarming resolution there.Third - it was hard to tell what was up with the blond man stranded in his apartment, and it was rather formulaic that he found purpose in his empty life blah blah blah by rescuing a woman and her child. However, here was the unusual part - as he faced the end of the world he didn't get all sentimental about his parents (I had half expected him to start caring about them) - instead, he said up front what lousy parents they were. Finally, as far as oddities that made this movie different from the routine imminent-world-destruction pix - many have commented on the dumbness of the two male rivals arguing while a major crisis is looming. True, that is probably unrealistic - people would more likely have had their attention on the problem at hand. However, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER - while I figured, early on, one of them would have to die, my money was on the astronaut - I figured that was what he was there for, i.e. someone who could pilot the device into the sun - so was surprised that the other guy (who seemed more suited to the woman the two were fighting over) died instead.Finally - several here have commented on how ridiculous and non-scientific the whole premise of the movie is, and I agree. There is no way that a thingy fired from a space craft could make the sun go bananas. Fine, from a scientific standpoint the whole thing is ridiculous to the nth degree. So, what's your point?:)

He is correct about the discrepancies in delays of data transmissions, the heat and that puny Scaler drive system which I still am incapable of wrapping my head around, physics is a subject way beyond me. From my reckoning the Scaler drive system, I believe due to the fact it is fiction, thus pseudoscience even if is spelled differently than the imbecile Screen Writers spelled it is of no relevance. I digress, my most accurate approximation it is a Ion drive, or something very close. Said reviewer is absolutely correct without some kind of energy force field that ship and it's tiny little engine would have burnt up way before it got that close to the Sun. Was watching it on Netflix, like if that should not have alerted me to the fact how bad the movie would be. Damn! If I press the Home button of this Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 to reduce to go back to Netflix application to confirm their number scale rating system I will lose all details of my opinion of the viewpoints by another to the movie. If I recall Netflix uses a scale of 1-5, and apparently more than 50% of those who rated gave it a 3, the other 50% dropping it to a 2. Whoever designed the software for Netflix are morons, because their software is not compatible at least not for accessing their online support staff from the domain, because whenever I attempt the process I am informed that I need to download the most recent version of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari, my browser being Chrome, believe my tablet is set to automatically download any recent versions. I was informed by Samsung representative 1 working the Samsung Smart device section at the local Best Buy that to Chat with a Netflix representative online you need to do so through the Application, she tried to show me how, but I forgot, do not feel like a complete idiot considering I spoke with another Samsung rep. and was clueless as well. Has no 1 noticed this movie could very well pass as a made for Sy-Fy Network movie if it were not for the length of it. Never heard of a made for Sy-Fy Network that ran longer than an hr. and 40/45 minutes, but then again I ceased watching their poorly written, directed, produced, characters poorly portrayed character movies a long time ago.

I'm staggered that some reviewers think that the plot is believable, the script is realistic or the acting is credible. None of these things are true, unless, perhaps, you are a nine year old used to reading "Peter and Jane" books. The science is shockingly poor. Almost everything is incorrect...usually massively so. There are reams and reams of examples of this but you can get the sense of it from the plot line that has the President of the United States using a regular computer to talk via Skype to his wife, who is on a spaceship rapidly approaching the sun. 27 million Fahrenheit temperature....no problem. 8 minute each way delay in the time for the signal to arrive....no problem. Skype being used, rather than a sophisticated video link...no problem. If it were just the science being appallingly bad, perhaps it might be forgivable, but, sadly, the script is preposterous. For example, the Chief Scientist running the mission is the ex- lover of the Chief Sceince Officer at the Whitehouse. She is now in a relationship with a "hero-like" astronaut who is famous for a mutiny on another space mission where he tied- up the commander of the ship without anyone on earth being aware of it. Cue infighting between the two guys over who will make the critical decisions to save the people on the spacecraft (and the Whole World, as it turns out!). Luckily for the argumentative astronaut, his lover is able to miraculously get from the Whitehouse to the command centre instantly to get him appointed. Amazingly, not only is he an astronaut, but, without any training, he has a complete grasp of the design of the spaceship and a full understanding of the mission. Worse than unbelievable....completely ridiculous.Then there is the character creation and the acting. Absolutely two dimensional and totally predictable. If it had been written as a spoof, it might have been funny. It wasn't and it isn't.No redeeming features whatsoever.

I'm sorry--I'm sure the film and set crews enjoyed having yet another gig to keep them employed, but you have to ask yourself--why would anyone assemble such a decent selection of actors around a script with a plot so asinine it actually inspires contempt? The absurd premise behind the plot, coupled with a meandering, vacuous script makes one instantly think of the sheer waste of opportunity in engaging in such a project and then turning it into such a sad, disappointing mess.The producers here need to stay away from any further dabbling in 'sci-fi', since they obviously aimed for a genre and it's devoted demographic that they know absolutely nothing about.An absolute waste of talent, time and money, and a real pity....