10.5: Apocalypse Blu-ray features poor video and audio in this terrible Blu-ray release
Another massive 10.5 quake tears apart the West Coast, threatening to turn the American
landscape into a hellish wasteland. Seismologist Samantha Hill sees an even greater threat: an
ever-widening fault line that's heading straight for the country's two largest nuclear reactors. If
a meltdown occurs, millions will die. Samantha and the American president agree only one man
can help them-the scientist who predicted this terrifying natural disaster years before-
Samantha's own father, Dr. Earl Hill, now counted as a possible casualty of a massive Las
Vegas quake. Together with a crack rescue team including Brad and Will, Samantha must find
her father and stop the fault from slicing uncontrollably toward millions of people and the
ultimate nuclear apocalypse.
Nobody expects great things from a made for television miniseries. Going in with the lowest of
expectations, prepared to witness some bad acting, a poor script, ridiculous scenarios, lousy
special effects, and questionable direction, audiences will generally find movies of this sort
passable,
perhaps even entertaining to an extent. 10.5 Apocalypse, sadly, takes the term
"disaster movie" to a whole new level. The disasters in 10.5 Apocalypse aren't the only
trying situations that bring out the best in
people; anyone who can sit through this laugher -- for almost three hours, no less -- is a true
hero,
too. The movie is unintentionally hilarious from beginning to end; rarely does a minute go by
that some terrible line of dialogue, a ridiculous look on an actor's face, a poor special effect, or
another absurd plot contrivance pop up to keep viewers in stitches. If more than a minute does
go by, well, that's a sign that nobody is paying attention anymore, a likely scenario given the
absurdity of the entire experience, even considering the lowered expectations going in. Either
that or the film has reached a threshold where even the most stalwart audience member has
given up. No doubt,
good old fashioned disaster movies make for solid entertainment if done right, even by made for
television standards (Category 7 wasn't
all bad, for example), but 10.5 Apocalypse shows just how devastating a poorly executed
disaster movie can be.
Even George Washington can't weather this disaster.
Following the events in 10.5, a film that saw the destruction of the Los Angeles area due
to a massive earthquake, 10.5 Apocalypse examines the cataclysmic aftermath of that
disaster on a national scale. Really, the specifics matter little; like any other miniseries disaster
movie, 10.5 Apocalypse follows several stories and a dozen or more primary characters
whose lives all become intertwined directly with the developing disaster. There is the President of
the United States (Beau Bridges, Max Payne)
whose daughter finds herself working disaster relief in one of the hardest-hit areas. There are
two brothers who are called up to work disaster relief, one of whom is married to a woman who
will find herself in the middle of one of the film's most perilous locations. There is the discredited
scientist (Frank Langella, Superman Returns)
whose theories may be proven correct as the disaster develops, and his daughter (Kim Delaney,
"NYPB Blue") who works for an alphabet soup government agency. As the movie progresses, the
disasters mount, the death toll increases, the number of national landmarks and major cities
destroyed rises, and just when it seems like things can't get any worse, they do. This time, a
nuclear power plant finds itself in the path of a great chasm forming through the middle of the
country, promising to forever change world geography, and claim the lives of a countless number
of victims.
At a glance, 10.5 Apocalypse is spectacularly unspectacular; it just hits all of the clichés
one after another and moves along as expected. Unfortunately, something much worse looms
for those with the courage to pay attention. 10.5 Apocalypse represents a new low in
made-for-television end-of-the-world spectacle. The film is terribly inept at
distinguishing itself even in the least from other films of this sort; nearly every
moment of the marathon embraces a hackneyed style that moves from laughably watchable in
an "MST3K" sort of way in the first
hour to nearly too painful and dull to watch in the final two. The acting is just awful, even from
veteran Beau Bridges. There
is really no other way of describing it; every actor brings something bad to the table, be it quirky
facial expressions, painfully phony emotion, delivery of a string of technical jargon that sounds
plum ridiculous, or even a television broadcast that seems almost happy to be covering the end
times. It's completely unbalanced and out of sync. Another culprit adding to the cataclysmic
failure of the picture are the horrendous special effects that populate the film. Take, for instance,
one of the opening shots that sees a luxury cruise ship devoured by a tidal wave. The effect looks
so phony that it wouldn't even have passed as a previsualization sequence for something like
The Poseidon Adventure or The Perfect Storm.
Nobody expects Transformers-level
effects here, but even on a budget, what is presented here is nothing short of embarrassing.
Perhaps it is just that the film tries too hard to be clever, relevant, and thrilling, and winds up
being none of those, instead playing as clichéd, meaningless, and boring. Whatever the
reason(s), 10.5 Apocalypse is just a bad movie, even in the confines of its limitations.
10.5 Apocalypse features a ho-hum 1080p, 1.78:1-framed video presentation. Before
getting into the specifics, it's worth noting that the film makes almost incessant use of jerky camera
movements and fast zooms in and out that may bring about the onset of a headache rather than
adding the desired effect to the film, which seems to be to add some immediacy and a sense of
impending danger to the experience. It's a decent idea in theory, but it is used far too much here;
the film is also too quickly edited to really get a feel for what's going on in most any scene. As far as
the actual transfer goes, it isn't all that bad for what it is. Fine detail is moderate, particularly in
close-up shots of faces. Still, the various weaknesses reveal themselves soon enough; clumps of
trees and foliage look completely undefined, at times barely recognizable as to what they are from a
distance. The transfer is noisy and bland as a rule. Compression artifacts appear here and there,
and a smidgen of edge enhancement is noticeable in some shots. Dark scenes don't sport nice inky
blacks; they're mostly all a shade of gray. Overall, the presentation is easily mistaken for what was
probably seen during its original airing.
10.5 Apocalypse won't ravage the eardrums thanks to its bland two-channel PCM
presentation. The opening destruction of Hollywood fails to really impress. It's loud and jumbled,
not all that well defined, but it gets the job done, and is decent for a made for TV movie. Dialogue
reproduction is fine. Sound effects don't travel all that well across the front; most stay focused in
the center with the occasional ambient support from the front sides. The action sequences aren't
all that impressive. Whether hearing a helicopter crash, a building collapse, a tremor shaking Las
Vegas, the Hoover Dam overflowing, or any of the disasters in the film, the sound is sufficient but
far from exhilarating. Of course, anything with this production that may be described as "sufficient"
is a win.
10.5 Apocalypse could have been a fun time waster in the tradition of Category 7,
but every last grueling millisecond of the experience fails to be the least bit thrilling, engaging,
suspenseful, or even
just slightly entertaining. The story is ridiculous and clichéd (though that's to be expected and part
of the
disaster-centric miniseries experience), the acting is terrible, the special effects equally as bad, and
the movie goes from unintentionally humorous to downright dull once even the laughing gets old.
There are no redeeming qualities here, either. It's unfortunate, because even as repetitive and
tired as something like 10.5 Apocalypse may be, it should still be a fun way to kick back and
have some fun at the expense of a crumbling world for a few hours. Sadly, it just becomes too
tedious an endeavor, and for those courageous enough to give it a shot, the movie wastes almost
no time in letting viewers know that it's probably a better option just to turn it off. Echo Bridge's
Blu-ray release of 10.5 Apocalypse is nearly as forgettable as the movie itself. The disc
features barely passable high definition technical specifications and no supplements. Even at its
current price of $10 for the standalone disc, it's not worth picking up.
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment has announced they are releasing six films from their catalog on April 1st. Included in the slate are '10.5 Apocalypse', 'Blackbeard', 'Category 7: The End of the World', 'The Curse of King Tut's Tomb', 'The Last Sentinel' and 'Artie ...
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