Collision Earth

 (TV) (2011)

Collision Earth Blu-ray delivers great video and audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release
When the sun converts to a magnetar for a short time, the planet Mercury is thrown out of orbit (along with a spaceship exploring it) and set on a collision course for Earth. Can a disgraced scientist manage to use his failed weapon system, Project 7, to save our planet?

For more about Collision Earth and the Collision Earth Blu-ray release, see the Collision Earth Blu-ray Review

Starring: Kirk Acevedo, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Andrew Airlie
Director: Paul Ziller

» See full cast & crew

Collision Earth Blu-ray Review

Is this movie a big hit?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman, December 10, 2012

Our universe is a dangerous place.

Man's fascination with the end of the world may soon be realized when the calendar flips to December 21, 2012, the date many believe some apocalyptic event will end life on Earth or, maybe, just wipe the planet off the galactic map altogether. Such predictions are likely utter nonsense -- how many doomsday prophecies have gone and gone without so much as a whimper -- but on the off chance the big "off" switch is flipped "on" in about ten days time, it's been a fun and very interesting ride; what better way to commemorate the remote chance that these are the last few days than with a look at SyFy's Collision Earth, an on-the-cheap story of the planet Mercury being suddenly and without warning shoved out of its orbit and placed on a direct course for Earth. The movie enjoys all of the usual SyFy Channel dumbed-down elements, but for a little cinema distraction from all the end days chatter that's starting to spread across the airwaves and digital lines of communication with the speed of intergalactic carnage, Collision Earth proves itself a flawed but passable time killer worthy of ninety minutes' worth of the clock's ticks towards mankind's maybe 12/21/12 destiny.

Incoming!

The Nautilus is on a mission to explore the planet Mercury when all solar hell breaks loose. The sun spits out massive solar flares that disrupt shuttle operations and tear chunks from the planet that orbits closest to the big hot orange ball. The entire crew is killed but for Victoria (Diane Farr) who must save the shuttle and, later, Earth. She's married to James (Kirk Acevedo), a whistleblower of sorts who warns of the possibilities of celestial collisions and who decries the absence of government funding for a space-based defensive platform called "Project 7" that now sits idly in the heavens. When Mercury remnants begin striking Earth, James realizes that the planet's remains have become magnetized -- the result not of simple solar flares but rather a rare phenomenon that briefly transformed the sun into a "Magnetar." Now, the magnetic Mercury is on a collision course with Earth's magnetic field. An impact will certainly be a doomsday event, but fate has it that two local college students -- Christopher (Chad Krowchuk) and Brooke (Jessica Parker Kennedy), armed with a powerful radio of their own design -- come into contact with Victoria on board the Nautilus. Now, they're all teaming up to save the Earth from total destruction.

Collision Earth certainly isn't at the top of the space-oriented Disaster movie genre. It's a cheap facsimile thereof, but a reasonable copy nonetheless that doesn't warrant a watch, per se, but that does satisfy on a base level for those in search of simpleminded escapist entertainment or, at the very least, something new in the way of an old standby scenario. The old "global impact from a celestial body" thing hasn't necessarily been done to death, which does leave Collision Earth a bit of breathing room against its peers. Unfortunately -- but not a surprise -- it still falls short of the classic sensibilities of When Worlds Collide, the slick presentation of Armageddon, and the heartfelt drama of Deep Impact. It offers none of that, really, instead opting for an on-the-cheap copy that pieces together the basic end-of-days collision scenario within a high tech world. The film moves towards a rather predictable conclusion and, like the planet Mercury in the film, offers a very linear trajectory on target, the difference here being that there there's no stopping the movie from its approach towards the inevitably unimaginative play-it-safe conclusion. In that regard it's as comfortable as a warm blanket on a cold winter's day, but beneath the layers lies a movie held together with only the flimsiest of materials.

Collision Earth's technical merits barely pass scrutiny and certainly fail to live up to the standard set by the above-referenced films, films that are years and decades old but far more polished than this. Certainly they're the beneficiaries of more technical skill and know-how than this film's meager budget can fund, but is that really an excuse for the rather pathetic CGI that passes for "special effects" these days and in these sorts of films? All that's "special" about them is that they're in the running for worst of the year; only a few passable outer space/space shuttle visuals save these from total disaster. The film's favorite pastime involves the magnetic Mercury picking up and tossing about various cars, tractors, and other large metallic objects; the special effects are shaky and blurry, painfully fake and putrid to the point of humorous distraction from the story. It's par for the course for these sorts of movies, but one would think that maybe these SyFy filmmakers would at least try practical effects or scrap them altogether, if for nothing else than in the name of pride. Maybe worse, the film feels grossly overlong even clocking in at a ninety minutes, pretty much on the button. The film doesn't necessarily lack story, but it feels like there's far more running around than concrete action and plot advancement going on. This is certainly another one of those films that falls victim to a necessary runtime to fill a two-hour TV time slot; it would have been better trimmed down to about seventy-five minutes. Lastly, the acting in Collision Earth satisfies for a movie of this caliber, even as the cast is tasked with little more than spouting off scientific mumbo jumbo, running around (save for the celestially trapped Diane Farr), and looking appropriately awestruck at the lousy special effects.

Collision Earth Blu-ray, Video Quality

 

Collision Earth features a steady and pleasant high definition transfer. The HD video source material won't dazzle veteran Blu-ray viewers, but general details and colors appear accurate and even. While the image doesn't yield the sort of skin and clothing and material textures that could be mistaken for real life, the consistency and clarity of the image make up for the lack of absolute precision. The same may be said of the color palette, which satisfies on a basic high definition level but that doesn't go above and beyond the call of duty to turn the television screen into a window to another world. Flesh tones do appear accurate, but blacks can go a little pale along the way. The image offers only light and sporadic noise. No major bouts of banding, blocking, or other such eyesores are apparent. All in all, this is a rather good effort from Anchor Bay.

Collision Earth Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 

Collision Earth slams onto Blu-ray with a fairly exciting and largely polished Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. While the film doesn't enjoy the sort of precise, absolutely realistic sound engineering of bigger budget fare, the track certainly plays well within its limits and proves most aggressive and entertaining. There's usually something sonically interesting going on throughout the film, from positive shuttle rumblings early on to potent explosions and meteor impacts. Music enjoys the elements typical of a strong presentation: fine clarity, natural spacing, and an enveloping presence. The surround channels carry quite a bit of activity, but rarely do they feel overused or forced. Whether musical carryover, bleeps and bloops in the shuttle, or more aggressive action-specific sound effects, the listening audience will always feel in the middle of the film's actions and environments. Gunfire proves surprisingly effective in those few occurrences throughout, but the real treat comes as big old chunks of Mercury slam onto the ground and, by extension, right into the living room. Rounded out by even and clear dialogue, this is about the best-case sonic scenario for a movie of this sort on Blu-ray.

Collision Earth Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

 

Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Collision Earth contains not a trace of supplemental content.

Collision Earth Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation

 

Collision Earth is a completely irrelevant end-of-the-world Disaster movie, but it's not without a sliver of purpose. It's suitably entertaining, filling a niche for a movie, albeit a rather low-end movie, in the recent craze of all things TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It). It's no Deep Impact, but it has neither the budget nor, thankfully, the ambition for that. It seems satisfied to settle in as a lazy day flick worth watching on a channel surf or, in this case, a perusal of the video store shelf. It's low-end entertainment, but it's far from the bottom of the barrel. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Collision Earth features solid video and audio. No supplements of any kind are included. Viewers attracted to end-of-the-world movies could do worse than giving this one a rent.