"On Hostile Ground" tries to build a thriller based on the premise that New Orleans is about to be swallowed up by a giant sinkhole during Mardi Gras. The city's only hope lies squarely on the shoulders of one geologist (John Corbett).
As far-fetched as the storyline is, it might have been entertaining ... were it not so hopelessly dumb. I lived in New Orleans for 12 years and found this film to be laughable. First, it was filmed in Toronto and the sets looked nothing like New Orleans. But it gets worse:
**** SPOILERS AHEAD ****
* New Orleans has a high water table, which is why its cemeteries are above ground. If you dig a hole over five feet deep, it's likely to fill with water. Yet, Corbett spends much of the movie running through sinkhole tunnels 60-feet deep that are bone dry and dusty.
* Early in the movie, Corbett explains that New Orleans' soil is a layer of silt ... on top of peat ... on top of clay ... and that smouldering fires in the peat layer had created underground voids. Once he is in the tunnels, though, rocks keep falling from above. Rocks?!! Hmmm. He didn't mention a rock layer!
* Corbett's love interest (Jessica Steen) works for the New Orleans mayor's office. When a sinkhole swallows a city block during a Mardi Gras parade, injured people are everywhere. Does she run to the victims' aid? Does she try to calm their anxiety? No. She spends all of her time walking or running past the hordes of injured asking if any of them has seen her best girl friend (Brittany Daniel). Later, she spends all of her time worrying about Corbett getting out of the tunnels. So much for public service!
* The French Quarter buildings that are shown collapsing appear to have no interiors at all ... and walls that are about 3-inches thick. The "Mardi Gras floats" look like they came from a high school homecoming parade. The overall effect is cheesy beyond belief.
* How do they fill the miles and miles of 60-foot deep tunnels, you ask? This is where things really get laughable. A liquid chemical that expands into styrofoam when exposed to air is to be used. Corbett, alone, descends into the massive tunnels with a hose that has so little pressure it would take two hours to fill a child's wading pool. But miraculously, just seconds after he turns on the nozzle, the tunnels are filling at breakneck speed.
* So fast, in fact, that he must spend the remainder of the film trying to outrun the rapidly advancing flow (which looks an awful lot like canned biscuit dough from that cute little doughboy fella).
Sometimes, a movie ("Plan 9 from Outer Space", for example) can be so hopelessly bad that it's still fun to watch. Not this one. It's just plain dumb. Don't waste your time on this turkey!
As far-fetched as the storyline is, it might have been entertaining ... were it not so hopelessly dumb. I lived in New Orleans for 12 years and found this film to be laughable. First, it was filmed in Toronto and the sets looked nothing like New Orleans. But it gets worse:
**** SPOILERS AHEAD ****
* New Orleans has a high water table, which is why its cemeteries are above ground. If you dig a hole over five feet deep, it's likely to fill with water. Yet, Corbett spends much of the movie running through sinkhole tunnels 60-feet deep that are bone dry and dusty.
* Early in the movie, Corbett explains that New Orleans' soil is a layer of silt ... on top of peat ... on top of clay ... and that smouldering fires in the peat layer had created underground voids. Once he is in the tunnels, though, rocks keep falling from above. Rocks?!! Hmmm. He didn't mention a rock layer!
* Corbett's love interest (Jessica Steen) works for the New Orleans mayor's office. When a sinkhole swallows a city block during a Mardi Gras parade, injured people are everywhere. Does she run to the victims' aid? Does she try to calm their anxiety? No. She spends all of her time walking or running past the hordes of injured asking if any of them has seen her best girl friend (Brittany Daniel). Later, she spends all of her time worrying about Corbett getting out of the tunnels. So much for public service!
* The French Quarter buildings that are shown collapsing appear to have no interiors at all ... and walls that are about 3-inches thick. The "Mardi Gras floats" look like they came from a high school homecoming parade. The overall effect is cheesy beyond belief.
* How do they fill the miles and miles of 60-foot deep tunnels, you ask? This is where things really get laughable. A liquid chemical that expands into styrofoam when exposed to air is to be used. Corbett, alone, descends into the massive tunnels with a hose that has so little pressure it would take two hours to fill a child's wading pool. But miraculously, just seconds after he turns on the nozzle, the tunnels are filling at breakneck speed.
* So fast, in fact, that he must spend the remainder of the film trying to outrun the rapidly advancing flow (which looks an awful lot like canned biscuit dough from that cute little doughboy fella).
Sometimes, a movie ("Plan 9 from Outer Space", for example) can be so hopelessly bad that it's still fun to watch. Not this one. It's just plain dumb. Don't waste your time on this turkey!