This film wasn't too bad for a TV movie; but nonetheless, it isn't too good either.
The film is too long in the first place. The kind of simple plot lines employed here could have been told in a two hour time-frame, they didn't need to be dragged out over the three hours the film is. These sub-plots indeed are pretty boring and lacklustre - typical TV movie stuff; but this time an earthquake shakes things up some.
Worse still, the main plot is almost inexcusable. The star, Joanna Kerns, is a seismologist and she thinks she has figured out a methodology to predict earthquakes. Using this method, she decides an Earthquake is going to hit LA pretty soon. Of course no one believes, or wants to believe her, because there's too much red tape involved in following up such a warning - like evacuating the city for nothing if it ends up being a false alarm. So she becomes the strong willed and much maligned protagonist, fighting against the system in order to save lives.
This plot line was ripped straight out of 1974's Earthquake (with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner), so everyone knows how the film is going to end; they've seen it before! And everyone knows that those bureaucratic skeptics in the film are wrong. Heck, the film's title is a dead giveaway that there will be a quake, and that everybody should have listened to the seismologist! This is why the film makers didn't have to drag out the scenes dealing with this for such a long time before wowing us with the actual quake.
Other than that, the quake scenes were surprisingly good for a TV movie. There was enough bang and blast to keep anyone amused, and the special effects carried it off quite well. The problem is that not many people (except extras) die in the end, and this is a bit disappointing, because after such a simplistically boring plot line being dragged out for such a long time, one yearns for a bit of a jolt at the end. This doesn't not come, however.
'The Big One' is not too terrible a movie, but you may need to engage your trusty fast-forward button....
The film is too long in the first place. The kind of simple plot lines employed here could have been told in a two hour time-frame, they didn't need to be dragged out over the three hours the film is. These sub-plots indeed are pretty boring and lacklustre - typical TV movie stuff; but this time an earthquake shakes things up some.
Worse still, the main plot is almost inexcusable. The star, Joanna Kerns, is a seismologist and she thinks she has figured out a methodology to predict earthquakes. Using this method, she decides an Earthquake is going to hit LA pretty soon. Of course no one believes, or wants to believe her, because there's too much red tape involved in following up such a warning - like evacuating the city for nothing if it ends up being a false alarm. So she becomes the strong willed and much maligned protagonist, fighting against the system in order to save lives.
This plot line was ripped straight out of 1974's Earthquake (with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner), so everyone knows how the film is going to end; they've seen it before! And everyone knows that those bureaucratic skeptics in the film are wrong. Heck, the film's title is a dead giveaway that there will be a quake, and that everybody should have listened to the seismologist! This is why the film makers didn't have to drag out the scenes dealing with this for such a long time before wowing us with the actual quake.
Other than that, the quake scenes were surprisingly good for a TV movie. There was enough bang and blast to keep anyone amused, and the special effects carried it off quite well. The problem is that not many people (except extras) die in the end, and this is a bit disappointing, because after such a simplistically boring plot line being dragged out for such a long time, one yearns for a bit of a jolt at the end. This doesn't not come, however.
'The Big One' is not too terrible a movie, but you may need to engage your trusty fast-forward button....