In short, the film has good acting, reasonably good drama, but bases itself on such bad science that it completely loses its credibility.
This film uses a very standard disaster movie recipe, replete with the scientist warning the people in power of the danger, mysterious deaths that have to be investigated, then thousands of people dying in a catastrophe, the people in power acknowledging the scientist was right, the scientist saving the world, and even the all important scientist-marriage-is- in-trouble-but-saved-by-the-disaster cliché. It even has a green eco-warning about pollution.
Scientifically, the movie is incredibly flawed, and this distracts greatly from enjoying it. The main premise, that the ozone layer keeps the cold air in the Mesosphere, is not the only major flaw. Many of the special effects of flash freezing at -100F, a deadly ice fog that appears to be slow enough to outrun on foot and fast enough to catch a speeding car at 100kph simultaneously, weather balloons launched from Queensland making it to 500 miles south of Tassie in 20 minutes by using a 'South Polar Jetstream' (which would have to be doing 7,700 kph to accomplish this), and even include a medical misrepresentation of the symptoms of hyperglycemia in a diabetic person. Other technical problems include the main character hacking a military satellite to obtain weather data, and being an all around genius with an unlikely quantity of giftings in meteorology, computers, and mechanical disciplines (but of course hopeless at relationships).
*Spoiler* - one scene that was particularly terrible was the main character rushing off to get insulin for the diabetic character, JUST AS the computer was finishing the simulation necessary to save the entire world, leaving a 16 year old to figure out what to do. Who would do that? And of course once she does figure it out, the diesel generators go out, thereby again requiring the protagonist to return to complete the upload. Seriously? It's the most dramatic scene in the movie, and is just as flawed as the main premise.
Dramatically, the acting is actually very good, and the storytelling plot line moves at a good pace - it's never boring or too fast to follow. There's good character development and the accent mixes are believable and explained. The locales are generally believable and well constructed.
Overall, if you can suspend your intellect for a while, it's a pretty entertaining movie and worth watching. But if you are into hard science fiction, or are bothered by scientific inaccuracy (in order to create plot devices), then you might consider choosing something else. I give the movie 3 stars purely on acting and drama, with the remainder missing due to the aforementioned technical problems.
This film uses a very standard disaster movie recipe, replete with the scientist warning the people in power of the danger, mysterious deaths that have to be investigated, then thousands of people dying in a catastrophe, the people in power acknowledging the scientist was right, the scientist saving the world, and even the all important scientist-marriage-is- in-trouble-but-saved-by-the-disaster cliché. It even has a green eco-warning about pollution.
Scientifically, the movie is incredibly flawed, and this distracts greatly from enjoying it. The main premise, that the ozone layer keeps the cold air in the Mesosphere, is not the only major flaw. Many of the special effects of flash freezing at -100F, a deadly ice fog that appears to be slow enough to outrun on foot and fast enough to catch a speeding car at 100kph simultaneously, weather balloons launched from Queensland making it to 500 miles south of Tassie in 20 minutes by using a 'South Polar Jetstream' (which would have to be doing 7,700 kph to accomplish this), and even include a medical misrepresentation of the symptoms of hyperglycemia in a diabetic person. Other technical problems include the main character hacking a military satellite to obtain weather data, and being an all around genius with an unlikely quantity of giftings in meteorology, computers, and mechanical disciplines (but of course hopeless at relationships).
*Spoiler* - one scene that was particularly terrible was the main character rushing off to get insulin for the diabetic character, JUST AS the computer was finishing the simulation necessary to save the entire world, leaving a 16 year old to figure out what to do. Who would do that? And of course once she does figure it out, the diesel generators go out, thereby again requiring the protagonist to return to complete the upload. Seriously? It's the most dramatic scene in the movie, and is just as flawed as the main premise.
Dramatically, the acting is actually very good, and the storytelling plot line moves at a good pace - it's never boring or too fast to follow. There's good character development and the accent mixes are believable and explained. The locales are generally believable and well constructed.
Overall, if you can suspend your intellect for a while, it's a pretty entertaining movie and worth watching. But if you are into hard science fiction, or are bothered by scientific inaccuracy (in order to create plot devices), then you might consider choosing something else. I give the movie 3 stars purely on acting and drama, with the remainder missing due to the aforementioned technical problems.