User Reviews

I hope that Matt Dorff's original script for this was much better (there are signs of it - dialogue that should happen well before big f/x scenes (to introduce characters) that would make sense much earlier, is jammed in later in the time-line; perhaps the original script was for a longer running-time. But maybe not -- in any case, this reeks. Every character is uninteresting, and *everybody* speaks expository passages as if they are speaking the word of god. There are characters that are entirely expository -- Dianne Wiest's "Secretary Abbot" is just awful, explaining things to her assistant (and incidentally us), in endless speeches that NO ONE would say to anyone, ever, in real life (when she isn't explaining things to her assistant that she already knows, her assistant explains things to HER that SHE already knows._ There are characters who are entirely one-dimensional -- the evil power company guy; the pilot who will just NOT SHUT UP about his personal life and concentrate on his job. The "well-meaning" power-company superdooperuber hacker-guy who can crash

*everything* in Chicago (including the phones) -- and then gives the oh-no-what-have-I- done speech (but not leave himself a back door?). The crusading reporter who abandons her principles at the drop of a hat? The power-company shift supervisor who ABANDONS HIS POST in the middle of the worst crisis in Chicago since the Fire -- with no consequences? Hospitals ABANDONED by the doctors and nurses during the crisis (I'm not kidding, that's in the movie.)

Oh yeah, and it's filled with Hollywood morality clichés -- generally women are good, men are evil, unless influenced by a woman (the ultimate is the punk with the gun -- deprived of a woman's influence, he literally goes insane); an evil stupid act (like what the reporter did with hacker-bozo) is all right, so long as you 'mean well'. Evil men die, capitalist evil men die as horribly as possible, everybody else lives (well, except Randy Quaid). And did I hear someone say that the nuclear electrical power generating stations had to shut down because there wasn't electricity to run the safety systems (think about that one)?

There is one ray of sunshine (if you'll pardon the expression) -- Randy Quaid basically plays his character from "Independence Day" (you know -- "Hello boys - I'm baaaack!") -- this time as a storm chaser with an infinite-range SUV and superdooper batteries for his camcorders. Nevertheless, they kill him -- mostly, it seems, so that the audience will appreciate that tornados are pretty dangerous things (kinda shallow, that.)

Give this one a pass.

Category 6:day of destruction is a very well done"made for TV movie".i won't go too much into the plot,but basically,the climate suddenly changes in the extreme,creating all kinds of weather related disasters,on top of a man made disaster, all occurring at basically the same time in parts of the U.S and Canada.the movie is quite exciting to watch at times,but also has some good dramatic scenes and can be quite engaging.the acting is very good and the specials effects are quite well done ,given the scope of the movie and the budget the filmmakers had.there are a few weak spots in the movie,but very few and the story more than compensates.the plot itself is in the range of being ludicrous and the science behind it all is likely flawed,but who cares.it's no more ridiculous than some of the pap the big Hollywood studios churn out.if you view this movie for what it is, in the proper context,you will enjoy it.it is thrilling and suspenseful and dramatic when need be.and that's more than enough in this case.By the way, this production was at least partly made by Hallmark Entertainment.

Category 6 isn't going to blow you away (no pun intended,) It's not up to big budget Hollywood standards by ANY means. In some ways it is your typical made for TV disaster movie which I am sure had an astronomical budget for TV. All said and done the special effects were almost impressive save for a few horribly done CGI moments, and the acting overall wasn't bad. The film is chock full of familiar TV faces and at a running time of nearly three hours they do definitely give you an in depth look at the characters that saves it from being overly boring. On top of that it manages to be a little different by not only providing you with the story of a disaster about to strike Chicago but also a sub plot about an act of terrorism against Chicago's power stations that ultimately could lead to an even worse disaster. I've absolutely seen worse than this and I think people are being harsh. You have to take it for what it is which is a B-Movie, made for Television.

Thomas Gibson (Greg from Dharma and Greg) plays Mitch Benson, the head of a small power company desperately trying to keep emergency services and customers online in the wake of a powerful storm moving towards them. Gibson is a little bland and shows emotion in a rather mechanical way but overall he does a decent job. He's basically Greg...and I think that's about the range of his acting ability but he holds his own. Nancy McKeon (Jo from Facts Of Life) plays one of the better roles as reporter Amy Harkin. McKeon is still a TV actress but she does a pretty good job at showing intensity and emotion and being a very strong female character and she's very good at being the reporter. Chandra West is Rebecca Kerns, the Public Relations person for Lexer, the enormous power company trying to push all the rules in order to take control of the country's power supply and be the sole provider. West is mostly there for looks, eye candy, and she doesn't have many roles and because of her character's role as the "home wrecker" she comes across as needy and whiny and you don't really care much for her. Nancy Anne Sakovich plays Jane Benson (wife to Gibson's character.) Her role is quite emotional and she does well although she plays depressed through the entire film. Her and Gibson have good chemistry and you do root for her. Ari Cohen is also good as Dan London, the systems analyst for Lexer who discovers Lexer's plan to cut costs and make millions at the sake of safety and decides to blow the whistle on the operation. Cohen really is not a good guy in this film but he plays the role sympathetically. The real talent and veterans of the film are Randy Quaid as Tornado Tommy, Dianne Wiest, and the terrific Brian Dennehy. Quaid is always good, even when he's in a bad role. He's watchable and funny and charismatic and a good character actor. Wiest has a smaller role but still quite good. She's forceful and strong and she commands a certain presence on screen. She's also a three time Oscar Nominee!! She's worth watching for in this film. Dennehy who I really enjoy is a strong macho kind of guy. He's rough around the edges but has a soft spot and that's exactly how he plays in this film. The guy is a veteran and an expert and he's great to watch. Unfortunately his role is not all that big either but he still raises the bar in this cast.

This film would never walk away with any huge acclaim or awards but it's very watchable to someone who knows what they are going into. A lot of people enjoy B-Movies or made-for-TV specials and this one is actually pretty good. Some intense disaster scenes, a decent story, good direction by long time TV director Dick Lowry, and a not entirely unfortunate cast. Some of the acting is average...some is downright awful but the story holds it all together and you do care about some of the characters and even laughing at the sheer campiness of certain scenes is still fun. On top of being campy there is actually some very impressive disaster scenes!! Don't go into this expecting some huge bid budget magical disaster film...it's just fun, silly at times, but not entirely a waste. It's worth checking out if nothing else. 7/10

I will never again watch this thing. Currently it is on the SyFy channel with an hour left to go and I'm still trying to figure out how this thing even made t on air. Two storms are converging...big whoop Twister already did that and THAT movie was a heck of a lot better than this insanity. Who in the world says "Shot...with a gun!" What else would she be shot with? A pencil? And what in the world was little Miss Reporter thinking when she had to take the stairs up to her sister-in-law's apartment? Didn't they think a NORMAL person might think someone could be stuck in the elevator since the power was down? I'm not even going to comment on Diane West's character because I can't even think straight enough to make a comment.

Category 6: Day of Destruction is difficult to keep up with due to various subplots. Instead of a simple disaster flick the audience is going to also get an amplitude of environmental abuse, job cuts, global warming, aging industrial infrastructure, computer hackers, corporate corruption, and etc.

This movie isn't just about natural disasters and the convoluted subplots, it is also about people and their personal problems revolving around natural disasters. There is much talk about natural disasters but not enough of it gets actually shown on the screen, there are good parts likes the tornadoes in Las Vegas, St. Louis, and Chicago, but they tend to be overshadowed due to the films plot structure which is heavy on drama.

There are some good actors in the movie. Randy Quaid makes a memorable performance as Tornado Tommy.

For a TV movie miniseries this really wasn't all that bad, I have seen far worse attempts. The special effects are impressive for a TV production, it's mainly the effects that keeps the film from failing.

First of all. let me say that if you are looking for accuracy, you will be very disappointed. But in sci-fi movies, people generally look for excitement rather than accuracy. This is achieved in the second half, not only because of the anticipation of the coming disaster, but the storm itself. The visual effects are pretty good for a TV budget. The first half tends to be boring because of irrelevant subplots, including an extramarital affair and a troubled teen romance.

Are there at least good acting performances? A few. Randy Quaid stood out from the pack as storm chaser Tornado Tommy, who was quite a character.I wish he had been on more. Brian Dennehy made us notice him as Andy, the head of the Norman, Oklahoma, office of the National Weather Administration.

The phone conversations between Tommy and Andy were the movie's best dialogue. Also, Dianne Wiest did a great job as the Secretary of Energy, who played a role in getting Chicago's power restored and hoped the problem wouldn't spread to the entire country.

Other performances were not quite as distinctive, but Thomas Gibson did an okay job as power company administrator Mitch, as did Nancy McKeon as the determined reporter Amy. Both made a bigger impression in the second half, as did the actor playing Amy's cameraman.

Stereotypes could be found frequently in this movie, though. Amy got tired of fluff stories and wanted to be taken seriously. She got her chance when computer expert Dan London warned her (asking, of course, that she not use his name) about the vulnerability of the electric transmission system. Lexer, a major supplier to Mitch's utility, cared more about profits than safety, and of course the company's executives had no conscience. Weather Administration intern Sabrina was ignored when she seemed to be the only one recognizing the severity of a freak Arctic storm that gave Alberta snow in August. And both Mitch and Amy had family members involved with the storm in some way. In Amy's case, it was a pilot who flew into storms and was distracted by the fact his wife was giving birth any day.

It was interesting, but I won't say it wasn't 'just another disaster movie'.

SPOILERS FOLLOW:

I loved it when a piano and other debris from Las Vegas landed on a farm 50 miles to the north.

We saw the St. Louis arch crumbling, but we never really saw it fall. A missed opportunity.

I felt kind of a letdown when the storm hit Chicago, because it really didn't seem any worse than any other storm most of the time, especially when our heroes were braving the elements--though that was plenty exciting. Though we did see some spectacular damage as it was happening, and the city looked like a war zone afterward.

Another missed opportunity: if there was going to be a 15-foot storm surge from Lake Michigan, I don't remember it. Either it wasn't shown or it didn't make much of an impression.

The pregnant woman was stuck on an elevator with a sculptor; the actress playing the sculptor gave one of the movie's best performances.

The movie may have been too ambitious: I didn't feel the story of the nation's power going out reached its full potential; we knew it was happening, but didn't really see it.

Some of my favorite lines from Tommy in Chicago: "I've got triplets!" and "We're going for a ride!"

This movie is something horrible. I was laughing all the time. I was forced to stop in some scenes because my mom thought it's not polite to laugh when people are dying, but in this movie, even death looks ridiculous. Especially when Tornado Tommy is sucked into one tornado.

Explosions of cars thrown onto buildings by the forces of wind look like ones from the old school side scroller game called R-Type. Dialogues are very bad and I am interested how they managed to persuade some of the actors to play in this movie. It is simply amazing how such bad movie can make it into the TV.

Only real reason to watch this movie is to have some fun of nonsense and absurdity.

Contains Major Spoilers, on the off chance you would actually care about the story line.

OK, we have storms that destroy a city and a computer hacker who clobbers the power grid.

Predictable schlock from the start, and if that weren't enough, the 5 second action bumps between the movie and the commercials kill what little suspense there might have been. For example: will they make it to the airport in time? Things look dim as we go to a commercial…and the action shot before the ad shows them bouncing around inside the plane! Well, I guess they're gonna make it after all…but then again, they had to because they're good guys.

The acting wasn't any too impressive (exception and welcome relief: Randy Quaid as Tornado Tommy) , the effects were kinda lame, the bad guys got it, and the good guys came through. The real disaster of this movie was the script, especially the ending. Not only did they wrap things up happily as quickly as a soap opera given 24 hours notice of a cancellation, but they glorified the hacker as well-intentioned. So he caused a bazillion deaths…he meant well. And, of course, an uplifting final TV report about people coming together. Barf. It was everything I expected from the commercials, and I'm glad I wasted my time watching it. It will make great conversation at the lunch table tomorrow.

Is CBS insulting us by making this? Sure…but we watched it, didn't we? Did you count many ads there were for home backup generators during this pig?

Here's hoping for the next Plan 9 from Outer Space (which gets better with each viewing). This isn't it.

1 star.

I expected this movie was originally supposed to show before the election. CBS's last shot at throwing a dig at Bush. This movie was just awful yet I'm still watching it. **Minor Spoiler** I think CBS got the same people who "provided" the memo's to do the semi cut in half sequence. What is with the bad boyfriend storyline? Can the acting be more contrived or the dialog more like a Ed Wood movie. Who ever came up with this script please do us a favor stop writing. If you want to see decent B grade disaster movies then see Earthquake, Flood etc. Avoid this mess of a movie. Hint to CBS avoid showing us this crap. Give us re-runs of CSI instead. Better acting and more believable.