User Reviews

The magnetic polars are disturbed and realigned with the result that there is much death and destruction as mankind tries to solve the problem.

Not particularly good science fiction film might have worked had their been more money and some better people before and behind the camera. The first problem with the film is that the special effects aren't special. I'm all for the suspension of disbelief but there is a point where it becomes much too hard to disbelieve. Almost every effect in the film is computer generated and since there are so many I don't think the effects crew had any amount of time to do them properly. One or twice or now and again you might have been able to forgive it but the scenes of epic destruction is just asking too much. On the plus side its so bad it distracts you from the uneven performances and the plot holes you could drive a comet through.

Clearly I'm at the negative polar on this film and think you should pass.

Note to self... Never watch another Paul Ziller project again; EVER! IMDb won't allow reviews of less than 1000 words but seriously this ridiculous farce doesn't deserve more than a few choice adjectives.

Some have commented that this is not bad, so long as you ignore the bad science. And by bad science, that doesn't mean Star Wars type science... because this movie takes itself seriously, it has an obligation to, at least, attempt to get the science correct. However, no such attempts are made anywhere in this video production. Clearly Paul Ziller is clueless about even grade school science and couldn't afford or want a science consultant.

Aside from the bad science, overall the script is amateurish, and the acting was mostly terrible. One notable exception is Jack Coleman, he must have needed the work but overall his acting was pretty good despite everything else.

For those who actually wish to subject themselves to this horrible video, I will point out a few less noticeably errors (without revealing spoilers): 1. The telescope shown early in the video is a cheap Tasco (or similar brand) 4.5" (or 6") with a non-motorized German Eq mount. It is not worth any more than $400.00. In the video, it is valued at 10x that amount.

2. In Alaska, a laptop's LCD screen is shown acting as if it were a CRT monitor. LCD screens do not display a wave effect in the presence of an EMF field.

3. As a large comet fragment enters the atmosphere overhead, it will create massive amounts of heat and an enormous shock wave which will wipe out everything over a large area. No impact required! That covers about 1% of the problems in the first 1/2 hour of the video.

Shortly you can say this movie is about several polar storms going around having its fun with electronics, which causes a serious deal for people.

It's pretty obvious that the makers of this movie did not do their research behind what a polar storm actually is, or what such things may do to electronic devices and such.

The first part of the movie they're driving around dodging the solar storm (the scientist's son and his wife), where as suddenly, for some reason the ground decides to break up.

Now, I know it sounds weird (and it is), because this could not have happened. Ever. The thing is pretty much that for some reason the devices explode (I know it's a Sci-Fi, but come on, devices would de-activate, not explode), and unless the whole ground is covered in metal or some other stuff, it wouldn't have "disbanded". But let's get back to the "main story" and "what happens" in the movie itself. The first part is as mentioned above, and the son thinks his mom is dead or, whatever, which leads us on of around 40 minutes of what happened before this "event" with his mom, then goes back to seeing the son trying to rescue the mom, after spending some time not looking down for her. For some other reason the dad is at a submarine and underwater volcanoes suddenly start erupting for no obvious reason, as it wouldn't have been affected by any of the elements in this movie. It ends with an explosion and not so surprising normal American movie where the dad sacrifices himself to save the world. Everyone is thankful and it ends well, I guess.

Personally I wouldn't see this if I could go back in time, but if you just want a break from the normal sci-fi stuff, then this is probably worth seeing.

However it looks like they replaced the graphics department at the end of the movie, giving it a half-good look at the end part.

Just a small amount of fact checking would not have gone astray.

Sundials are not that accurate especially that one it is more like a cheap garden ornament that an actual sundial. For a sundial to be as accurate as they are suggesting it would need to have adjustments for months and days not to mention daylight savings time.

A car that has a fried battery and alternator cannot be started with the same electromagnetic energy that destroyed it? Only an idiot would think that's possible

It would be highly unlikely an alternator out of a 12 volt suv would fit into an army truck which is more likely 24 volt.

And my favourite an old Russian submarine. Submarines usually work to a maximum depth of 1500 meters with a crush depth of 1.5 to 2 times making it impossible to go deeper than 3000m That would be a new submarine not an old one. The older a submarine gets the more brittle the metal gets making it impossible to go to the original design depth Mariana Trench being over 12,000 meters deep, there is only one miniature submarine that could possibly go that deep but not old or Russian.and no room for a bomb.

Detonating a nuclear bomb in the Mariana Trench would be more likely to rip the planet in half than change its course. Or even re align the magnetic poles.

The Mariana Trench is not on the opposite side of the globe to Alaska. So even if the theory was sound it is bound to be unsuccessful because the location is wrong.

It also appears to only take an hour to get the nuclear bomb take it to the docks load it on a submarine and get it to its destination. The same amount of time it takes the wife to drive from one town to the next.

A piece from the passing comet Copernicus hits the Earth and causes the planet to go off of its axis. This in turn unleashes all kinds of lethal disasters that will bring about the end of the world. It's up to scientist Dr. James Mayfield (a fine and likable performance by Jack Coleman) to realign the Earth's axis before it's too late. Writer/director Paul Ziller relates the engrossing story at a brisk pace, maintains a serious tone throughout, grounds the fantastic premise in a believable everyday reality, generates a good deal of tension, handles the dramatic scenes in a tasteful and restrained manner, and delivers several nifty mondo destructo moments. The solid acting by the capable cast keeps the movie on track: Holly Dignard as Jack's no-nonsense science teacher wife Cynthia, Tyler Johnston as Jack's sullen teen son Shane, Terry David Mulligan as Jack's hard-nosed father General Mayfield, Roger R. Cross as the pragmatic President, David Lewis as chipper TV reporter Lo Vanetti, and Emma Lahana as the perky Zoe. The CGI effects are decent and acceptable. Michael Richard Plowman's spirited score hits the stirring spot. The slick cinematography by Mahlon Todd Williams gives the picture a pleasing crisp look. A fun flick.

Daddy's a hero, mum is a screaming lady, son has a bad haircut. Of course, there's a black president of the USA. A lots of scientists are repeating "Oh my god!". But wait, the Russian submarine is coming to help!!! What else is there? Action scenes are ruined by the bad CGI. And some of the actors don't even know how to play dead. I don't know if there is a quota how many disaster movies SyFy channel must release in one year, but their every movie is awful. Same predictable and ridiculous scripts, same lousy acting, same low-budget CGI, and, of course, pretty same happy end. Sometimes it seems to me that they didn't have enough money to make a TV show, so they put it all into 90 minutes TV movie.

This is possible the very WORST film I have ever seen!

I must confess that I only caught the last 40 minutes of this appallingly dreadful excuse for a SciFi movie. Indeed, I find it astonishing that this film was actually made in 2008; I REALLY didn't think that this kind of unforgivable garbage was still being made. The only reason I continued to watch it until the blissful end was because EVERY scene was hilarious as it just kept getting worse and worse. A bit like one of those songs you absolutely HATE but can't help turning up the radio when you hear it playing again.

The acting was amateurish, at best. The science was inexcusably non-existent The plot was predictable and quite clearly a figment of the imagination of someone with absolutely no idea what he/she is talking about The budget for the whole movie must have been infinitesimal The sets were laughable!

Two atomic bombs are needed so they just pop along to their local atom bomb storage hut and TWO blokes lift one onto a truck! The same diesel truck that can later be started by swapping out the battery from a small petrol car. Changed, I might add, in about 30 seconds. The alternator, too, was changed in the same time and just happens to fit an enormous 10-ton truck! So what about the starter motor?

The wife is driving out in the country and brings the car to a stop and a man holding a gun walks up to the car from nowhere - who only becomes visible when he sticks his hand in the window. So an EMP causes blindness, too?

After he and the car get fried, a teenage miracle worker decides that he can resurrect this useless automobile.

An EMP is supposed to neutralise all circuitry in its path, right? So how was this boy able to connect a few wires to something or other inside the engine bay of a petrol car and have the same phenomenon charge the battery from a metal rod stuck with gaffer tape to the body of the car? And what about this same dipstick's comment "You don't need a battery to run a car". So where do the HT sparks come from for the plugs?

This seems like one of those American movies where they start with an actor/actress for whom they want to find a film - ANY film - so the studio recruits some talentless wannabe scriptwriter to cobble together a pile of rubbish that they all believe the American public will stomach and then try to make money out of it while perpetrating a fraud on their poor, unsuspecting audience.

I could go on and on and on and on with this moronic catalogue of idiotic nonsense but what makes the whole thing unforgivable is the assumption that everyone watching this cr&p is stupid.

I'm sure that there are some people who would have found this entertaining, for one reason or another, but I feel that the vast majority of people would find this litany of incompetence and hubris an insult to their intelligence.

POLAR STORM is a better than average original Sci Fi Channel disaster movie. The Earth is gearing for a close encounter with a comet/meteor only to be hit by a portion of its tail; landing in Alaska. This collision seems to have shifted the earth on its axis causing the poles reversal of magnetism. In Washington state, Dr. James Mayfield(Jack Coleman) with help of his science teacher wife(Holly Dignard), must warn the world it is in for some strange happenings; including possible annihilation. Peoples of the world get concerned when miniature poles beginning popping up fueling the magnetic storm. Dr. Mayfield runs up against resistance when the President(Roger R. Cross) and his own father General Mayfield(Terry David Mulligan)ignore the call to warn the world of how much danger it is in.

Decent acting and direction. The writing leaves something to be desired but is passable. The special effects were not all that bad.

Jack Coleman from Heroes does a decent job of playing a scientist who figures out that the Earth is going through a pole shift due to a comet strike.

*Spoiler*

Some of the plot points were of course a tad silly. Mainly a diesel sub traveling from Alaska to the Marianas trench to deliver a nuke in less than 2 days. Not to mention some of the science.

All in all a formulaic disaster movie touching on all the stereotypical elements. It is passable for entertainment as long as you do not take it too seriously.

I was on the phone when watching this movie. I looked up and glimpsed the scene in which people were being "electrocuted" in the streets. I had a good laugh and shut the movie off.

Shown tonight under the title SOLAR STORM, this turned out to be a really good little movie. Sci-Fi is famous (infamous?) for taking really good story ideas and turning them into disappointing movies that can't deliver on their promise.

SOLAR STORM is primarily set in a pleasant small town in Washington State (played, of course, by Canadian locations) where a famous scientist and his wife, who's a science teacher, and his teenage stepson live in harmony until the Earth's magnetic poles start doing really strange things.

It seems that a big piece of a comet's tail hit the Earth in Alaska and did some serious damage. Then Dr. James Mayfield (played by Jack Coleman from the TV series "Heroes" discovers that the sun isn't setting in the place where it ought to.

It seems that the earth has shifted on its axis and the poles are in the process of reversing. The last time that happened was about a million years ago, and if it happens now there will be no living thing on the planet.

Director Paul Ziller has enough sense not to bite off more than he can chew. There are no detailed scenes of destruction in big cities with thousands of extras running in terror. He focuses the attention on the Mayfields and their town, and doesn't try to fake big budget special effects.

What's done is done pretty well. And the performers are strong enough to keep up our interest. Since my daughter was writing a paper for a college class I watched using headphones, and the sound effects are very effective.

Need I add that the authorities- including the President and Dr. Mayfield's father , General Mayfield (the two haven't spoken for five years)- want to ignore the call for alarm and calm the population that everything is all right? Would it surprise you that Mayfield's stepson is unhappy about his mother's remarriage (it's not mentioned specifically, but the boy's stepfather is about 24 years older than his wife)? This is not a work of original ideas. A little Armageddon, a touch of DEEP IMPACT, a possible solution to the problem that's borrowed from the very fine 1961 film THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, and a rescue that comes courtesy of Jules Verne's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.

There's even a little bit of subtext about parent/child relationships and the issue of whether to blindly trust authority or to trust your instincts.

Good work, Sci-Fi Channel. Well done.

Watched kind of while I was busy on my laptop. One thing caught my attention. When father and son (Jack Coleman) are driving to the port and the truck is fried they have to change various parts of the engine. The Red tool box is left on the side of the bonnet but when they arrive at the port it's gone. Music is dramatic!! Makes up for the rest of the film

I stumbled on this movie last night, and all I can say is it was written so as to create a barrage of nonsense that could only get past people living under a rock all their lives. It completely trashes a basic tenant of good sci-fi, i.e., create a universe that doesn't contradict itself or known facts of reality, and then stick to it. Where do I start?

First, there are numerous instances of people beginning a journey in on vehicle, and then appearing in two or three more before they arrive at their destinations.

The movie is ripe with scientific gibberish obviously designed to show us how brilliant the writers were, but that is actually tripe that does the exact opposite.

Repairing a military diesel truck by swapping out the battery and an alternator (while calling it a starter motor) with a car will be recognized immediately by any grease monkey as comedic in terms of parts compatibility and the typical time needed to both remove parts from a car and install them in a diesel truck.

The shattered telescope looks like a $100 Walmart special. $4000 would buy a 14"-16" reflector telescope that would hardly be portable.

The scenes of the ground cracking during earthquakes is some of the poorest CGI going. In many of such scenes, material dropping into the fissures can be seen just fading out.

Finally, aficionados of sub movies will groan at the thought of the Russian WWII sub descending more than 300-400 feet, let alone 27,000+ feet to the bottom of the Marianas trench. After unleashing the bombs, the logical thing to do would be for the sub to blow ballast and head for the surface, not camp out over a volcano and hope the rising hot water would save them.

I haven't even gotten to the hammy acting.

Too bad the people responsible for this disaster didn't pay attention in school, but instead demonstrate so little respect for the people they hoped would watch this mess.

Well, this was a fun film all and all. Jack Coleman did a great job in one of his first lead roles in a feature film, like a really good job. Apart from that, the rest of the cast were great too, I particularly liked the scene of the mugger car jacking them in broad daylight, well played.

For the budget, 9/10.

Overall, 5.5-6, because like many said, it has too many loopholes and the continuity team could have briefed over this script a few more times, hell a joint smoking monkey could have fixed some of the errors, but one writers bad attempt at an exciting action scene might be a visual effects artists opportunity of a lifetime, or an actors golden shot for their reel.

The humour is far and few between, but it has its moments and it's pretty genuine, for the most part.

Enjoy it as a fun B budget disaster movie of 2009.