Arlis Fuson
The title pretty much speaks for itself. The mayor and the fire chief are having a big feud, but when an earthquake hits New york they put aside their differences and try to help their city. The chiefs daughter is trapped in a high school and the mayors daughter is trapped underground in the subway tunnels. The mayors daughter is a lawyer and she's trapped with her client whom she just helped walk free for murder charges and now that she's in this situation with him she begins to see maybe she helped free the wrong man. Other stories include a gangster wanna be trapped in a church basement with the majors mother. A woman who must get to a grade school and try to save her disabled son. A girl who is trying to get across town to find her mother and shes being helped by a Russian Cab driver. All kinds of little stories are rolled in to this almost 3 hour made for TV movie.I must say I have seen this about 3 times, not sure why as I never cared much for it, but I keep watching it every few years for some odd reason. It is very slow at times and it's predictable and the earthquake happens fast and the aftermath is most of the movies story. I think great disaster movies need action and excitement all the way through in order to work. Hated the direction, I hate when a director shakes the camera to incorporate movement, and way too many slow motion shots here. There is often scale models used in place of subways, buildings and the statue of liberty and the directors ratio of his camera location verses the model is horrible.Acting is full of a bunch of nobodies and has beens. Tom Skeritt, Charles Dutton, Jennifer Gardner, Cicely Tyson among others, Frederick Weller playing a Russian was the best acting job here.The movie is OK but just not anything you haven't seen before in these types of films. It had a very basic feel to it which came up short with excitement - 3/10 starsone creepy line said by a helicopter reporter "the twin towers are still standing"
chrismulkeyisgod
upon turning on my television set to relax with a fine made-for-tv movie, i stumbled upon this. perhaps it was fate, or perhaps it was simply nothing more than a bit of luck on my behalf, but i must say, first and foremost that i was immediately blown away. the movie drew me in with its top-notch special effects and intriguing character situations--needless to say, for approximately 170 minutes i forgot entirely of any relatives or close friends i may have. instead, i was living the adventure--no, i WAS the adventure. and i can, with the truest of intentions say, that while watching this movie i was the happiest i have ever been in my entire life. and, more than likely, it was the happiest i will ever be. even now, on dreary afternoons when i find myself alone with nothing to do, i like to sit back with a fine, cool glass of lemonade and compile stanza upon stanza of poetry in my head encompassing the various scenes and events, making the movie ever-mine and something that will live forever within my memories.
astymegoesby
This is an excellent movie for someone who has never experienced an earthquake; as we all know one does not last for 15 minutes. If a 15 minute earthquake would have struck New York, it would be in total ruin and not have buildings standing. The movie also failed to touch on the happenings of the other boroughs, Bronx and Staten Island. The acting and cast is well played and very believable. I will see this movie again though and do recommend it to others.
miro-14
OK. The genre "disaster film" genrally doesn't mean earth-shattering, brilliant writing. What these movies are all about is the ACTION-something that, i'm pleased to see, the other commenters on this page realize. This movie, i think, has some better writing than others. It sidesteps cliched characters to a certain extent...for example, the mayor is sympathetic and really NOT a mad power-monger. It was refreshing for me to see a person in a position of power in an action movie attempt not to abuse such power for his/her own interests. All the other characters are also appealing...except one. As for the direction, Mikael Salomon truly knows how to stage action...it's all about camera angles. In this film, he uses these to great effect...my personal favorite being the one he uses when 2 characters escape out from under a truck collapsing underground in the nick of time. all-in-all, this is an entertaining movie...and a worthy entry into the disaster-film genre. in fact, i like this better than VOLCANO, a theatrical release from a few years back. i give this movie 3 out of 4 stars.
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