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An asteroid bounces off the Earth's atmosphere and moves the planet closer to the sun in this stupid made-for-television sci-fi flick.
Nathan (Vincent Gale) is a scientist. You know he is a scientist because he says a lot of science things while staring at a computer screen, runs programs, tries to warn higher-ups, and mutters "oh my god" a lot. He and some other scientists sent a nuclear warhead into space and blew up a cheesy, computer-animated asteroid, sending one big chunk of it toward Earth. It kind of misses, but tempers and temperatures rise as the progressively sweaty scientists can do nothing about the sudden spike in heat around the world. Police officer Tom (Casper Van Dien) happens to be dating Nathan's hot (so to speak) TV reporter sister Carly (Stefanie von Pfetten), and the trio watch as society descends into chaos because of the heat. The humidity also frizzes the hair of Tom's bratty teenage daughter Kimberly (Amanda Crew), his old flame (sorry) nurse Bonnie (Venus Terzo), and Kimberly's juvenile delinquent boyfriend C.J. (Ryan McDonell). The group decides to head toward an airport where Nathan is sure they can catch a plane out of the sweltering country, headed for the North Pole. The viewer is then treated to stock footage, badly choreographed action sequences- (did the heat affect everyone's ability to hit anything with machine guns?), awful special effects, and characters' attempts at being likable.
Other reviews of this film paint it as a brain-dead good time, but I cannot excuse it like that. It is simply terrible. There is not one cast member you will root for. The script tries to play up the soap operatics of the characters, but I could not care less about whether Tom will choose Carly or Bonnie, or if anyone eventually accepts C.J. as a good but misunderstood guy. Nathan's slow descent into madness is hilarious without meaning to be. I'm no scientist, but "2012" was more plausible than this thing. Not only is the science suspect, but other logical errors abound. I challenge you to go more than two scenes suffering through Kimberly's pouting before you will want to spill some gasoline on her and light a match. Poor Casper Van Dien was a pretty hot property (again, sorry) for a while, but now has to do dreck like this.
"Meltdown: Days of Destruction" left me stone cold.
Stats:
(2006) 90 min. (1/10)
-Directed by J.P. Howell
-Written by Rick Drew
-Cast: Casper Van Dien, Vincent Gale, Stefanie von Pfetten, Amanda Crew, Venus Terzo, Ryan McDonell, Greg Anderson, Bill Dow, Patricia Drake, Philip Granger, David Quinlan, Dee Jay Jackson, Donovan Cerminara
(R)
Media Viewed: DVD
