Michael Elliott
Senior HTF Member
10.5
Zero Stars/:star::star::star::star:
Studio: Lions Gate
Year: 2004
Rated:NR
Film Length: 165 minutes
Aspect Ratio: Standard (4:3)
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:
Retail Price: $19.95
Oh, how I miss the golden age of disaster films from the 1970’s. Film like The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and the Airport series were usually silly and not too realistic but at least they served a lot of entertainment along with their top-notch casts. 1974’s Earthquake with Charlton Heston also featured a big name cast and expensive special effects but I also considering it one of the worst made films in history, although I still enjoy watching it. That film certainly falls into the territory of “so bad it’s good” but thirty years later we get 10.5, another disaster film that was made for television and I suppose was trying to scare people on the West Coast. Trust me, you’d be better off with a real 10.5 earthquake than watching this pile of trash.
An X-Games biker is riding around Seattle when a massive 7.2 earthquake hits bringing all the buildings down around him. This here gets the attention of the President of the United States (Beau Bridges) who turns this case over to a friend who works for FEMA (Fred Ward). On another part of the West Coast an earthquake expert (Kim Delaney) has a theory that more earthquakes are going to follow due to something dealing with the plates but she also believes a nuclear blast could bring the plates together and stop future quakes. Soon another quake hits Northern California and soon one hits San Francisco and it appears the next quake will his Los Angeles, which would mean no more bad movies from Hollywood. Actually, it means this quake is the big one and the West Coast is going to fall in the ocean. Whatever….
While Earthquake was a bad movie that was made entertaining due to how bad it was, 10.5 on the other hand is just an incredibly bad film that doesn’t have any redeeming factors. I’m a sucker for this disaster flicks but this one here grows tiresome before the opening credits are over and the bad thing is that we’ve still got over two and a half hours to go. Everything from the acting to the directing to the incredibly bad special effects are worthless making this an incredibly hard film to get through. In fact, by the time part two starts I’m sure most people watching would rather be experiencing a real 10.5.
The key to every disaster film ever made are the characters who we are supposed to cheer and root on and hope they don’t fall victim to Mother Nature but that’s not the case here. In fact, I kept hoping most of our main cast would fall victim because that would mean we were closer to the finish. Throughout disaster film history we always get stereotypes that are usually so incredibly stupid that we laugh at them and we get the same type of thing here minus the laughs. We get the typical melodrama, which includes and father and son struggling after the mothers death, a father and daughter trying to come together and a husband and wife who are the verge of a divorce. Thankfully, even though fifty million people are evacuating the city they are all able to find one another to make up before the quake hits.
The characters are so overwrought and obnoxious that you can’t really cheer for them and the worst one has to be the beautiful daughter who hates her father but the quake brings them together. I’m not going to bother mentioning the actresses name but lets just say her acting ability is below the level of Tor Johnson of Ed Wood fame. Beau Bridges usually delivers a decent performance but it’s clear he was just cashing a paycheck here. Seeing him as President of the United States is a joke in itself and he does nothing with the role making us believe he really is the leader of this country. Kim Delaney comes off very annoying and doesn’t make a good lead actress. The film’s one saving grace is Fred Ward who is interesting even if he’s just sleeping. He also gets the film’s only well made scene where he has a final talk with his son.
I think people are attracted to disaster movies for the same reason they can’t help avoid looking at a car wreck just incase they are able to see a body lying in the road. They watch these films because they want to see disaster and the hopes of a few people beating the odds of survival. The special effects in the film are all CGI and do they look incredibly awful and fake. I’m sorry but CGI is the evil creation of Satan and the lack of imagination really shows this here. And please, don’t give me the fact that these scenes couldn’t have been done without the CGI effects. Check out San Francisco or Earthquake and you’ll see that effects were being done before CGI and they also contained a bit of imagination, which is very important. Just take a look at the scene where the Golden Gate Bridge collapses. Check out the scene where the earth is breaking apart and following a train. Tremors had better ground breaking scenes and it didn’t take a computer to create them.
With this disaster film we also get a post 9/11 speech that is so forced that you can’t help but role your eyes. There are various political statements made throughout the film and they all come off fake and it’s clear the director is just trying to make this film be something better than it actually is. This film shows the worst of America in the fact that no imagination went into it and the director seems to think that everyone watching would fall for the various tricks and stupidity that is put on the screen. How a film like this could turn out this bad is beyond me but 10.5 is without a doubt the worst disaster film ever made, which is saying a lot considering this genre gave us duds like The Swarm and When Time Ran Out.
A few questions for those smarter than I:
1.If blue water swallowed dirt, buildings, cars, people, sand and various other things, wouldn’t that blue water be a bit dirty and not crystal clear blue?
2.If a 10.5 earthquake struck, would people be able to outrun it?
3.Is hair gel so advanced in California that when a 10.5 strikes people's hair doesn't get messed up?
4.Since when can earthquakes chase trains?
VIDEO---The movie is shown Standard (4:3), which is the correct ratio and how it was shown on television. The picture is incredibly soft throughout and various scenes contain a large amount of grain but after listening to the audio commentary this is apparently the look the director was going for. With that in mind, the transfer appears pretty good without any noticeable print damage, speckles or scratches. The flesh tones look accurate throughout and colors are well detailed throughout. I noticed some minor edge enhancement but I doubt you’ll notice this unless you’re really looking for it.
AUDIO---The new Dolby Digital 5.1 track serves the film pretty good considering it was made for television but don’t expect something like The Lord of the Rings. Dialogue remains through the center speakers and remains crisp and detailed throughout. The Surrounds get some very nice moments including all the destruction that goes on in the film. The previously mention “quake chasing train” sequence stands out because the camera is set in the center of the tracks while the quake splits them down the middle. This effect sounds remarkably well when mixed between the right and left speaker. During the first quake I noticed some ringing out of the left speaker, which doesn’t seem to belong.
EXTRAS---The only extra is an audio commentary with the director, which is full of details but considering how bad the movie is I doubt anyone will be listening to this. The director tells a lot of stories about what he was going for and how he planned to make the film look but none of it struck me as being too interesting. Again, I simply hated the film so much that I couldn’t care less about how it was made.
OVERALL---Normally any disaster film would get a recommendation from me but that’s not the case with this film, which is so beyond bad that I’m really not sure what to make of it. This film is so incredibly worthless that I’d even have a hard time recommending it to fans of bad films. Lions Gate offers a fairly good DVD with a nice transfer and a very good 5.1 mix but good luck with the film.
Release Date: August 24, 2004
