------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Rating : 4.5/10
Directed By : Paul Ziller
Brendan Fehr (Roswell (TV) ) Holly Dignard (Kill Switch)
Jodelle Ferland (Twilight Saga : Eclipse))
Ryan Grantham (Altitude)
Supplied By : Image Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : January. 17, 2012
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PLOT It's Christmas Eve in Alaska, but the holiday season is in for a rude awakening: A massive ice shelf has collapsed in the Russian Arctic. Intense shockwaves are rocking the region. And military geologist Michael Webster and his family's snowy wilderness hike to cut down a Christmas tree leaves them trapped by huge ice geysers, giant avalanches and enormous cracks in the permafrost. But with the help of a hard-nosed Army Colonel and their own survival instincts, can they now find a way to stop a monstrous methane explosion that threatens to destroy the entire planet? | ||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| THE REVIEW In ICE QUAKE, it's Christmas Eve in Alaska, and Military Geologist, as well as his crew in the Military, have been monitoring new of an ice shelf that has formed in Russia, which has collapsed, sending tremors throughout the region. The military view the situation as a bad one, yet they have no idea of the severity. It is Micheal's day off, and he is spending time with his wife, Emily, and two children, daughter, Tia, and son, Shane. But little does he know that a family hike up a mountain to cut down the annual Christmas tree, would lead into a harrowing ordeal. Soon Michael and his family, find themselves facing nature, which is unleashed. A massive build up of methane within caves buried deep beneath the ice, begins to cause ice geysers, and avalanches, followed by large ice quakes. Michael and his family eventually become trapped by the cracking ice and falling debris of the white slopes, with virtually no escape in sight. This prompts the head of Michael's team, Colonel Bill Hughes to take action, by sending out a search squad, but as they would come to discover, the conditions prove difficult even for them. Another day, another SYFY CHANNEL movie. Except this time, there are no animals of any kind on the lose, instead, ICE QUAKE tells a tale that falls within SYFY's other category of "expertise", which is the subject of natural disasters. The the SYFY CHANNEL's animals attack line of films that they are known for, they are also quite known for these types of films as well, and like the aforementioned. there are bad ones(most of them), but then again, every once in a while comes a film that is no great, but is fairly entertaining, if only in its cheesiness alone. ICE QUAKE actually happens to be one of those latter category films, it is not a great film at all, just as a time killer, it is actually pretty decent. It seems to be self-aware in knowing of its low budget in addition to its limitations, so with that, makes no effort in going out of its way to make things all technical, and so, there isn't an abundance of complicated dialogue, it's simple in its approach, although credit must be given when saying that the cast and crew makes great use of all of the film's resources. The story, nor any of the cast's performances are award worthy, yet both are passable enough to make the film a decent view. Honestly, there isn't much more that I can say about ICE QUAKE other than what I have already said. Like the many other natural disaster films that SYFY has aired previously, ICE QUAKE follows the familiar patter and story structure, so you could call it a little predictable, but then again, anyone who regularly watches these films, should already know that beforehand. The story is easy to follow, the film's pace keeps things rolling around smoothly, and the cast does a decent job of creating a worth while scenario. Especially cast members Brendan Fehr ("Michael Webster"), Holly Dignard ("Emily Webster"), Jodelle Ferland ("Tia Webster") and Ryan Grantham ("Shane Webster"), who collectively make up a believable Webster family for the film. ICE QUAKE honestly is not as bad as one might initially thing, as it is fairly interesting. But with that said, however it still is quite cliche, making it not much different from the other similarly themed films out there. The image on the Blu-ray, looks surprisingly really good for a made for TV effort. The image quality is crisp and clear, making the film's beautiful snowy scenery that much more. Addition to the film is a "Making of" featurette, which features interviews with cast and crew, along with various behind-the scenes happenings. |
||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| GORE
METER 1/10 No real gore is seen here, except for a corpse buried beneath the snow, and maybe a few minor signs of frostbite. |
||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| MUSICAL
SCORE 4.5/10 The score for ICE QUAKE consists of mostly energetic, action and adventure type backing tracks. |
||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM I hate for this review to seem quick, as to say that this film is just another similar film. But the truth is, that is exactly what ICE QUAKE is. Much like many of the slasher films that came out during the craze in the '80s, ICE QUAKE brings nothing really new to the table, as it follows a familiar formula, but again, just like slashers, people continue to watch, and get some kind of enjoyment out of them> ICE QUAKE is one of those films, yes it's silly, and it is cheesy, but as a way to pass up the time, there are actually a few moments in the film that are actually entertaining. Special Features include - The Making of Ice Quake featurette | ||||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||
| STILLS | ||||
|
