A predictable plot, laughable special effects, very questionable science and no discernible acting make for a very unenjoyable experience. How this rates as a 5.1 defies belief.
A solitary scientist, Dr Kistler, (yep it's one of those movies), is the only one on Earth who's apparently able to piece together all the signs and and predict that unless we evacuate the northern hemisphere and make long term preparations along the equator, most of the world is doomed. Naturally there's a handful of his colleagues who thinks he's nuts but he manages to convince the president to follow his lead and Guam is the location chosen to relocate the U.S government and key personnel. God only knows what every other scientist in pretty much every other country is doing with this same info, (not collaborating apparently), but why let any kind of reality get in the way of the mediocre drama unfolding in front of us?
We start with the sun getting an increase in sun spots, and the pseudo science says that a darker sun means a colder Earth and in literally a day, we go from scorching hot days in L.A, to being snowed in and people freezing to death. Even for science fiction, that's some incredibly fast weather. We do get approximately 5 seconds of footage on a news broadcast showing Paris, Rome and London being in blizzard conditions, so the cursory acknowledgement of a world outside the U.S is refreshing.
Meanwhile we have a motley collection of secondary stories featuring an assortment of argumentative deadbeats that all eventually intertwine as they make their way to the coast in a snowcat where Dr Kistler is expecting to be picked up by military ship and taken to Guam. He lies to his travelling companions about them being able to accompany him aboard ship when in reality it's only for him, but when he's killed, it's basically rendered moot.
Among our rag-tag bunch of forgettable idiots, is LAPD officer Drake, his girlfriend, the ex-wife, her new lover Greg and son Max. Joining the group is petty criminal, Kelvin, that drake arrested and then released when the city was largely abandoned. Most of them end up making it to the now frozen coast where it's a submarine that eventually turns up to transport them to warmer waters.
The whole movie from start to finish is just a ridiculous haphazard mess that generally makes no sense, follows no real plot and has no redeemable qualities. Even if we were to abandon the fact that a sudden second ice age lasting 10-30 years is a distinct impossibility, the actions of nearly all concerned simply have no credibility. When Drake turns up at his ex's for his son, they initially decide to stay in their house as it's comfortable. They never think about what happens when the food runs out, the power goes off or if the house is buried under tons of snow.
It's supposed to be 80-100 Fahrenheit below zero in the Northern States, Canada too I expect, and the south is expected anywhere at 10-20 below, which isn't an automatic death sentence if you dress properly and that brings me to a sore point in most of this debacle. Several people are outside for extended periods of time and they have no protective headgear, no scarves, no goggles and they're perfectly fine. One woman they come across is wearing a summer hat for Gods-sake.
At some point our troupe ends up at the California Mutual Bank for repairs to the snowcat and some rest. They start a fire, burn wads of cash for warmth and find there's a couple already there trying to stay out of the cold. The man says that they'd been there for hours and it never occurred to them to burn the money. Are you kidding me?! These people are in a building full of wooden furniture. As they're all sitting around the money fire, they are literally resting against large wooden tables and it's the money that they burn? FFS, firstly wads of paper don't provide long term heat in sub-freezing conditions, secondly they'd all be suffocating on ash with a paper bonfire in an enclosed room. Whomever writes this crap has never been cold, lit a fire or been camping in their life. Burn desks, shelves, drawers, fittings, anything to keep yourselves alive and warm. The money could be used as padding in their clothes.
It's this type of stupidity, plus the constant energy zapping racial bickering between alleged racist Drake and self-righteous felon Kelvin that stopped this from being entertaining in any way. In a final act of annoyance when Drake is shot and left behind in the defunct snowcat, Kelvin and Greg leave the submarine, in defiance of captains orders, to rescue him and he allows it! I'm sorry but I can't accept that a military captain would not only let people leave but also wait around for their return for the sake of one man.
Honestly if you give this nonsense of a disaster movie a wide berth, you'll be doing yourselves a huge favour.
