Meteor Storm (2010 TV Movie) User Reviews

The Earth is in danger (yet again)...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 8 April 2011]

Yes, it is yet another disaster movie about an asteroid threatening our very existence of Earth. Like we haven't seen that story being told in movies like dozens of times before.

So what sets "Meteor Storm" apart from the other movies of similar character on the market? Well, nothing actually. I has all been seen before. From the storyline, to the characters and to the bizarre way how disaster and meteoroids seem to be tailing and chasing the protagonists of the movie wherever they go.

One thing that is over-the-top-stereotypical in a movie like this, is how one of the lead "heroes" always manages to get to a scene and rescue someone (be it from a burning helicopter, burning car, or crumbling skyscraper) just in nick of time before it explodes or collapses. That was just antagonizing to watch, because it is such ludicrous crap.

Anyway, moving on to the story. The basic layout of the story is as it is in most other Asteroid disaster movies. A massive asteroid is speeding towards Earth, it manages to wreak some havoc, and then... well, the ending is (without giving it away) a typical Hollywood ending that includes a nuclear missile. Yeah, indeed!

The acting in "Meteor Storm" wasn't actually too bad, but it wasn't any award-winning performances either. Fairly average stuff to be seen here.

In overall, then "Meteor Storm" is good enough entertainment for an evening if you got nothing better to do, and if you are a sucker for natural disaster movies.

Couldn't happen to a better place.

[Condolf · 4/10 · 31 January 2010]

The last 3 visits to San Francisco but anything but fun. Because they have turned the city over to the insane, I found myself rooting for the meteors during the movie. The special effects were OK and the acting was passable but the science behind the movie was totally laughable. I am a scientist and my wife hates to watch these kind of movies with her because I tear them apart while we watch. First off, there is no element 120 and we have never witnessed anything in nature that could create it. Also, the main character was constantly riding around on his motorcycle without refueling. That kinda reminded me of a gunfight where they always have guns of infinite rounds. And near the end of the movie we find that lurking in this vast array of rocks hurling towards earth is Apophis (a very large asteroid)and we are expected to believe that astronomers couldn't see it coming? And the bit about waiting until the atmosphere is heating it up from friction to start to shoot nukes at it. Everyone knows that in order to change the trajectory of something big coming at you from space, you have to nudge it while it is a million miles away at least.

Scientifically

[branchltd · 4/10 · 11 August 2016]

Does anyone really think that the local director of and emergency management agency would be able to do their job during an emergency while they were spending most of their time getting family members out of emergency situations? Would the responses of the other people involved in that emergency to a director of an emergency agency doing this be as supportive as in this movie? Whoever wrote this plot has no understanding of the difficulties encountered in emergency management and didn't do any research on it.

The 'science' was rubbish. Electrostatic attractions are only effective over short distances, they do not have an 'frequency' associated with them (as implied by the 'static' part), and like charged substances repel, rather than attract. Even if the authors couldn't pass high school science they should have done the research on this.

The saving graces of the movie are the special effects and, to some degree, the actors. The director and technical staff also seemed to be competent. The writers do not appear to have been competent.

That poor bridge should start demanding combat hazard pay from movie makers

[MartianOctocretr5 · 31 January 2010]

An astro-physicist is tapped by the government to figure out why the city of San Francisco is being besieged by anti-social meteorites. BB-sized pellets crash a meteor light show stargazing event, and victims run for cover. Immediately, scientists and the military team up to repel the onslaught.

Time out for obligatory clichés: Obnoxios dumbbell TV news crew getting in everybody's hair. General wants to nuke something. Hero guy is married to scientist, and they argue a lot. Their stupid brat kids blunder into perilous locations, always at the exact time and place meteors show up. Hero guy diverts from saving the world to rescue his idiot brat kids. The ratio of cliché stuff to actual plot elements is about 70% to 30%.

The pseudo-scientific ramblings about why San Fran is being singled out are actually pretty imaginative (although ludicrous). Acting is fair. Action and CGI are fair. 99% of the budget was invested in the 500th movie depiction of the collapse of the city's most famous structure. It's done in spectacular fashion; the film's blazing glory moment. But sloppy editing also gives you glaring goofs: like light traffic in the background of a scene, during a supposed massive evacuation of the Bay area. Some evac.

As cheaply done as it may be, it's amusing enough to make it entertaining.

Another steaming turd from "Syfy"

[jbmorgan-1 · 2/10 · 31 January 2010]

Like 95% of the original programming on "Syfy" (I have to put that in quotes as I still cringe when I see that spelling), this movie was another complete waste of time. The only reason I actually watched it all the way through was because I was doing something else in my living room at the time and it was convenient to have something on that I didn't need to concentrate on to follow it. It never ceases to amaze me with "Syfy" movies that a no doubt well-intentioned screenwriter, crew and actors spent months of their lives, and doubtless millions of dollars, to make something as bland as this. The plot is not even worth recounting since you've seen it many times before - a meteor is heading towards Earth, threatening to destroy it, and some scientists have to figure out a way to stop it, while incidentally saving their marriage in the process. Suffice it to say that there is not a single even remotely original or interesting moment in the entire movie.

The only reason I even gave this movie two stars is because of the acting. All of the acting, especially poor Michael Trucco (who must have had trouble keeping his lunch down, having to do this on the heels of "Battlestar Galactica" - I hope you were at least able to pay your rent, Mike!) and Kari Matchett, is as good as it possibly can be considering what they were given to work with.

It would be great if the executives at "Syfy" would decide to make fewer movies and focus their budget instead on making some quality films. Surely making a few halfway-decent films each year, rather than just turning out one piece of garbage after another, would help to improve their reputation.

Respectable cast, gag-all plot

[gray1937-1 · 2/10 · 7 February 2010]

I don't need to repeat everything other reviewers noted, but maybe a few:

1. Every disaster flick cliché ever imagined was included. 2. Soldiers, even airmen, don't salute civilians -- except those in direct line of command like the SecDef and the CINC (President). 3. The science is pure hokum. Radio frequencies don't cause attraction or repulsion. If you're gonna blow up stuff in outer space, do it before it starts to heat up from atmospheric friction.

And then a couple no one has as yet mentioned:

4. Brigaders are about as high up the food chain as amoebas. A BG who gets the President on the phone is a joke. 5. I think that element 120 should have been named unbelievium. 6. Toward the end, Keri Matchett who plays the professor (the one who does qualitative analysis by looking through a microscope for Pete's sake) spends the last reel, rather than looking scared, concerned, or dispirited, with a sly smile on her face, as if she knows something none of the rest of us do. Well, she was wrong. A lot of us realized just how silly this whole thing was.

Nothing to rave about, but Syfy have done much worse

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 19 May 2011]

Of all the films I have seen of Syfy and on the Syfy channel, Meteor Storm is not one of the best, though I have yet to see a Syfy movie that I would deem good. But it is not as bad as Titanic II, Mega Piranha, Shark Attack and that Moby Dick movie they did. To be honest, Meteor Storm is nothing to rave about, but unlike the movies I have cited the acting while again not award-worthy was tolerable, particularly from Michael Trucco. The film is not visually stunning by any regard as the editing is rather slip-shod and the effects are largely inconsistent, but there are much cheaper productions out there. Despite these, there are a lot of things in this movie that I don't like about Syfy in general. A major problem is the plot, if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be nonsensical. The ideas put forward are somewhat imaginative and intriguing, but explained and executed ridiculously. The script is clichéd, illogical and just plain bad really, the characters are cardboard and I didn't really connect to them, the pace is uneven with a dull middle section and the less said about a vast majority of the direction the better. All in all, there have been worse, but this is not really something to savour on repeat viewings and such. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Complete chick flick with nothing for the guys

[drystyx · 1/10 · 1 February 2010]

Even the action flicks are becoming chick flicks. We have a hero with what looks like a 200 inch chest riding a motorcycle through out the film, and that just begins the clichés. Everything in the film is completely cliché. Not one fresh idea.

The plot is something about meteors showering the Earth, and some guy in the military being dense to the hero, who controls what everyone in the world thinks, by the way, and commands the attention of a news crew for no reason. A news crew that follows a hunk instead of the usual slouches that they choose 100% of the time. Yeah, what planet is this on? Director Tukacs not only dwells in every cliché, but also makes this unwatchable for guys. If there is a cute girl, he kills her off as quick as he can, leaving only the pale plain girls that women identify with, making this the ultimate chick flick.

Across the board, the acting is as poor as the directing, which lends one to think they were directed to act this horribly, and the worst takes kept for the final cut.

There is nothing good about this film, nothing exciting, nothing interesting, nothing to care about.

Cheesiest sci fi ever! Don't watch on popcornflix

[Imdbterminator · 1/10 · 11 May 2014]

Hahah omg this is the worst sci fi I have ever wasted 2 hours watching. It was worse than gravity and I and 1000 others gave that goof joke movie a 1.

First off all this one dude does is ride around on a motorcycle. That's it! Haha. And the people instead of hiding from a stupid little meteor they just stared in the sky. When the bridge collapsed people stayed in their cars and died on purpose. What a joke. This movie is being advertised on Xbox as free to watch on popcornflix which is a competitor to Netflix except there's a handful of commercials. I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could watch death wish on Netflix for the 8th time. The worst acting in a film in a while. Horrible story horrible filming. This one part the toolbag is riding his stupid motorcycle for the 35th time and they actually showed the background moving and his motorcycle stationary like they did in the 70s sitcoms. Hahah I laughed. These actors suck. He director sucks. The producer sucks. A high school drama club could of done a better job. Stay away from this movie on popcornflix Xbox app. Movie was stupid stupid stupid just like all the other reviews said.

Not the worst - but not great either..

[starman-wa · 3/10 · 4 September 2015]

I am a fan of disaster movies and sci-fi movies, unfortunately this was not good at either. Whilst the storyline has been seen before I thought the story unfolded reasonably well, however there was not much substance to it - or science for that matter.

The acting was fair, except I found myself never quite believing the actors - their reactions to situations etc did not fit. I don't know if that is the actors fault or the director but something wasn't quite gelling.

Certainly not the worst film I've seen and worth watching if you need to kill a couple of hours.

Abuse of CGi

[barspeed · 1/10 · 9 July 2020]

Wooden acting, lacklustre and unconvincing characters, budget constraints similar to a months groceries at Costco makes for movie that is as action packed as the stolen mail / murdered mail man episode in Murder She Wrote. Plainly filmed on a Sunday morning before most people woke up. Continuity is awful with members of the public appearing in the background who are clearly not extras and countless times the camera crew and production crew were seen in the reflection of the main characters motorcycle helmet. Save a child, adopt a cat but don't bother with this concrete boot of a film.

A pleasant surprise

[Michael_Takes · 6/10 · 17 March 2012]

Before any one watches this movie they have to understand that it is a SyFy production, which means no academy awards, modest budgets, and fictitious science used to explain what is happening.

As a fan of the SyFy movies (mostly as they are the only regular source of science fiction on TV now days)I would have watched it regardless, but this film was a pleasant surprise.

The cast was surprisingly good based on the type of film, all science fiction regulars led by Battlestar alum Michael Trucco, Invasion and Covert Affairs beauty Kari Mitchell, Kyle XYs Kirsten Prout and Smallville and Flash Gordon star Eric Johnson, all of whom are playing to their strengths (eg Johnson as a cocky, arrogant reporter). All performed well, though Trucco was a little stiff.

A typical weakness in SyFy flicks are the CG effects. Fortunately, as the story really only called for meteors falling from the sky the cost would have been limited allowing for some generally decent effects. The first meteor storm was very well done.

Another typical weakness of SyFy films is the script/ dialogue. While there are some cheesy lines 'That might explain the Bay Area's historically bad cell phone service', there are some good lines too, my favourite being when Michelle is being asked to go with the army person who says 'Say yes while I'm still asking, Michelle'.

This is a decent flick for a wet Friday night. Certainly not a blockbuster, and there a holes in the plot and the science of the film, but if you can ignore them and just watch the movie as escapism and entertainment there are certainly worse films you could watch instead.

Better FX in an Ed Wood Movie

[Flicks4680 · 2/10 · 14 March 2021]

I don't have an issue with the science being wrong, or with the poor acting. But those special effects were the absolute worst. May as well have just hung a backdrop and let the actors Judy garland it into the wall wizard of Oz style. Also, their 'teenage' son, not at all believable as a teenager, and terrible stereo typing of the military. Gave it two stars as its still better than justice league.

Typical SyFy offering

[Wizard-8 · 13 March 2011]

SyFy movies are never going to win awards with their limited budgets and their hastily-written scripts, I realize that. Still, I think that if they had approached this project with some smarts, it could have been a decent time-killer. As it is now, it isn't. For a Canadian production, it looks decent (it doesn't have that "Canadian look"), but it still has a made-for-TV feel to the visuals, and the various British Columbia locations simply can't be passed off as San Francisco. Some of the special effects are okay, but they mostly look cheap and unconvincing, which is probably why long stretches of time go by between special effects shots. But it's the script that really sinks this movie. It's long and drawn out, which is why there is no feeling of tension, and the characters aren't really fleshed out enough. Director Tibor Takács has made some good movies in his career, but "Meteor Storm" is not one of them.

A bit of a disaster!

[Sergiodave · 3/10 · 29 January 2021]

It's a TV movie, so you expect the special effects and acting to be sub-par, therefore 3 stars instead of 2. I am sure the actors were cringing making this flick, but it's a paycheck. Might be watchable whilst doing the laundry.

Worst movie

[Dennisdtul · 1/10 · 23 February 2013]

All this guy Tom, run around the entire movie on his motorcycle. The movie should have been how to look stupid on a bike. Why was he not on the bridge when it collapse. The movie never got off the ground. Best part was end of the movie. Watching right now on science-fy or should at this moment sci- fry. Good leverage is on so don't have to watch this looser. This 10 line minimum is almost as bad as the movie! Sabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb sssssssssssssssssssssss Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb sssssssssssss Bbbbbbbbbbb double bbbb ssssssss Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

Some decent cgi, some poor cgi, bad dialog and character stupidity

[mbheusdens · 2/10 · 4 December 2015]

Can't say much more than what other reviewers have about this film. SyFy and the production companies they hire to do movies always seem to be college flunkies. There were some cgi moments where they had a competent person. Then it was like they fired them and used a less skilled person or crew. The collapsing of the apartment building was just one of those skill-less moments that are very common in low budget films.

The writer's must get paid peanuts. As usual, they put in absolute idiotic characters and very idiotic choices. I was glad when the annoying news caster bought it. It was obvious the building was coming down. But as an idiotic move, he stays there to get his 'big' moment.

The sister/aunt of the family the plot mostly evolves around gets stuck on the Golden Gate after a wreck. Car window is completely open, yet she screams for help and keeps trying to open the car door which is blocked instead of climbing out the open window. When she does, finally, climb through the open window, it is when the part of the bridge she is on is collapsing! Idiot would have had a better chance to survive rather than plunging to her death if she climbed out earlier! The kids, in a foolish attempt to rescue a boyfriend, take the elevator instead of the stairs because they would be able to rescue and get out faster. Really? So what happens? Yup.. The power to the building is disrupted and they are trapped in the elevator! Wow. With that kind of stupidity, the kids should have died just like their idiotic aunt! These less than B movies from SyFy make wonderful drinking games!

Disaster on a budget

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 20 February 2013]

A typically inane disaster movie from the SyFy Channel. This one sees San Francisco assailed by a meteor storm that comes out of nowhere, destroying scenery and infrastructure before a dedicated team of scientists decide to do something about it. It's as cheesy, lightweight and predictable as it sounds, featuring terrible acting and even worse effects, and is very much par for the course for this genre.

Saying that, the film does have plenty of incident and a pace which keeps on moving, so it's never boring - just bad. By the time things take on an outer-space angle it all gets very derivative of Armageddon and its ilk. Fans of this kind of trash may get a kick out of the sub-standard CGI and overwrought performances; the rest of us will just sigh in exasperation.

It's all about the plot...or lack of it

[casablancavic · 2/10 · 8 January 2017]

this is a failure of a movie in so many respects - but the biggest being the story the dialogue isn't too hot either, nor are the computer effects or special effects this is a poorly written comedy and an absolutely horribly written science fiction and action movie or drama if you think there;s any reason to spend 1 1/2 hours watching this...think again, there are fat better worse movie out there this still ranks at the bottom of the barrel and in the event of such a catastrophic situation, people just seemingly walk around casually without a care in the world...maybe because they realize that there is nothing to worry about - because there is nothing entertaining, threatening, scary, horrifying or remotely interesting the only reason I didn't vote this a 1 is because it was too stupid to be bad in a sense of being a bad movie...it's just non-sense on the verge of comedy without the comedic actors delivering the lines to make it an all out comedy