Exploding Sun (2013 TV Movie) User Reviews

THIS is what they came up with for 2013???

[geekgirl101 · 3/10 · 6 May 2013]

A freak accident on a small experimental shuttle causes it to go off- course and collide into the sun, resulting in the earth being hit by solar flares and lots of other unrealistic disasters all caused by the sun being affected by the shuttle. For some reason the shuttle was capable of smacking into the sun without vaporizing and caused an impact so extreme that no comet regardless of size has ever done before. What is the solution to stop earth from being destroyed? Send another shuttle with ipods glued on the inside walls to blow up the sun!

It's pathetically unrealistic and leaves you groaning at just how badly written the plot is. There's so many holes that if it were a block of cheese there'd be no cheese because it's all holes. Why did the shuttle not vaporize? Why did the crew not get boiled alive or suffer extreme radiation poisoning? How is it possible that a bomb can "collide" with the sun without burning up before it even reaches it? It's stupid, stupid stupid stupid!

For a series written in 2013 I expected something far more realistic and not so fictional that it's something that a 4 year old would write.

Watch it Because it's Bad, Not in the Hope of it Being Good

[alan-51-111974 · 3/10 · 8 August 2013]

It's a C movie with a script seemingly developed by a small team of 13 year old boys, boys of average intelligence who enjoy sport more than science.

Every scene has some element of mind-numbing stupidity, be it dialog, acting, set (apparently Afghanistan exists in a Canadian quarry and is populated by a mix of Pakistanis and Palestinians, we know it's a hot country because there's about 3mm of sand on the floor)... so in every scene there's something to laugh about, shout "nooo!" or point at smiling.

The plot is incoherent, as are the motivations and actions of all the characters involved... it's a parade of poorly sketched fools.

I'm a fan of bad movies, Birdemic, Sharknado etc... this doesn't quite have the style or entertainment value of either of those two but I still found it funny.

If you choose to spend 3 hours of your life gaining pleasure from ripping apart a movie then you may enjoy this, otherwise stay well away my friends!

Surprised this got so many low reviews

[Snootz · 5/10 · 23 May 2020]

If anyone watches a TV disaster flick and expects anything but entertaining schlock, they need a reality check. Such movies are designed for two nights of brainless entertainment, not scientific accuracy and logic. If the viewer expects the writers and directors to adhere to strict science at the expense of excitement and suspense, seriously... do you realize what this is? It's not like anyone forced you to watch yet another disaster film.

Comparatively, this movie is considerably better than anything produced by Asylum. The characters were cliche but at least held true to their nature. The writing wasn't awful (we've seen awful writing, yes?). Okay, so the science isn't spot on (or even close). The purpose here is to keep the average viewer entertained and face it, the average viewer has very little knowledge of actual science.

The questions here are: was the story entertaining, was the filming and acting okay, was it boring or exciting? Expecting a disaster film to be cerebral is like watching a Saturday morning cartoon and giving it 2 stars for being childish. Let's not be goofy.

I enjoyed the film, despite the scientific inaccuracy, despite the illogical presentation, because I didn't go in with a, "I'm going to be as critical as I can be" attitude. I went in to watch a television disaster film, knowing exactly what this genre usually produces. I wasn't disappointed. It held its own, according to what is expected from such films. Perhaps some of these reviews themselves need a 1-star rating for "Excessively unrealistic expectations". I mean geeminy, what were you expecting when you started watching this? ;D

Oh god..Ya just wanna let them BURN!!!

[rizel_jamn35 · 1/10 · 19 June 2013]

Wow..its amazing how bad this is.. I mean, you don't get emotionally engaged with any of these Characters..most of them are unlikeable.. You've got 2 protagonist who continually want to 1 up each other. (Bad acting aplenty, of course) Then you have random scenes of people all over the world...none of whom you end up rooting for..a guy and a family hang out in an apartment,the kid gets distracted by ice cream while the world is about to end..a lot of scenes are like that, they make you wanna look and say, "look how suave i am despite the world is about to end in 2 days"..its all out of place,not to mention how silly most of the science is...Watching this i kept thinking and wishing "solar flare baby and toast these people."

its cringing..its not even "its so bad its good"..its just plain bad... (shame on you Star movies for showing this)

Bad plot - no science at all

[seb_burgunder · 2/10 · 12 August 2013]

One point about science fiction movies, is to impress the viewer with science or technology that could once be real. But in this movie nothing makes sense about science. Not speaking about the bad and slow plot with sometimes terrible unreal action performances.

Just to name a view paradox: -they are close to the sun, but are communicating on video phone in real time. The signal would take at least 7 minutes between the sun and earth. (later they correctly state that the impact would only be seen 7 to 8 minutes later on earth.) -As the engines don't work and they float around the moon they experience g forces! In reality they would only feel 0 gravity on board because the gravitation of the moon and the acceleration of the ship would cancel each other out. Same like a space ship in orbit. -How comes that its always daylight in USA and Afghanistan at the same time? -When he is activating the bomb manually in space (0 bar airpresion) he would explode. -the sun is 330000 times bigger than the earth so an impact would we like a tear drop into the oceans. And most probably the space ship would melt long time before it would hit anything solid. At least I don't know anything that wouldn't at 6000 kelvin. Even Ta4HfC5 already melts at 4488 K.

Funnily Enough

[redheadnotdeadhead · 2/10 · 9 August 2013]

Firstly I should like to say that I genuinely believe that were I to watch this in glorious 3D the characters would still stubbornly remain wholly 2 dimensional. A cast of characters and a global population all in direst peril yet not one managed to elicit the smallest shred of sympathy. Logically I should next discuss the plot but that would require the existence of one. And last and least the science, sorry 'science', is unfathomable. How is it possible that anyone tasked with creating a script could so utterly fail to grasp even the tiniest shred of the laws of physics.

All in all quite the most preposterous slice of pseudo-science I think I've ever had the misfortune to come across.

Just an aside but am saddened to see that the prior comment by welsh_dragon_roar was so poorly received. I mean come on. It's irony folks.

Absolutely ridiculous

[Wannock-799-288846 · 1/10 · 23 September 2013]

I'm staggered that some reviewers think that the plot is believable, the script is realistic or the acting is credible. None of these things are true, unless, perhaps, you are a nine year old used to reading "Peter and Jane" books. The science is shockingly poor. Almost everything is incorrect...usually massively so. There are reams and reams of examples of this but you can get the sense of it from the plot line that has the President of the United States using a regular computer to talk via Skype to his wife, who is on a spaceship rapidly approaching the sun.

27 million Fahrenheit temperature....no problem. 8 minute each way delay in the time for the signal to arrive....no problem. Skype being used, rather than a sophisticated video link...no problem.

If it were just the science being appallingly bad, perhaps it might be forgivable, but, sadly, the script is preposterous. For example, the Chief Scientist running the mission is the ex- lover of the Chief Sceince Officer at the Whitehouse. She is now in a relationship with a "hero-like" astronaut who is famous for a mutiny on another space mission where he tied- up the commander of the ship without anyone on earth being aware of it.

Cue infighting between the two guys over who will make the critical decisions to save the people on the spacecraft (and the Whole World, as it turns out!). Luckily for the argumentative astronaut, his lover is able to miraculously get from the Whitehouse to the command centre instantly to get him appointed. Amazingly, not only is he an astronaut, but, without any training, he has a complete grasp of the design of the spaceship and a full understanding of the mission. Worse than unbelievable....completely ridiculous.

Then there is the character creation and the acting. Absolutely two dimensional and totally predictable.

If it had been written as a spoof, it might have been funny. It wasn't and it isn't.

No redeeming features whatsoever.

Mind-numbing Lunacy

[wmhogg · 1/10 · 14 September 2013]

Based on the level of scientific understanding demonstrated, I would have expected this movie to be from the late 1940's. There was so much that was inconceivably bad in this movie that it is hard to know where to begin.

Others have pointed out this is not a science fiction movie. It's just fiction without the science. However, imagine a vaunted space trip that is so momentous, it even includes the President's wife on-board the ship.

Now, imagine that instead of NASA and Mission Control, you have a small meeting room in what could be a Ramada Inn with multiple laptop displays at the front of the room. On top of this, during the critical moments of the mission, the two guys in charge start pushing and shoving each other.

When one of the main characters is making a call by cell-phone (I know!)to the spacecraft, telling them crucial information, the female lead bursts in and tells the guy to hang up repeatedly. Then she demands that he "let her in". Well, the message doesn't get delivered in time, with dire consequences.

I could go on and on, but the scenes and acting are too pitiful to describe. I love bad movies, but this one disrespects its audience completely. I guess Julia Ormond owed someone a favor, or lost a bet.

They didn't try very hard to make a good movie, and what's more they didn't care. The essence of a good "bad movie" is that they are really doing the best they can, and their efforts fall entertainingly short. This is not one of those films.

Not the best, not the worst.

[amigajoe · 6/10 · 11 August 2013]

The reviews so far have fallen into the 'OMFG it's the worst thing EVAR' or 'OMFG it's a Stellar Masterpiece' camp. Both factions seem more interested in hyperbole than actual description. In reality it's not bad. Not great, but not bad. The FX for the space flight and solar stuff are actually pretty good. As for the rest, they did a decent job with a limited budget. Characterization isn't a mile deep, but hey, this is an action-drama, not Shakespeare. It's amazingly long, but that's not really a negative; you're getting more movie for your $;-). Current rating is lower than it deserves, it's a good 5.0-6.0. It won't change your life, but it's a decently entertaining flick. Watch without fear.

Really Quite Terrible

[roblawca · 2/10 · 22 September 2013]

No spoiler. No hyperbole. Just a really poorly acted and poorly written work. In fairness, the lack of any reasonable budget is palpable throughout, with underwhelming sets and obvious inability to spend even modest money on scientific fact-checking.

Any positive reviews are clearly either family or Canadian members of the industry because there is simply nothing redeeming about this.

Acting - like a CBC drama series - wooden, two dimensional and forced throughout.

Writing - hackneyed and confused. The conflict between the two male leads is based on a simplistic less-than-made-for-TV concept, which only gets worse as their conflict continues.

As stated, the set design is cheap and the shuttle looks like something from Lost-in-Space - I kept waiting for someone to exclaim "Danger Will Robinson" (which, actually would have added an element of camp humour to an exceedingly dull and vapid film).

So - terrible in every sense. Nothing - and I mean nothing - to redeem it.

A 'B' movie trying to be an 'A' movie

[Joel-942-144075 · 18 October 2013]

Rated at 3.3 you'd think that this is one step away from a movie made by high school kids. Actually it's pretty good. What the critics are harping about is the science and they may have a point. There are only two real science issues: 1) The unlikely case of the shuttle being able to get close enough to the sun to penetrate it. 2) The relatively itty-bitty tiny speck of their special drive unit being able to have any effect upon the sun.

For the shuttle getting close; that' the one 'gimme' (suspension of disbelief) that all sci-fi asks for. If they'd used teleporters, nobody would have said anything.. They actually qualify this by stating that the drive unit - which is what goes into the sun - is designed to take tremendous heat.

The ability for the drive unit to disrupt the sun is another 'gimme', but it is explained throughout the movie as a unit that harnesses solar radiation and multiplies it. So IF the unit survived the entry into the sun, THEN it would cause a chain reaction.

Beyond those two points, your critical eye really shouldn't see too much to cut down this movie. The acting is rather good, although corny in a few places. This is certainly not a 7.0 movie but it deserves a lot more than a 3.3 rating. I'll give it a 6.4 - on the edge of a good quality movie, almost worthy of looking forward to seeing again.

Pretty decent story, worth watching

[Xane76 · 8/10 · 30 November 2013]

So at the time I'm writing this review, it's rated as a 3.3 movie... and it deserves better. It's not like the big budget movies and it's obvious the production team as a whole had to make do with less, but the story actually sticks together fairly well, the characters in the movie are fairly realistic, in the sense that they act like human beings, with flaws and redeeming virtues.

I've seen people on here complain about the story being unrealistic or there not being enough science in it... when has that stopped movies like say Avatar and Pacific rim from becoming major hits? That said, I found the majority of the story line credible enough and enjoyed the almost 3 hours of story very much.

In my opinion, people focus on many of the wrong things in their reviews of this movie and it's sad how movies with no substance but visual dazzle can garner a rating that is so much higher than a movie like this, that actually has a good, rounded off story line.

Movies like this and especially its rating are the reason why you should always make up your own mind when deciding which movie to watch. I wouldn't say it's worthy of a rating of 8 out of 10, but I decided to rate it up some, simply to get the average up. I hope you will do the same.

Not as predictable as the usual low-budget

[Gin-ster · 7/10 · 1 December 2013]

I realize that no Academy Awards are forthcoming for this movie, but I do have some positive things to say about it. True, it is one of those formulaic low-budget 2-part mini-series about the world-destroying disaster movies in which inevitable destruction somehow gets turned around instantaneously when scientists figure out what to do and there's an intrepid astronaut/fighter pilot/etc. there to implement the plan. So, no big surprises there. However, there are a couple of odd things about it: SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ...

First, the first 90 minutes are spent trying to rescue a bunch of civilian astronauts, all of who actually get killed. Second, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER the thing in Afghanistan ended up WAY different than expected, with the heroine having to kill the girl she was trying to protect! SHEESH, I didn't see that coming. I figured that when the solar flare attack (or whatever the heck it was) hit the area the tribal chief would work with the relief workers, not attack them more - no heartwarming resolution there.

Third - it was hard to tell what was up with the blond man stranded in his apartment, and it was rather formulaic that he found purpose in his empty life blah blah blah by rescuing a woman and her child. However, here was the unusual part - as he faced the end of the world he didn't get all sentimental about his parents (I had half expected him to start caring about them) - instead, he said up front what lousy parents they were.

Finally, as far as oddities that made this movie different from the routine imminent-world-destruction pix - many have commented on the dumbness of the two male rivals arguing while a major crisis is looming. True, that is probably unrealistic - people would more likely have had their attention on the problem at hand. However, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER - while I figured, early on, one of them would have to die, my money was on the astronaut - I figured that was what he was there for, i.e. someone who could pilot the device into the sun - so was surprised that the other guy (who seemed more suited to the woman the two were fighting over) died instead.

Finally - several here have commented on how ridiculous and non-scientific the whole premise of the movie is, and I agree. There is no way that a thingy fired from a space craft could make the sun go bananas. Fine, from a scientific standpoint the whole thing is ridiculous to the nth degree. So, what's your point?:)

Add another to the list of bad Sci-fi movies

[jmbjmbjmb · 2/10 · 20 February 2014]

Sci-fi is my favorite genre, but boy is it taking a beating lately. Even the big budget films seem to be incapable of getting the job done. Most of the other reviews pretty well cover everything. The opening sequences have a group of civilians on their first flight into space that looks more like a group on a vacation flight in a Lear jet. The pilot is whiny and controls the whole ship with a helicopter joy stick with shiny lights on it. Everything is down hill from there. This movie definitely takes the sci out of sci-fi. Only a frontal lobotomy will help with this department. The unfortunate truth is: that by the end I didn't care if they all died, except for possibly the Afghani girl who, well you know what happens. Hoped for better, but no joy.

Worthy of ridicule

[adj-699-887746 · 2/10 · 10 August 2013]

I'm sorry--I'm sure the film and set crews enjoyed having yet another gig to keep them employed, but you have to ask yourself--why would anyone assemble such a decent selection of actors around a script with a plot so asinine it actually inspires contempt? The absurd premise behind the plot, coupled with a meandering, vacuous script makes one instantly think of the sheer waste of opportunity in engaging in such a project and then turning it into such a sad, disappointing mess.

The producers here need to stay away from any further dabbling in 'sci-fi', since they obviously aimed for a genre and it's devoted demographic that they know absolutely nothing about.

An absolute waste of talent, time and money, and a real pity...

.

awful... with a few incidental rays of hope

[annyard1960 · 1/10 · 19 May 2014]

As another reviewer pointed out, this is a horribly flawed story by a completely insane statist (of the leftist variety). The sci-fi aspect is just the vehicle for the soap-box treatment. He tries to teach us how the government is perfect, the answer to everything, and every individual must subvert himself to the reigning authority. What a sick world.

If you don't notice this aspect of the movie, you're lucky. Really, this is 3 or 4 short movies of 3 or 4 genres, glued together into one Frankenstein monster. The 3-way relationship at the core of the story was horrible, and had no place in a movie like this (except to add pointless minutes and irrelevant forced tension).

The sci-fi part was extremely lame too, sadly. Not at all convincing.

Not many, but a few of the actors were competent. I feel sorry for them. I also feel sorry for the producers and special-effects folks, who also did quite competent jobs. Sad to see so much talent wasted on a seriously stupid story.

how hard do you have to not work to make a movie this bad?...

[goorobhamii · 1/10 · 28 September 2014]

Do not be fooled by those who rate this movie anything higher than 3/10. Either they have suffered like the rest of us watching this movie and only seek to draw others into their own personal hell, or they truly saw some redeeming quality in this movie and so are not to be trusted as they are a danger to themselves and others. As a fan of "bad" movies I can say that this one is a masterpiece. I will only summarize what other reviewers have so eloquently detailed in their reviews...terrible, terrible plot, acting, dialogue, characterization, locations, sets, special effects, production values, and bad, bad science. There are "good" bad movies and there are "bad" bad movies...this is the latter. You have been warned.

Leftist Political Dribble!!!! Thanks Jeff Schechter for wasting our time.

[kyles-852-795804 · 1/10 · 23 November 2013]

Spoiler Alert!!!! This entire review is a spoiler

Jeff has decided to put forth over 160min of propagandist drama that lacks in both draw and intelligence and most especially direction.

Aside from the poor directing, writing, and staging... The plot is a poor attempt of and (simply put) leftest garbage.

Basically, the main plot is simply..

A corporate interest space flight puts the world at risk with a futuristic spacecraft and a flight gone wrong. Then it's left up to Uncle Sam and a scientific genius to save the day with their secret and improved version of a stolen knockoff of the same space craft. (Obviously the Gov can do it better).

Here are the subtle sub-plots that you get to trudge though..

Corporate greed threatens the world.

The Gov and Scientists are the savors.

Hispanic's are good people who want nothing more than to help.

Small city bureaucracy is evil.

Capitalistic entrepreneurs are greedy.

Capitalistic entrepreneurs need to learn to help others.

Oh, and The worst subplot of all...

Radical Muslim Fanatics are really nice people.. If you are willing to murder a child to save the family honor.

Good stuff Jeff - Can't wait to see your next load of CR@P!!

It is a C list movie that has a very Armageddonisk feel to it.

[darkplayer38 · 4/10 · 13 November 2014]

I have seen enough to write a good enough review about this movie/show. I find it to be a very cheesy poorly written script. I mean for what it is, it is not that bad though. However, there was little to no research put into this with the "Scalar drive I mean when you say it is going 5,000MPM (Miles per minute) that comes to about 8 million meters a second. The distance from the moon to the sun is about 152 Million meaning you have less then 20 seconds... More detail and refining of the little things would have made this C list TV/Movie a more enjoyable watch. Perhaps next time they might invest in someone reading the script before they start filming perhaps?

Overall the movie had a deeper message than just the sun exploding and even though the the scientific facts weren't up to scratch, it was a very enjoyable and touching film. I

[Kidst_21 · 6/10 · 17 August 2013]

Two astronauts who do not particularly get along aim to save the world before the sun explodes. So yes, the title is self explanatory. However this means that Don Wincroft (David james) and fellow astronaut Craig Bakus (Anthony lemke) have to put their differences aside and try to forgive each other as Don Wincroft is now the husband of Craig Bakus' wife Cheryl Wincroft (Natalie Brown), what makes matters worst? Is that these two big headed astronauts used to be best friends.

Jeff Schechter who is the writer of this improbable science fiction, may have not gotten all the facts accurate when it comes to the scientific aspect of things to say the least, unless you believe that the sun is not hot or big enough to burst a spaceship that is a billion times smaller into pieces, but my favorite was that people could reach the moon in less than 8 hours, baring in mind I could get to Africa in that exact time. However we have to remember that this is a fiction movie and anything can happen, also the beautiful cinematography by Michael st. Martin and the sound effects which weren't too overpowering created the perfect amount of tension and excitement. The performance by the all Canadian cast (including the director Michael Robison) was at a satisfactory standard. The acting was convincing throughout the movie.

Nevertheless, we are introduced to various of different characters with all very different status from the president of the United States to very intimidating and angry afghan citizens to a very down to earth local nurse. One cant help but notice that Jeff Schechter wanted to capture more than the tragedy of the sun exploding, and in 3 hours he sure did. We see how even people who couldn't have a more different lifestyle and no matter how powerful one is everyone has emotions and it really highlights the important things in this world including family and friendship.

Overall the movie had a deeper message than just the sun exploding and even though the the scientific facts weren't up to scratch, it was a very enjoyable and touching film. I found it somehow inspiring as it restored my faith in humanity while people strived to save themselves and each other. I recommend you watch it if you have three hours to spare.

Kidst Ayalew.

Easy going story. Not really Sci-Fi

[jwj-severijnse · 3/10 · 25 August 2013]

Most actors are known from other series and there for you can expect good acting. That is exactly what you get. It can be a great show if you're not to nerdy and can see past all scientific mambo jumbo. For instance plasma clouds don't travel at the speed of light, light travels in 8 minutes from the sun to earth. I found lost of these kind of 'mistakes', which takes away the 'reality'. For how real a TV show can be anyway. The story line is not very complex and is kinda easy to figure out how things evolve to it's end. The show didn't brought me to the "tip of my seat". I'd grade this as a "sit back, relax and turn of you're brain off show". Something to watch in the weekday's after a hard day working.

A dazzling journey into the perils of science and space

[welsh_dragon_roar · 10/10 · 7 August 2013]

From the very moment this film starts, you know you're in for a scientific and emotional roller-coaster ride. The characters are very well introduced and you quickly bond with them, becoming familiar with their nuances and unspoken connections with each other. This really allows you to empathise with them given the extreme terror they face.

And what terror. The attention to scientific detail is second to none. I expect this to go down as a hard sci-fi classic. I was quite literally hovering on the edge of my seat during the space sequences, and when tragedy struck, it felt as if it was a family member I was seeing there on screen.

Strongest though is the rapport between the two male leads. Never have we seen such a strong representation of two lovers in denial and using a woman as a catalyst for deflective antagonistic discourse. But towards the end when they realise they can deny each other no longer, well, let's just say that parting can be such sweet sorrow.

I cannot wait for the director's cut to come out. The film felt far too short and rushed at a mere two and three quarter hours, and hopefully we'll have it restored to its full glory at some point.

A fun 3 hours if you set your criticism aside

[wayne-526 · 6/10 · 2 December 2013]

I don't get all the negative, self-righteous criticism of the movie. It's a movie about a next-generation space shuttle that can take civilians into space and to the moon rather quickly. Of course it's not believable because it's impossible to do something like that. So set your belief aside and enjoy the movie for what it is: science fiction. Of course you can't talk back and forth instantly to a spacecraft that's near the Sun, but think about how boring it would have been if the director had made it realistic and we had to wait 8 minutes for each response. The person who criticized the part about the cell phone being used to call the shuttle obviously missed the part where the computer geek patches it through the company space communications system. The special effects were better than I expected, although I got tired of seeing the sun shown as a giant ball of lava-like material. Sun loops are magnetic and have a certain form -- nothing like what was portrayed. Since the entire movie is about how the Sun behaves, I would have thought they'd pay more attention to trying to make it look like what it actually does.

Subtitles Required - Anthony Lemke is Here

[mboyd1986 · 23 October 2015]

Why can't the casting director (if this nonsense had one) pick the lead actors that can speak clearly, or at least don't have any speech impediments? I'm talking about Anthony Lemke. I don't know why his bottom lip sticks out, or his jaw, or why his tongue doesn't work. But I would have thought that the director would request another take when this guy mumbles his lines.

Perhaps he - Lemke - thinks it is "Brando-esque" to mumble, to be incoherent, but I don't. It is a pain.

So for those of you who actually want to understand the mumblings of this lead actor... get the subtitles!

The script in the disaster

[jbowslee · 2/10 · 15 January 2019]

Just wow. I came across this mini series and I'm wondering what the writers were thinking. If you are writing about science fiction, at least have some concept of science. But, that can be overlooked if there is a good story to support it. The story is preposterous. And even worse, the characters are written horribly. There is absolutely no likable character in this movie, and you could care less about any of them. If you are going to make a disaster movie, and all of your characters are unlikable, you've created the wrong type of disaster. And of all the love triangles I have seen on film, this is probably the worst that has been portrayed. I see some positive reviews, and there is no way anybody believes that unless they are part of the crew or their family. The biggest problem is that there was an interesting idea, but it was executed so poorly that this project would have been better shelved.