Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006) starring Casper Van Dien, Stefanie von Pfetten, Amanda Crew Movie Review

Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Casper Van Dien in Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006)

Lacks Heat

I've watched a few of these low budget disaster movies and I usually find them entertaining in their tackiness, it is why I seek them out because I know they will make me smile for being bad. I hoped it would be the same with "Meltdown: Days of Destruction" as the synopsis is preposterous enough to be a so bad it's good movie. Unfortunately whilst "Meltdown: Days of Destruction" has all the components to be enjoyably bad, full of plenty of corny character, cornier dialogue and even cornier coincidences the whole movie is too low key almost if it is trying to be good rather than embracing the bad.

Despite objections from scientist Nathan (Vincent Gale - The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve) a research unit fires a rocket at a meteor but rather than destroying it the meteor splits into 3 parts and as it passes the Earth causes it to pull closer to the Sun. The knock on effect is rising temperatures leading to chaos, rioting and a battle for survival. Having organized a flight to the artic Nathan contacts his journalist sister Carly (Stefanie von Pfetten - Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber) and her boyfriend cop Tom (Casper Van Dien - Sleepy Hollow) to bring them with him. In turn Tom picks up Bonnie (Venus Terzo), a former girlfriend, their daughter Kim (Amanda Crew) and her no good boyfriend C.J. (Ryan McDonell). But the question is can they make it to the airport in time when the danger is not only the climbing temperatures but gangs who come out at night.

Stefanie von Pfetten in Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006)

Now what is surprising about "Meltdown", or to give it its full title "Meltdown: Days of Destruction", is that it isn't one of those tacky sci-fi movies where we have a plot which focuses on preventing a disaster. Instead the focus is on this group of people trying to survive and as such, and I can't believe I am saying this, there is some intelligence to it. When the group has to abandon their vehicle just before it explodes one suggests waiting to move at night but amazingly they rationalize that at night is when the gangs come out as it is cooler then. When they come across a warehouse full of refrigerated food they don't just go commando in they rationalize that there may be others in side having had the same idea. Thankfully it does have these few moments of intelligence as beyond that it struggles.

The struggles start with the fact that there is absolutely zero atmosphere giving it a sense of being unfinished. When the group are in their car and are in the midst of a traffic jam there is no traffic noise, no bird noise nothing. The lack of atmosphere isn't helped that due to low budget restrictions what special effects there are are limited and often rely on stock footage which is used in other movies. It makes it feel surprisingly dull for a disaster movie and incredibly wordy as dialogue is used to tell us about the disaster going on but in the most basic, unimaginative way.

What this all boils down to is that "Meltdown: Days of Destruction" has its moments but for the most it is a low budget disaster movie which feels unfinished making it a labour to watch.


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