Aftershock: Earthquake in New York (1999) (TV)

Director:

Mikael Salomon

Writers (WGA):

Paul Eric Myers (teleplay) and
David Stevens (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

14 November 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Terror is off the Richter scale.

Plot:

New York, the city that never sleeps, is trapped in a nightmare of horror and destruction when a massive earthquake rocks the unsuspecting city...

Plot Keywords:

Tragedy | Rock | Earthquake | New York | Urban

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Tom Skerritt	...	Thomas Ahearn
Sharon Lawrence	...	Dori Thorell
Charles S. Dutton	...	Mayor Bruce Lincoln
Lisa Nicole Carson	...	Evie Lincoln
Jennifer Garner	...	Diane Agostini
Rachel Ticotin	...	Elizabeth Perez
Fred Weller	...	Nicholai Karvovsky (as Frederick Weller)
Erika Eleniak	...	Jillian Parnell (as Erika Eleniak-Goglia)
Mitch Ryan	...	Frank Agostini (as Mitchell Ryan)
Cicely Tyson	...	Emily Lincoln
Mark Rolston	...	Bruce Summerlin, Co. 51
Ray J	...	Clayton
JR Bourne	...	Joshua Bingham (as J R Bourne)
Michal Suchánek	...	Danny Thorell (as Michael Suchanek)
Jerry Adler	...	Burt Hornstein

Also Known As:

Aftershock - Das große Beben (Germany)
Erdbeben-Inferno: Wenn die Welt untergeht (Germany) (rerun title)
New York - Der jüngste Tag (Germany) (DVD title)

Runtime:

170 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:PG | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Foo's Ho Ho Restaurant - 102 E. Pender Street, Chinatown, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Hallmark Entertainment

Trivia:

Jennifer Garner had her ears pierced for the first time ever especially for her part in this movie, but then allowed them to heal up again once filming was completed.

A pretty good TV disaster movie

I just saw this movie on the Sci Fi channel. I am sure everyone who has seen more then 2 disaster flicks could of wrote this movie. All disaster movies follow the same formula and they never divert to a different path. First part of the movie we meet the characters who lives are going to be in peril. They usually consist of

A a family who is in crisis.

B a kid or kids, who sometimes is part of the family in crisis, or the child of the hero or big wig.

C a younger character man or women or both who is either just newly married or a romance will develop.

D a potential bad guy or guys that will come around in the end.

E Two big wigs, either a politician, or a General, if it involves the military. THe politician or General are sometimes the bad guy.

F a disgruntle or disgraced male who will eventually save the day.

The middle part of the movie, is the disaster itself. And it usually is the shortest part. This is where we see what happened to the characters we met in the first part. How the potential couple will meet up. And where the kid is or kids are at that will put them in peril.

Sometimes the child already has a illness that will add to the suspense. So if the disease doesn't kill them the disaster will.

According the budget we will see if the movie has great affects or just a camera shaking some people up and cars overturning and scene of one or two insignificant buildings crumbling. Sometimes the budget is so cheap they use scenes from other disaster movies. One person, usually the kid or a women are trapped somewhere,

And the last part of the movie is watching who lives or dies. Which is predictable. 1 The family man who we know loves his wife and kids, because he either talked about how much he loves them or we see a happy family picture on a desk. This character is usually the young fireman, or some other minor character who is helping out, we don't much about him other then him having a family and he is young.

2 The black man, I find if there is a black character in these movies, they are either the potential bad person or another of the soon to be hero's sidekick. Who will die saving others. In the newer disaster flicks the black person has jumped from being one of first victims or gang member to now being one of the bigwigs.

3 A elderly person, we know nothing about them other then they are elderly and they are married or a dearly love relative of a major character.

Amongst the living are 1 The new lovers

2 The star of the movie. There are two exceptions. Joaquin Pheonix in Ladder 64, but he also qualifies in the subgroup of the young family man who gets killed. And Stephen Segal in Executive Decision whose screen time lasted maybe 20 minutes and is killed.

3) A pet that was otherwise thought dead.

4) The child or relative of one of the bigwigs

This movie manages to have most of these important elements. I saw it early on a Saturday morning. I am happy that I saw it in one sitting because I believe this had to be a 2 night movie when it first aired. I find I never come back to see the conclusions of these moves. But they showed the whole movie at one, which I am sure helped.

It was a TV movie and that is what to expect of it. TV A-list stars like Charles Dutton and Jennifer Garner and Sharon Lawrence and Tom Skeritt and Cecily Tyson are in the movie they do a good enough job to keep it interesting. Do not expect anything more and you will enjoy it.

One last remark that cannot go unmentioned. The speech Charles Dutton makes at the end was very stirring. I actually had a tear in my eye. In the wake of the 911 that was in the future and being a New Yorker it was very appropriate.