Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006)

Despite scientist Nathan's warnings, his boss continues an experiment meant as publicity for his satellite firm: exploding an asteroid. Instead it splits, and the major piece, the size of ... See full summary »

Director:

J.P. Howell

Writer:

Rick Drew

Stars:

Casper Van Dien, Vincent Gale, Stefanie von Pfetten

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Casper Van Dien	...	Tom
Vincent Gale	...	Nathan
Stefanie von Pfetten	...	Carly
Venus Terzo	...	Bonnie
Amanda Crew	...	Kimberly
Ryan McDonell	...	C.J.
Greg Anderson	...	Mick
Bill Dow	...	Olsen
Patricia Drake	...	ER Nurse
Philip Granger	...	Frank
David Quinlan	...	Gary
Dee Jay Jackson	...	Fire Chief
Donovan Cerminara	...	Goon Leader
Bruno Verdoni	...	Garner
Derek Hamilton	...	Rat Leader

Storyline

Despite scientist Nathan's warnings, his boss continues an experiment meant as publicity for his satellite firm: exploding an asteroid. Instead it splits, and the major piece, the size of Iceland, changes course to earth. It is deflected but so close that it shift our course closer to the sun, causing rapid extreme heating, hopefully only mid-term. Nathan warns his sister, TV journalist Carly, and she her lover, police detective Tom. He brings his unruly daughter Kim, her ex-con lover C.J. and her mother, nurse Bonnie, when Nathan offers a flight to a friend's Arctic weather station. Tom takes charge of a dangerous trip to the airport, as everywhere on earth things catch fire and people fight for water, transport and sheer looting.

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Plot Keywords:

looting | nurse | scientist | fire | fight | 

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Taglines:

The earth is burning!

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 June 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Meltdown: Days of Destruction

Filming Locations:

West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Front Street Pictures, PorchLight Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Not to be confused with an old John Carpenter project called "Meltdown", a 1977-1978 adaptation of the "Prometheus Cris" novel, later set to star Dolph Lundgren and to be directed by John Dahl in 1994. But even though Casper Van Dien had also been attached to it in 1997-1998, that project had nothing to do with "Meltdown: Days of Destruction". Writer/director of Rick Drew developed the story from scratch and claims he had never heard of the Carpenter script and received sole credit from the WGA.

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Goofs

The group takes a 'refrigerated truck' in order to have cool air for the engine and gas tank, but when they are driving away it is obvious that the drivers compartment is completely open to the rest of the interior - this would be a problem during normal use as it would freeze the driver.

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Connections

References Clueless (1995)

User Reviews

Not a complete meltdown of a movie...

Although the idea was interesting, I was expecting it to be worse considering it was low budget. In my opinion, Meltdown: Days of Destruction is neither bad or good as an overall film, though it has assets that fall in both categories. What I did like about the film was that the acting was surprisingly better than average. Amanda Crew is beautiful and not too bland, Vincent Gale and Stefanie Von Pfetton are good and Casper Van Dien does his best to make his performance more than just a good-looking guy with non-existent acting skills which is something that has been plaguing a number of low-budget films I've seen in recent memory. I did also like the nice settings and the editing wasn't too choppy, while the music is not too over-bearing. The concept is also an interesting one. However, there are things that don't work. The most exciting Meltdown: Days of Destruction gets is towards the end, but around the middle it is rather sluggish and generic with predictable storytelling, very unlikely science and cheesy dialogue. The effects are minimal and while I have seen cheaper ones, in all honesty the effects here are not great in look(especially the meteor) and don't generate any sorts of thrills. The characters I didn't really engage with, some of them don't have much to do and the types of characters involved are reminiscent of the obligatory clichés you'd find in a SyFy original disaster movie. All in all, not a complete meltdown but not particularly much to it either. 5/10 Bethany Cox