I'm going to be more generous to this movie than most commentators. Though it is, of course, quite lousy.
The beginning struck me as pretty decent, and I thought I was in for an unexpected surprise. There's a tense and meticulously-detailed industrial espionage sequence that could have been lifted straight out of 'Mission Impossible' or 'Thomas Crown' or something similar. It really held my attention.
But after that, the plot definitely goes pear-shaped. Wobbly, meandering digressions begin. We are cut and cut again from one location and character to another. It's been done successfully in many superior movies like 'The Longest Day' or 'A Bridge Too Far' as a vehicle for introducing many disparate characters. But here, there are just not that many to justify the technique and it comes over as ham-fisted editing.
During the espionage sequence, there is no speech; it's all largely silent action. Which only serves to emphasise the wretchedness of the script when the actors begin talking. It's hopeless, almost embarrassing.
Troubles are compounded by a bunch of 'unknown' players who are almost certain to stay that way, if the quality of their acting is any guide. Featureless, unconvincing, wooden-faced; pick where you like.
Our 'traitorous' hero is caught by a female FBI agent and both are pursued by the disappointed baddies to whom he planned selling secrets.
There's the inevitable car chase. And most of it isn't half bad ( though another sharp-eyed commentator spotted a blatant splice-in from 'Metro'). And then - after what seems like an eternity - there's the earthquake. I'm going to be positive again here and say that it was much more believable than the 1970's disaster movie of the same title. But in this day and age it ought to have been a whole lot better. Roland Emerich should have been given a call.
Not for the first time, a director demonstrates his contempt for viewers by assuming them to be dumb. The hero breaks a window in a flooded basement by firing a gun at it. Anyone with more than half a braincell knows that the firearm discharged underwater would simply have exploded.
There's a bit more chase-'n'-shoot stuff and that's about it. Not sure how it finally ends because I dozed off.
The best news is that it only cost me 80p in the fire-sale at my local branch of 'Woolworths'. They're closing down now (and perhaps this DVD then tells a story of its own).
There were enough good elements here to make a really decent thriller. We had espionage, conspiracy, discovery, pursuit and a disaster thrown in for good measure. In competent hands - like, say, John Carpenter's - a decent script, and one or two capable leads, this could have been a treat. It's such a pity. Without them the whole enterprise was reduced it to a plucked turkey.
The beginning struck me as pretty decent, and I thought I was in for an unexpected surprise. There's a tense and meticulously-detailed industrial espionage sequence that could have been lifted straight out of 'Mission Impossible' or 'Thomas Crown' or something similar. It really held my attention.
But after that, the plot definitely goes pear-shaped. Wobbly, meandering digressions begin. We are cut and cut again from one location and character to another. It's been done successfully in many superior movies like 'The Longest Day' or 'A Bridge Too Far' as a vehicle for introducing many disparate characters. But here, there are just not that many to justify the technique and it comes over as ham-fisted editing.
During the espionage sequence, there is no speech; it's all largely silent action. Which only serves to emphasise the wretchedness of the script when the actors begin talking. It's hopeless, almost embarrassing.
Troubles are compounded by a bunch of 'unknown' players who are almost certain to stay that way, if the quality of their acting is any guide. Featureless, unconvincing, wooden-faced; pick where you like.
Our 'traitorous' hero is caught by a female FBI agent and both are pursued by the disappointed baddies to whom he planned selling secrets.
There's the inevitable car chase. And most of it isn't half bad ( though another sharp-eyed commentator spotted a blatant splice-in from 'Metro'). And then - after what seems like an eternity - there's the earthquake. I'm going to be positive again here and say that it was much more believable than the 1970's disaster movie of the same title. But in this day and age it ought to have been a whole lot better. Roland Emerich should have been given a call.
Not for the first time, a director demonstrates his contempt for viewers by assuming them to be dumb. The hero breaks a window in a flooded basement by firing a gun at it. Anyone with more than half a braincell knows that the firearm discharged underwater would simply have exploded.
There's a bit more chase-'n'-shoot stuff and that's about it. Not sure how it finally ends because I dozed off.
The best news is that it only cost me 80p in the fire-sale at my local branch of 'Woolworths'. They're closing down now (and perhaps this DVD then tells a story of its own).
There were enough good elements here to make a really decent thriller. We had espionage, conspiracy, discovery, pursuit and a disaster thrown in for good measure. In competent hands - like, say, John Carpenter's - a decent script, and one or two capable leads, this could have been a treat. It's such a pity. Without them the whole enterprise was reduced it to a plucked turkey.