Quake miniseries stretches imagination, patience
Sweeps month is here. It's a special time for networks to showcase their premiere programming. It's a time when the biggest stars stop by TV shows. It's a time when the final farewells come for television favorites. It's a time when movies are no longer two-hour dramas, but multi-night epics.
NBC's latest four-hour epic preys on the fears that California will fall into the ocean. "10.5" contains a B-list of actors in a laughable story.
Kim Delaney and Beau Bridges head a cast that includes John Schneider, Kaley Cuoco and Fred Ward. The actors don't need to be spectacular. The real star of this show is deep in the center of the earth.
The San Andreas fault has haunted West Coast residents for centuries. When the fault becomes active, destruction reigns across California. The miniseries tries to enlarge the fault's danger by including a hidden fault that is too deep beneath the surface to be found. This fault will cross the San Andreas fault to create destruction from Washington state to southern California. The only nice thing about this miniseries is that viewers will not have to wait three hours to see the first quake. The quakes happen early and often.
The movie opens like an extreme-sports video, featuring a daredevil bicyclist as he weaves his way through the crowded Seattle streets. Then the earth begins to rumble. The earthquake measures 7.9 on the Richter scale and is strong enough to topple the legendary Space Needle.
The earthquake awakens Dr. Samantha Hill (Delaney). She is an ambitious earthquake research scientist who is quick to develop extreme theories that shock her colleagues.
Her co-worker, Jordan Fisher (David Cubitt), advises Hill that she is too focused, controlling and her theories are too wild.
"You scare people," he says.
As with all epic stories, there is an array of characters besides Hill.
There is Dr. Owen Hunter (Dule Hill), who is a surgeon at a Los Angeles hospital. He is desperately trying to juggle his heavy workload with his family. His best friend is Dr. Zack Nolan (Ivan Sergei), another surgeon who happens to be the son of Roy Nolan (Ward), the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Roy's best friend is President Paul Hollister (Beau Bridges).
The president is a decisive and caring man who likes to share his wisdom with others.
"I'd rather have faith in something and be wrong, than have faith in nothing at all," he says.
There is also the divorced father, Clark Williams (Schneider), who is desperately trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter, Amanda (Cuoco), by taking her on a camping trip. His ex-wife just happens to be the governor of California, Carla Williams (Rebecca Jenkins).
These are the people caught in the terrible wrath of Mother Nature. After the Seattle quake, there are others that occur. An 8.4 earthquake decimates northern California, swallowing whole towns and trains. It is only a matter of time before San Francisco is hit. But that doesn't stop the raging fault line.
Hill is convinced that the hidden fault will cross the San Andreas fault line and become the worst natural disaster America has ever seen.
"I believe it will change the geography of southern California," she predicts.
For weeks NBC has been touting the great special effects. This was an ambitious project. After all, the script calls for the destruction of some of the country's biggest and most popular sights, such as the Space Needle and the Golden Gate Bridge. But despite the greatest efforts, vehicles still look like Matchbox cars falling off a toy bridge.
The script contains every cliche that has ever been written. The movie starts with everyone fighting with his or her loved ones. Husbands against wives, sons and daughters against parents, friends against friends. Everyone must be angry with someone, until the disaster reminds them of their love for each other. Some of the characters die in spectacular ways. Others barely escape. The lead characters have to fight to prove they are right and heroic.
Director John Lafia favors split screens and tight camera work that is constantly zooming in for close-ups. This is meant to convey the feelings of anxiety and imminent danger, but instead produces feelings of annoyance.
"10.5" doesn't deserve to be called an epic, unless that refers to the effort needed to sit through the entire four hours. The miniseries is the typical drivel that the networks serve in a futile attempt for ratings. Additional Information:
Details
'10.5'
9 p.m. Sunday & Monday, NBC
