Movie Review: Meltdown: Days of Destruction

Meltdown: Days of Destruction 

Front Street Pictures, PorchLight Entertainment, Molten Street Productions, USA, Canada, 2006. 

Scientists are testing space probe with 10 megaton nuclear bomb that could change the course of Earth-threatening asteroids. Tom the Cop (Casper Van Dien) is stalking his daughter Kim's (Amanda Crew) boyfriend CJ (Ryan McDonell). Kim's mother Bonnie (Venus Terzo), is Tom's ex-girlfriend. CJ is a member of crime gang. 

Tom

Asteroid on collision course

Bonnie

While Tom and partner Mick (Greg Anderson) has a shoot-out with bad guys, the space probe explodes but the asteroid only breaks into smaller parts. One part scrapes the atmosphere. Earth's orbit changes and temperature begins to rise. Scientist Nathan predicts that soon it will be so hot that the seas will boil. He tells about it to his reporter sister Carly who is also Tom's girlfriend. 

Nathan

Carly

CJ and Kim

People are looting and getting heat strokes. Cities start burning and it's every man for themselves. CJ is a good guy after all and he protects Kim. Tom, Carly and the others must go to Arctic areas to survive. Cars explode due the heat at 50 °C (!) Wouldn't the roads and tires at least melt first? Anyway the heroes go into sewers for shelter, but the are populated by bandit mutants (?) Well at least three of them. The makeup is probably meant to present sunburns but they still seem like mutants. Another cop Garner (Bruno Verdoni) joins the group, but with bad intentions. 

Sewer mutant guy

Cheaply made TV-movie that combines disaster movie with extended family drama. The heat does not look as serious as it should, the actors wear long sleeved coats and have only few sweat drops on their forehead. The cities seem to have about five residents. Sometimes the heroes find corpses that seem like leftovers from some zombie film. Because Tom is a cop, we have some shootouts now and then. The ending felt like the scriptwriter just had to make something up. Bad but not fun enough to be cult material.

Rating: Bad

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Vincent Gale, Stefanie von Pfetten, Venus Terzo, Amanda Crew, Ryan McDonell, Greg Anderson, Bill Dow, Patricia Drake, Philip Granger, David Quinlan, Dee Jay Jackson, Donovan Cerminara, Bruno Verdoni, Derek Hamilton, Keith Martin Gordey, Floyd Faircrest, Chad Sayn, Trevor Addie, Kimani Ray Smith, Lars Grant, Ron Robinson, Brad Kelly, Martin Szlavy, Jaye Gazeley, Brett Armstrong, Juan Carlos Velis, Evan Allen 

Director: J.P. Howell