Meteor Apocalypse

2009

Drama, SciFi

The Asylum Pictures

Peacock Films

R4 DVD

Yes, folks, once again it’s the end of the world. A rogue comet that was headed for Earth has been smashed by nuclear warheads but some of the fragments have kept going. In California the fragments have contaminated a major dam with a chemical poison that has also got into the water table. With no drinking water the state has turned to anarchy almost instantly. The Department of Homeland Security has responded by rounding up people from the contaminated areas and putting them in concentration camps. The Centers for Disease Control have tried to arrange for their transport to a safer area since they know Los Angeles is due for the next meteor shower, but they have been taken over by a zealous and ambitious official from Homeland Security who doesn’t care about the people illegally rounded up.

There is an antidote to the poison. It is being carried by David who wants to use it to save his poisoned daughter. He has obtained a small stock of the experimental drug from a friend in Las Vegas just before that city was destroyed. Now he must get the drug back to Los Angeles to the quarantine camp. This will be difficult as every vehicle he gets into seems to become a meteor target. Along the way he picks up an attractive young lady as a travelling companion. The moment they kiss you know she is marked for death as this conflicts with the family value motifs so important to Americans in this sort of film.

In Los Angeles they find the camp has been evacuated. They are sheltered for the night by a female pastor in her church. The next morning moments after they have left the church it and the pastor are destroyed by the next meteor shower. Maybe God has a warped sense of humour?

They travel to the outskirts of the city where the girlfriend dies, the wife is found and their daughter is saved, all in accordance with the usual practice in these stories.

Meteor Apocalypse is a low budget film but doesn’t look like one. In spite of thjis it is vaguely dissatisfying. It’s not that it is a bad film – it isn’t – but the déjà vu feeling persists right through the film. There is nothing original in the plot, the tiresome family values theme is there in full force, even the meteor impact shots look familiar. Even so, it’s a decent thriller and is worth a look.

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