Directed by Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen, Felon, Snitch, Shot Caller) and starring Gerard Butler (Angel Has Fallen; The Vanishing; Geostorm; London Has Fallen; Olympus Has Fallen; The Bounty Hunter; Nim's Island; P.S. I Love You; Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life), Morena Baccarin (Deadpool; Homeland (TV Series)) and Roger Dale Floyd (Doctor Sleep; The Walking Dead: World Beyond (tv series)).
Disaster action; 119 mins; 12+
John Garrity (Gerard Butler) is a structural engineer and has done well professionally; however, he is separated from his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) with whom they have a son, Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd).
In the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster, when a comet is on course for the Earth - and expected to be as devastating as the asteroid which killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago - John and his family receive a Presidential Alert. This they work out to be for people who have key skills and could potentially rebuild the world in the case of disaster. They also learn that the (US) government has a plan in place to bring these select people to Greenland where an underground complex has been built to shelter them from the impending disaster.
However, as the first rocks from the comet start to wreak havoc, they arrive at their designated military airbase only to be initially rejected as the military discover that Nathan is diabetic, a fact which was not picked up in early screening.
Battered and bruised but undaunted, John is determined to get his family to safety and learns of a flight departing from a private airfield just over the border in Canada. Along the way - part stand-still on the motorways and part when there's not another car in sight along rural roads - they face numerous challenges, with everyone desperate to get to safety as the countdown to the "big impact" ticking down all the time... Amid terrifying news accounts of cities around the world being levelled by the comet's fragments, they get separated while trying to get to Allison's father's home in Kentucky...
An edge-of-your-seat (and intense) disaster action film that has some scenes reminiscent of the COVID-19 pandemic times in which we are currently living. Emotionally charged while they battle the increasing panic and lawlessness surrounding them.
While the events are quite unpredictable (and what about COVID-19?), the ending is quite predictable; however, inbetween, there are some very good scenes where the audience sees the Garrity family experiencing the best and worst in humanity.
A good summer blockbuster, but maybe not recommended if you're of a nervous disposition and paranoid about COVID-19 and other unseen threats.
