Supernova (2005)

Based on his exhaustive analysis the world's foremost astrophysicist named "Dr. Austin Shepard" (Peter Fonda) concludes that the sun will turn into a supernova within a week which will cause the destruction of all life on earth. Not wishing to cause any panic he notifies a few colleagues in other parts of the world and quietly goes to a remote location to spend his last days. Unfortunately, his disappearance causes immediate concern to his staff along with suspicion by several intelligence agencies most notably the National Intelligence Organization (NIO) who dispatches "Special Agent Lisa Delgado" (Tia Carrere) to investigate. Not long afterward, the esteemed colleagues of Dr. Shepard are rounded up by the NIO along with another astrophysicist by the name of "Dr. Chris Richardson" (Luke Perry) to analyze the accuracy of Dr. Shepard's work. Meanwhile several natural disasters caused by solar flares wreck havoc upon the earth which increases speculation and turmoil throughout the world. Along with that, a serial killer escapes from prison and is targeting the woman who testified against him—"Brooke Richardson" (Jessica Brooks)—the wife of Dr. Richardson. At any rate, rather than detail the entire plot and risk spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this turned out to be rather disappointing overall. Not only was it a bit too long (172 minutes) but it also has some incredibly slow moments combined with several subplots which didn't seem to add much to the main plot. It almost seemed like the director (John Harrison) was totally confused about what to keep in the film and what to edit out so he didn't bother to cut anything. Be that as it may, although I liked Tia Carrere, I didn't particularly care for the performances of any of the other actors. That said, this film has too many weaknesses for me to rate it higher than I have. Below average.

Peter Fonda, Tia Carrera, Emma Samms and Luke Perry team up to save the world from our exploding sun! Whew! Well as long as it's THOSE guys on the job, I'm not worried! Made for the Hallmark Channel this one is short on good FX and a bit long on padding. Actually, padding is mostly what you get. There's a story about a serial killer and then the guy who is supposed to save the world is also very concerned about attending his daughter's musical recital. There is also a government conspiracy to keep the public from learning about our impending doom, which was the only part of this magnificent opus that rang remotely true. It's readily obvious that this was stretched and strung out in order to fill 2 slots in Hallmark's programming schedule.There's been a lot of talk about how scientifically inaccurate this movie is and I have to say I found that endearing. It's about as scientifically accurate as an episode of Gilligan's Island. But neither this movie nor Gilligan are documentaries. They're just meant to entertain. The same applies to all the other inaccuracies, such as the fact that most of the Australians speak with American accents, the fact that Australia doesn't have the death penalty (an important plot point) and the license plate debacle. There's also a futile attempt by the characters to escape the explosion of the sun by hiding in tunnels deep underground(with a lot of dry ice) and then coming back up to the surface and building a "new sun" once the whole "exploding star" thing blows over. Like there would even be an atmosphere(or a planet) left after all that. But once again, it's not a NASA training film. This is just a quickie made for TV movie and it need only entertain.The problem here is that unless you're a fan of really bad movies, movies that blatantly and callously insult the intelligence and taste of all who watch it, then you probably won't like this movie at all. You may even throw a shoe at the TV screen just out of spite. But if you're like me, and you do find that type of movie amusing, then it's fun. It fondly reminds me of those end-of-the-world movies from the 50's and 60's like When Worlds Collide and The Day the Earth Caught Fire.If you have several friends who like to get together and rip on terrible films, then it might even make for a fun party movie, assuming your keg or wine cellar doesn't run dry.

The sun is about to go supernova, and everyone on Earth will die. Sounds exciting right? Uh, not really. The plot starts when a brilliant astrophysicist (Peter Fonda) makes calculations showing that the sun will explode in one week. But the government doesn't want anybody to know, so they capture several other astrophysicists who know about the disaster, including a guy who just wants to get back to his family (Luke Perry). Taken into custody by a government agent (Tia Carrere) and a military commander (Lanice Henriksen), he has to find some way to get back to his family before a serial killer escapes and gets to his wife and daughter. Meanwhile, the world goes to hell in a hand-basket as whole cities and rural areas get bombarded by plasma. Oh yeah, and something about a television reporter and a lab assistant who's worried about her boyfriend. The first problem with this movie is that it is a made-for-television miniseries for the Hallmark Channel. That isn't automatically a recipe for disaster, but made-for-TV movies have gone downhill in the past few years. The fact that it's a miniseries is surprising. At most, this should have been a two hour Sci-Fi original movie. Yet making it a two part movie means that the producers have to fill out 3 hours of material. The result is a movie that feels padded with way too many characters and subplots. The second problem is the acting. Luke Perry is the main character, but he does little with it. He has the same expression and tone of voice the entire movie. It feels forced when he's trying to be morally superior to the military forces he's with. Tia Carrere is a little better as the government agent, but she still comes across as one-note and clichéd. And this is Peter Frigging Fonda for crying out loud. Can't you get him to do something other than blurt out some scientific gobbledygook and sip pina colladas? The plot goes nowhere. The first half of the movie is nothing but people talking, talking, talking, talking, and talking. And in between the talking you get a pointless chase scene, a ludicrous escape attempt from one of the "Phoenix" facilities, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it (literally) destruction of the Eiffel Tower, and several minor explosions. There are a few good scenes at the end of the first half. The serial killer plot thread finally develops (in one of the most absurd scenes of the movie it's almost funny), Luke Perry finds himself in a bit of a Twilight Zone situation, and we finally get to see some big explosions as a major city is destroyed. Still, you have to wait an hour and a half for any of this. The second half isn't much better. One of the more compelling scenes involves people checking their math. I kid you not.Probably the worst part of this movie is the central premise. You can't stop a supernova, and you can't escape it. There are two possibilities: the sun explodes and kills everybody or it doesn't. So where does the tension come from? Answer: The many subplots the characters are involved in. For all of the flaws of "Armageddon", at least the people involved can do something about the problem. "Hey, maybe we can chuck a nuclear bomb into an asteroid," is much more compelling than "Hey, maybe we got the calculations wrong."Simply avoid this movie, unless you happen to come across it and you have nothing better to do, like watching "Lake Placid 2".

Like my daughter says to me, just put your brain on hold and forget the holey plot, the stuff that makes no sense, and enjoy it for what it is, a relatively clean movie, with guys who are loosing their hair( big whoop) and people who have guns. In my country guns are legal. To quote Miss Congeniality,"Even my florist has a gun". Its not a big enough deal to worry about. Chill out and laugh. Why be so hyper critical? It would be a great movie to sit down with your kids and explain why this isn't going to happen and why. Also explain to them that Hollywood loves to blow things up and its a lot of smoke and mirrors. Also what to do if a person does try to break in your home. Thats why we have 911. Why we have Police.