Just before 6 P.M. halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, terrorists arrive by parachute at the San Juan Nuclear Plant. Security is not quite up to standard--one guy has to look at the manual. Several people die, including at least one cop who happens to be outside. His partner survives and will soon play a critical role in stopping this incident. It's not long before the terrorists arrive in the control room, and then anything is possible. The man in charge of the control room tries to persuade the terrorists not to do what he thinks they will do, and of course they need him, so he will be around.A Fox news anchor appears on TV and explains what has happened, and soon an evacuation is ordered within a 5-mile radius. It's not enough, but you try getting 25 million people away from the next Chernobyl. The freeways end up as parking lots as it is, and people are already panicking, even as people on TV try to assure the public everything is going to be all right. Well, everything is not going to be all right. Depending on what the terrorists decide to do, the death toll could be equal to Hiroshima, or worse. That's not counting maybe a million people who will die later. But we can't tell the public this. Homeland Chief Utley lies like a politician making sure the public feels reassured, when they have no reason to be.The President is on his way back to the U.S., while the VP is in a bunker. Officials at the White House seem to know what they are doing, but do they really? Homeland Security declares a red threat level for the first time in its existence. The world soon takes notice of this incident, and there is panic and looting, though we don't really see that, or the traffic jams. There is what appears to be stock footage (not made for the movie, in other words) on the newscast, representing what is really happening out there. Experts give their opinions.The terrorists have accents and the head guy known as Khalid quotes the Qu'ran. But they don't really seem to do anything. What if it is all just a warning? And what is it a warning about? Maybe all they are doing is showing how lax security is at a nuclear plant even after 9-11.Investigators on the outside have to find out details, and if you know something, you'd better tell them. They're not kidding around. Meanwhile, nuclear attacks on the Middle East are being considered.This is not just your ordinary action/thriller. We are kept guessing constantly about what might happen. We mainly see what is essential, and details of the lives of those affected are pretty much left out. There are no background stories unless we need to hear them. Editing is rapid fire and if we have seen all we need to see, the action quickly switches to something else. For example, Mika is the reporter on the scene. In her first report, we spend more time watching her put on makeup than seeing what she actually has to say. We pretty much know, so that's not essential.Camera work is quite unusual. Different angles in the same scene might be black and white while others are color. At first I thought the black and white was security footage, but most of the time the cameras are moving--mostly shaking. It may be somewhat unsettling but it's effective. And of course I mentioned the editing.There is lots of good acting here. Bruce Greenwood is Tom Shea, the man in charge, who's not supposed to be but his superior is elsewhere and it will take time for him to get back. Shea was not happy with the results of the U.S.S. Cole attack and got himself demoted. But he knows what he's doing. Arnold Vosloo is the terrorist in charge. I'm going to guess that Manoj Sood is in charge of the control room, the man who desperately tries to keep the terrorists from doing anything harmful.And the standout performer is Leslie Hope, the cop who is nervous and in pain after being shot while wearing a vest (this saves your life but doesn't prevent pain). She tries really hard and finds some valuable information.Robert Kovacik, the dedicated news anchor, must cope with whatever comes his way. Live television has its problems, but he deals with them. He's so professional I figured he might be real, and the credits say he plays himself. Dagmar Midcap as the reporter on the scene lacks personality and doesn't seem much like a real journalist, but that's just because of the current state of journalism, where cute babes seem to matter more than hard news. She's attractive and gets the information across.Two experts are listed in the credits as themselves. Dr. Jim Walsh seems quite nervous, which doesn't inspire confidence, but I guess there is realism there. David Rapoport comes across as calmer and more professional.One thing bothered me about the news coverage. At times the entire screen is filled, with the anchor in the middle, graphics, and a crawl at the bottom, as if we are seeing what people actually see on TV. When people are being interviewed, a lot of that information goes away. That's not a big deal, I guess, because we're not actually watching the newscast, but it would have been more effective to show the TV screen exactly as others might have seen it.It's a worthy effort with some important lessons about what this country's most vulnerable sites ought to be doing.

I try to watch as little TV as possible. One of my very few favorite series is "24". I agree the comparisons to "24" are quite apt here. I watched this because cable 'made for TV' movies are proving to be some of the best product available today. Far better than spending $7+ USD to go see the latest feature films.I did not realize until researching afterwards that the lead terrorist character was the same playing Imhotep in "The Mummy". He is clearly an under-rated actor. The rest of the acting was not extraordinary, however sufficient. I thought I recognized the female 'chip' also played Teri Bauer in "24". The Muslim engineer portrayed illustrates just how much "American" muslims have in fact been Christianized. He did not recognize that the lead terrorist was quoting directly from the Quran.What is significant about this feature is that it illustrates quite clearly just how f***** up the leadership of our federal govt. really is. It portrays to what lengths ("extreme prejudice") our incompetent leadership will go to cover up, disguise, and deceive the masses. You come to understand why some 'patriots' would resort to extreme measures to wake up a nation and especially it's leadership to the malaise we are currently under spell. Lucretius has stated (paraphrase) that "extremes on either side are bad". However, Goldwater also stated "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

it's patently obvious that the writers (who have some "x-files" episodes under their belt) are big fans of "24", even going so far as to get leslie hope (jack bauer's k.i.a. wife in "24"-season 1) on board here...the plot twists and general feel are that of a "24" episode that's been compressed into a 2-hour time slot, and that ain't a bad thing since all the unnecessary sub-plots inherent in a regular season of "24" are virtually eliminated by time constraints..a taut job of direction by chechik who's done solid work before on "diabolique" (and a severely crappy hatchet job on "the avengers") ...opening credits somewhat reminiscent of the end of "fail safe"...nicely underplayed performances by the principals (particularly bruce greenwood) who could easily have been tempted to go way over the top here, and some legitimately funny lines to break up the tensionif you enjoy "24", this puppy is right in your wheelhouse...

If you thought NBC's 10.5 was stupid, you'll be happy to hear that FX reached into the bowels of made-for-TV hell and squished it's fingers into this pseudo post-9/11 poop. Not only was the plot stupid, it was a complete ripoff of 24 and a bad ripoff at that. The filming style was the now overused "docu-action" look, complete with cuts to grainy B&W "rawcore" footage. I'm not quite sure what that means, but it sure sounds like something the DP said to the director before filming. I don't know what they were going for here but it reminded me of the guy at the office who thinks Powerpoint presentations with "fly-ins" and "animations" are "cool."The story is that 6 "terrorists" take over a nuclear power plant in southern CA. That's right, nuclear power plants, where hundreds of people work, where there's security precautions up the ying-yang. For the sake of reality, they put 2 off-duty CHiPpies in the mix. Because, they'd be able to stop 6 people, right? Six. I mean, even Bruce Willis had to deal with more terrorists over at that stupid Nakatomi building.Leslie Hope (TV's Teri Bauer) plays a CHP officer who has problems talking on the phone after she's shot in her bullet-proof vest. Her voice sounds like a Sally Struther's TV ad, whiny and monotonous. Her character is only a plot device, and after she performs her one small duty, she is promptly disposed of. Yes, Teri Bauer is died! Bruce Greenwood stars as FBI S.A.C. Tom Shea, who continually points out how he punches foreign diplomats in the face. His boss is out, so nobody over at the Dept. of Homeland Security believes his prognosis of the situation. He's the sensible one out of a group of paranoid public officials afraid of taking blame for any type of catastrophe. He's calm, he's strong, he's BORING.There is absolutely nothing redeeming or entertaining about Meltdown - OK, well maybe Teri Bauer getting died was pretty unnecessary and funny - other than that, nothing redeeming.