My favourite thing about this movie is that despite the control tower guys insisting it is night for the entirety of this movie, we have entire scenes in daylight, followed by a quick flick to total darkness, and back to daytime ... then the control tower with the blinds drawn (and sunlight trying to break through!) because it's nighttime, yo! Daylight! Nighttime! Daylight! No really, is IS nighttime! Yes, they didn't employ anyone to do continuity.I also enjoyed the 'every character gets their own moment' moments. The best one is the redneck racist, who goes below into the cargo hold and freezes. "It's so dark!" he stage whispers, with a light shining in his face. No one appears to listen, so he says it again. Crazed dog-trainer woman, crawling around the floor near a wall light says, 'So it's dark, what's the big deal?' Evidently, all this light is just for the audience, not the characters, because we then focus on his face, his traumatised, blank/stupid face as he begins his story ... his childhood abuse story, (which was probably the MOST RELATABLE PART of the whole movie). Crazed dog-trainer woman listens to him for like, ten seconds max, then pushes past him like 'Whatever, dude! I gotta find my dog.' Unbelievably selfish and totally negating his childhood trauma. I also enjoyed the Grandma Polly scene ... an old-fashioned kettle is on the gas hob. Grandma falls off a ladder and hits her head ... the lit gas goes out (HOW?) but the gas stays on (screw you, physics) but oh no! A candle is lit! Got to say, this was super fun, ideal to be used in a drinking game for foolish lines, continuity errors and plain head-desk moments. I am not to be blamed for the alcoholism that might result from such a game though!
... View MoreWhen I sat down to watch "Collision Course", I must admit that I had initially set myself up for expecting a very poor B-movie with questionable effect and possibly equally questionable acting. However, I will say that I was more than pleasantly surprised with the outcome of "Collision Course".Granted, this is not a bright, shiny moment in the history of cinema, but it was still entertaining enough for what it was, and it was actually fairly enjoyable as well. Sure, the storyline was generic and had been seen countless times before in other movies.Kate (played by Tia Carrere) is an author out promoting her new book, when she is returning back home by airplane. However, a powerful solar flare disables the systems aboard the plane, kills the pilot and injures the co-pilot. As panic sets in, the passengers must step up and find a way to return safely to the ground.The acting in the movie was adequate, and Tia Carrere performed well in "Collision Course". It was also nice to have Dee Wallace and David Chokachi star in this movie, as they did quite alright right alongside Tia Carrere."Collision Course" had fair enough special effects and CGI, although it was scarce. But what was there served their purpose well enough.Certain things throughout the movie made little or no sense at all, such as how easy it was to hack a satellite, or why planes on collision course doesn't just turn from their current path in order to prevent a midair collision, especially when at night and the flight lights are clearly visible kilometers away. Or how quickly the flight director overcame his guilt of two planes crashing and hundreds dying and wholly forgot all about it.This is an entertaining enough movie for what it was, and it turned out to be a nice surprise actually. But chances are that you have already seen a movie with a storyline fully similar to "Collision Course". And once you have seen it, then chances are slim that you will actually sit down and watch it again.
... View MoreCOLLISION COURSE is another cookie cutter disaster/thriller movie from Fred Olen Ray. I noticed that Jason Bourque, the man responsible for directing such movies as ASTEROID: FINAL IMPACT and DOOMSDAY PROPHECY, helped to write the script. Unsurprisingly, this is the sort of film shown on the SyFy Channel, a safe, bland, and extremely derivative type of movie that copies pretty much every plane thriller in existence.The story is about solar flares and the havoc they're wreaking here on Earth. Some people are trapped on an out-of-control passenger plane when the pilot is killed by a flare and the co-pilot is knocked out cold. The only person with the power to save the passengers and crew is a writer who knows a thing or two about flying planes.It's amazing that a film with a potentially exciting premise like COLLISION COURSE can be so dull. Fred Olen Ray is up to his old tricks here, incorporating stock footage of expensive stuff (i.e. explosions) from other movies and generally fumbling the non-existent suspense. An ageing Tia Carrera is the best actor they can come up with and her acting is very poor.
... View MoreI personally love aviation, and science fiction is always a thriller. I thought the two would be a good mixture in this film, but I was wrong. As a common rule, any movie below a 7.5 rating on IMDb should be avoided, (unless Nicholas Cage happens to be in it). Anyway, I broke my rule- and now I regret it. Honestly, a sixth grader could have written better script than this, and could have provided better CGI as well. The title is "Collision course", but the movie is not based around an air- collision at all. It revolves around a solar flare causing an EMP. The near miss air collision is only one of many events to occur. Everyone is stuck in the Chicago terminal after their connecting flight is canceled, (big surprise). The desk clerk is frantically trying to calm everyone, including a very dogmatic hillbilly. Suddenly, the CEO of the company happens to show up, and gets everyone a connecting flight, YAY! Everyone gets on board, and turns out the CEO just so happens to be the Flight Steward too- and is the only flight steward. Kate Parks, whom the story sort of revolves around, calls her inconsiderate teenage daughter and tells her to go to grandmas for the night. We hear a lot of unneeded dialog. Everyone is seated- and the hillbilly happens to sit behind a bearded man. The hillbilly nudges his partner and says, "Oh boy, we got Bin Laden on board!" (The script writers portray the southerner very stereo-typically, as racist and as a xenophobe- which wasn't necessary for this movie.) The pilots get the all clear to take off- now they are in the air. The Captain then reaches to turn on the autopilot- and suddenly, the EMP strikes! ZAAAAAAAPPPPPPPP! Both Pilots get electrocuted for some odd reason, and the plane starts shaking. The Captain is dead, and copilot is unconscious- BUT THE PLANE IS STILL FLYING! Woo, thank goodness he turned on the auto pilot before he died! We see Grandma Parks, who works a restaurant by herself- gets thrown off a stool because of the EMP. She falls down- and her stove starts spewing out propane- AND THERE IS A LIT CANDLE INSIDE!!!!! Not much time left until Grandma fries! *Back to the plane in the air. Everyone is stressed. The CEO/Flight Attendant decides to check on the pilots after a few minutes. He knocks on the door- no response. He then uses his KEYS to get inside the cockpit. How convenient! They call in a medic, who figures out they died of electrocution. Osama then suspects it was an EMP, and the Hillbilly then thinks Osama planted an EMP Bomb in the plane! YES, IT MUST HAVE BEEN AN EMP BOMB; ITS SO EASY TO GET PAST CUSTOMS WITH THOSE! The southerner guy continues to be a nuisance. Osama then says, "I was born in Nebraska." The Hillbilly then says, "Sure OBAMA, until I see a birth certificate, I Ain't buying it!" -This is a direct quote. Alright, you get the picture. The Auto Pilot shorts out- everyone panics- Kate has to disable the autopilot, but the buttons are stuck. The copilot then stops breathing- they use the defibrillator, and he wakes up. YAY! He tells Kate to go in the cargo hold and flip the breaker. The Hillbilly volunteers to go with her. They go down in the massive cargo hold- which has 8 foot high ceilings. Very cozy, more room down there than in the cabin! Kate finds the breaker- and flips it. The plane goes haywire. A dog then gets loose and tries to bite several people on board. But- the dog trainer calms the dog. The plane is nearing the airport- only two air traffic controllers are on duty. They can't communicate with any aircraft. Several planes collide killing many people. One of the controllers happens to be a hacker for the Air Force- he hacks into NASA's satellite system, and calls everyone on the plane. He tells Kate she needs to land soon. NASA finds out someone hacked into the system- and locks him out. DARN! Kate has to land the plane by herself! She starts pushing buttons, (as if she knows what she is doing). They are coming in fast! (500 mph to be exact) She says, "Were coming in too fast, I will have to try a reverse maneuver and land the plane! My husband died trying to do this!" She turns the plane to the side, and lands safely. Whoooooooo. Big relief. An inexperienced passenger just happens to land a plane traveling 500 mph- and stops in the middle of the runway with plenty of room to spare. I would list every stupid storyline if I could, but I am limited to 1,000 words. You have to watch the movie to see every stupid thing. Wait, don't watch it. Alright, let's wrap this up. I really hate this movie with a passion. It is a disgrace to all Sci-Fi. The story line is horrible- and the dialog is cheesy. Like I said before, a sixth grader could have written better dialog. It seemed like to me the story writers lacked any knowledge in what an EMP really does, and how to write a story in general. In the movie- the EMP targets SOME electronics. In real life, an EMP would FRY every electronic. So, in reality, the plane shouldn't have been working at all- no lights, no electricity, and no autopilot. Somehow, the ATC works, and the telephone lines work. This film was jam packed with every scenario during a solar storm, but still was not accurate at all. It's like a hodgepodge of very unfortunate events on a plane- dog escapes, pilots electrocuted, and they nearly hit another plane. This movie should be used in Guantanamo bay for torture. That's all I have to say.
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