After devoting the first half or so of its runtime to a familiar, but still freshly presented looming disaster, panicked civilian setup........all mostly followed at nighttime (IMHO some of the more intriguing material to be found in a Ric Waugh endeavor, easily - even if it never manages to cope itself with certain particulars like how Baccarin is completely miscast), this plummets into a dreary, futile void of its own making and sinks, like the entire production had literally no idea how to follow through on the first hour and eventually opted not to.
Bizarre that they weakly try to staple some kind of subplot about Butler and his immediate family being dependent on his father-in-law/Scott Glenn during this flatlining second hour (Glenn might as well have not shown up at all). Worse, during this lousy second half with its dearth of dialogue they actually resort to selling the token kid actor further short, giving him some very inane nonsense about being reflective and looking back on one's life to spew just so his parents can nod in approval......gross. All in all, this is a typically dopey piece of studio crap (as opposed to a looming disaster event movie of any worthwhile ability) and to rub it in it didn't have to be if it didn't want to.
Waugh is simply not much of a director outside of the technicals. Felon (2008) is likely touted as his best, most personal work for some reason.....I couldn't stand it.
4.5/10
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