DeaconBlues wrote:
You really should go back and try to watch the movie again, Katatonic; but do it in the correct spirit. That is, treat it as a comedy. I mean, really, a plane has taken off, but can't get altitude because the ground is falling away beneath it? Waves that hit the tops of the Himalayas?? The "hero" is right in the end to endanger all surviving humans so he can try to save another five or six people??? (I'm sorry, but the "villain" was right - the "hero" very nearly caused the extinction of all humanity for reasons of sentiment.)
Well, I agree. I'm sure the movie is full of bunk as it was intended to entertain, but on some of those points....
1. A plane needs a given amount of speed to have proper lift. A plane can get off the ground at X velocity but need Y velocity to climb, and that figure can change based on weight being carried. I was under the impression the plane barely got enough speed to get off the ground when the ground started collapsing out from under it, and the plane was at it's load limit. Then, add in dodging debris and stuff and I just presumed the plane was struggling to get enough "level flight" to work on building its speed to climb above the carnage. If you know anything about resistance and velocity, every turn, no matter how minor, scrubs off speed, so dodging debris and stuff was the opposite of what that plane needed to be doing in order to gain altitude. I don't know if ground collapsing out from under the plane could create a "suck down" effect in air flow. If it can (like down drafts from thunderstorms), then the idea was not implausible. Frankly, the limo ride to the airport was a lot more problematic.
2. Waves hitting the top of the Himalayas? Possible IF you consider what was happening was violent tectonic shifts that was making sections of the sea/ocean floor rise to the surface and dry land sink below sea level. It does beg the question of how or why anyone would think the Himalayas would be the LAST place to succumb to flooding or why they'd be boarding anywhere close to the last minute as they did. In fact, if the continental shelf was sinking, I'd assume (but could be wrong) that just that event would cause significant earthquakes at the evac site.
3. That one ship wasn't the only ark. If it went down, thousands would die but there were something like 8 arks being launched? The debate was that they could let them die or risk to save them...it was a question of preserving their humanity by taking the risk. As it was, did not the danger ultimately come from a tool being lodged in the gearing for the doors?
You could make more fun of the silly things....That Yellowstone explodes and anyone flew away from that (if it went up, several states would be washed away). That they get to Las Vegas and the airport's still working with much of what's already going on.
It was a bad movie...just like Day After Tomorrow. Go in expecting it to be bad and you can laugh at it.