4/5 What I thought of 10.5
  by Jillian G. Cox (Tanilba Bay, NSW Australia)
I found the storyline believeable and entertaining. As a geo-science nut, I appreciated the science behind what was happening and the possible solution.

The performance of the actors were top rate. Especially when the President (Beau Bridges) started to get upset when the 10.5 quake hit.

It's nice to watch a disaster movie where America does not "win the day" but gets it's butt kicked.


4/5 Shocking and surprising
  by Ahmed Daoud
10.5 may be not scientifically correct (a 10.5 crumble ould only happen in a quake around the whole globe) but this movie keeps you glued to your seat, thanks to a good storyline and thwarting SFX.

The acting is actually allright, compared to many other disaster-movies. It had great special effects, and a usual but interesting story.

It's also a plus that the director, John Lafia, audiocomments on this film - and tells you certain tricks on how they performed some effects and stunts.

So if you like disaster movies, this one is a good choice!

3/5 "We could be looking at a seismic event larger than modern man has ever witnessed before." - But 10.5 is no great shakes
  by H. Bala (Carson - hey, we have an IKEA store! - CA USA)
Living in glitzy Los Angeles has its downside, what with the landslides, the fires, the traffic, the smog, the paparazzi, the gangs, the L.A. Clippers... and, yes, the earthquakes. This mini-series 10.5 aired on NBC in 2004 and made a case for relocating to the eastern seaboard, where they only deal with hurricanes and blizzards and frostbite and such. And, really, those things aren't near as awful as the Clippers.

Being neither expert nor fan of earthquakes, I can't tell you how scientifically on point this movie is (but apparently it's not very). But if you're into disaster flicks garnished with television-appropriate special effects and cheesy melodrama and personal angst - and why wouldn't you be? - then 10.5 is worth looking into, but strictly as a guilty pleasure.

A train drops out of sight. A town goes missing. A series of famous landmarks gets demolished, starting with the collapse of Seattle's Space Needle in a quake registering a 7.9 on the Richter scale. This opening sequence proves to be jarring in another way, tailored as it is to an MTV/sports ad sensibility, with some bloke getting tricky on his bicycle - but, of course, you can't out-trick or outrace a force of nature. In short order we meet our cast, most of whom are actually quite relevant to the crisis at hand. There's the President of the United States, played with steadfast resolve by Beau Bridges; Fred Ward's semi-dashing character heads up FEMA; Rebecca Jenkins is the governor of California trying to put up a brave front, even as her family goes missing during the quakes. But, first and foremost, there's Dr. Samantha Hill, as played by Kim Delaney. She's the main protagonist of this thing.

Dr. Hill - or "Sam" - is a brilliant seismologist but a control freak, and as such doesn't work well with others. She's a deep fault expert, and, despite the disbelief of her colleagues, it's her theory which ends up saving the day. Sam speculates that a series of unidentified faults is causing the chain reaction of quakes, each successive one escalating in magnitude. If you've entertained any of the more popular notions of what might happen to California should the Big One come up, well, peep this mini-series.

To round off the cast, there's John Schneider as the governor's ex gone camping with his estranged teen daughter, and I guess nothing cements a father-daughter bond quicker than an impending cataclysm. The daughter, though, is very annoying with all the shrieking and the selfishness and the shrieking. And then there's the cocky surgeon (because there always has to be an arrogant schmoe in these things) and his more reserved fellow doctor, who's having his own family issues.

In the ranks of disaster films, this one doesn't really come close to classics like AIRPORT ((Airport Terminal Pack (Airport/Airport '75/Airport '77/Airport '79 - The Concord)), The Towering Inferno (Special Edition), or The Poseidon Adventure (Special Edition). It's definitely not as entertaining as Volcano, Armageddon or The Perfect Storm. 10.5 is middle-of-the-barrel fare. Except I'll tell you what, shopworn and cliché-ridden this movie might be, but once I tuned in, it was real hard to stop watching. It's like candy corn - you know it's not good for you, you'll feel ashamed in the morning, and you might wake up with nausea. But so what? One hallmark of disaster films is the all-star cast, something which 10.5 is lacking, with due respect to Beau Bridges, John Schneider and Fred Ward. However, I caught this mini-series when it first came out primarily because of Kim Delaney, whose Detective Diane Russell I really dug in NYPD BLUE. Dr. Samantha Hill is actually a pedestrian role, but I still think that Delaney does a fine job with what she's given. Much as she did with Det. Russell, Delaney is able to bring out the wounded vulnerability within the icy, brilliant Sam Hill. Certainly, the movie is at its most interesting whenever she's on camera.

Everything you expect to see crops up sooner or later. The citywide panic. The mass evacuations. The refugee camps. The Californian coastline getting a face lift, and there's some irony there. Also the cheesy dialogue and the personal little dramas which are supposed to provide a humanizing counterpoint to the impersonal awesomeness of Mother Nature. Delaney and John Schneider are good. The other actors vary from decent to derivative. 10.5 does try to switch things up a bit by using various editing tricks, from split frames to jittery close-ups (I was half expecting Jack Bauer to show up somewhere). I will say that these techniques do lend the story a sharper sense of immediacy.

For those interested and willing to sit thru 2 hours 45 minutes of talk, the 10.5 dvd does come with a director's audio commentary. Anyways, 10.5 was good for the ratings and drew in enough viewers that a made-for-television sequel 10.5: Apocalypse came out in 2006, in which Kim Delaney returns but the cheesy is even more in the hizzy. And yet 10.5: APOCALYPSE isn't the worst disaster film of all tme. That honor probably falls on a stinker like AVALANCHE, KRAKATOA - EAST OF JAVA, or JAWS THE REVENGE. SON OF THE MASK, by the way, also counts as a disaster film.

3/5 Looong movie.!
  by E. Ceron (Bethesda, MD USA)
Just like many other movies this one starts very good, but then keeps going and goin,..and going, and you just can't find where the climax of the storie is, the rescue scenes are endless, the cast is real good, but the storie doesn't seem to go anywhere and the movie is almost 3 hours long, special efects are also good, not quite a collectors item or a great find for disaster movies lover.

4/5 Natural Disaster
  by Hapy Jac (Holbrook Station, NV, U.S.A.)
Howdy;

I'm a Videophile and love all types of movies. A movie is for entertainment and nothing more.

This mini-made for TV is based on reality, but goes beyond. I was in Seattle this last August and it did not look like in the movie. YES, it is still standing.

One of the scenes that is hard to believe is the quake outside of Redding, CA. It seems like the quake has a mind of it's own and is chasing the train, following the tracks till it catches and devours the entire train. Once the train is gone, the quake stops. Also, the overhead shots of the train look too much like a toy train set.

The CGI of the final quake on the LA coast is fake looking and the background plate used shows cars and people at the beach.

All and all, it is a low budget film that is enteraining. If you like disaster movies, you should like this one.

L8R daze!