This miniseries gets off to a good start. Scientists at the Atmospheric Research Institute outside Los Angeles are typing away on their computers. The proof their weather control system really works: Africans walking across a hot desert celebrate when all of a sudden, it rains!
But control over the weather soon turns out to have nasty side effects, including the near destruction of the ARI installation. Around the world, temperatures drop 100 degrees in one day in some places. I like the scene where the cute Hawaiian meteorologist on the TV screen wants to know why it was snowing. Storms appear the likes of which man has never seen--only we don't get to see most of them either because the special effects budget seems very limited. We are told by newscasters that a town outside Paris was destroyed--by lightning. Occasionally we do get to see something--for example, a group of Venezuelans harvesting fruit until this evil black cloud starts rolling toward them. It looks like a dust storm, only darker. Very weird.
Robert Terrell, the billionaire financing the weather control project, doesn't care that the project is causing a few problems. (A few???) All he knows is that the military wants this technology to win the war in Afghanistan and then take on Iran and North Korea. And they don't care who gets hurt in the process. General Braxton keeps putting the pressure on Terrell to come through for him.
Dr. Jonathan Kirk, who is the lead scientist, won't participate if not allowed to correct his mistakes. That leaves Jack and Carly, who don't seem capable of preventing the end of the world, if it comes to that.
Dr. Kirk goes to his former girlfriend Danni, a reporter for CNS, the cable news service. He wants people to know the real story. Unfortunately, Terrell's goons don't want that to happen.
Eventually, Dr. Kirk ends up with Stilman, who is in military intelligence and supposedly wants to help solve the problems weather control is causing. Or does he? Meanwhile, several people have died and Dr. Kirk is wanted by the police. Det. Williams, who sort of looks like Sandra Bullock, was the LAPD investigator when the ARI accident happened, and she joins the murder investigation, believing Dr. Kirk is being framed. Naturally, her superiors would like her off the case ...
Back to Jack and Carly. Yes, there is a worldwide disaster in the making, but we're hardly being told about this in the first half. Miami is about to be hit by a tropical storm. Can Jack and Carly stop it? No, actually they make it worse--a category 5 storm! Oh, no! Miami will be destroyed! Terrell is keeping track from a distance, all the while accompanied by beautiful women in sexy outfits.
In Los Angeles, it has been raining for days. Most of the time during the day, this happens when the sky is blue, and of course the rain stops when it's not convenient for the filming process.
At last, we get to know some of the people who will be affected by the storm. We already met Brian at the weather bureau in Los Angeles, but now we'll get to meet his ex-girlfriend Anna, a bartender. He's depressed because he wants her back, though his job has gotten a lot harder lately and that will sort of occupy his mind.
Also, Gracia is pregnant and her husband, a former medical student, is a paramedic who is very busy, especially after Los Angeles is about to get hit by another hurricane. Gracia's father lives with them, and the actor playing him gives the standout performance here, but I don't know his name.
At the end of the first half, it appears a plane is about to crash. Amazingly, we don't know a single person on board!
From a special effects standpoint, the highlight of the miniseries may be the spectacular lightning strikes that precede the hurricane headed for Los Angeles. And, of course, there are the repeated camera shots of the weather control rays or whatever you want to call them, originating from the dishes on the ground and bouncing off the satellites above Earth. Then there's that "hole". What is that? Why does it mean so much? We do find out. And there is a solution.
I can't think of a good reason to watch this. You have to enjoy movies about disasters where the people who can fix the problems have obstacles in their way. And if you do, it's okay but not outstanding. In the first half, it's more about the chase and the investigation than the weather itself. In the second half, we hear a lot about global disaster, but what we see is mostly an ordinary storm, no worse than storms that have hit other U.S. cities but not Los Angeles. It's still pretty exciting.
I mentioned the older Latino man, but there's not really a lot of good acting here. I thought Treat Williams was pretty good in the first half because Terrell was such a schemer. He reminded me of Alec Baldwin, at least in appearance. Once I found out who he was, I decided Treat Williams needs to stick with wholesome characters.
John Larroquette is a respected actor, but as the CNS executive, he's just not on much. Jeanette Sousa has a memorable scene as Danni's assistant Gretchen. She's got the talent to be a reporter if she wants to be.
It's not a total disaster. It's just not that good.
But control over the weather soon turns out to have nasty side effects, including the near destruction of the ARI installation. Around the world, temperatures drop 100 degrees in one day in some places. I like the scene where the cute Hawaiian meteorologist on the TV screen wants to know why it was snowing. Storms appear the likes of which man has never seen--only we don't get to see most of them either because the special effects budget seems very limited. We are told by newscasters that a town outside Paris was destroyed--by lightning. Occasionally we do get to see something--for example, a group of Venezuelans harvesting fruit until this evil black cloud starts rolling toward them. It looks like a dust storm, only darker. Very weird.
Robert Terrell, the billionaire financing the weather control project, doesn't care that the project is causing a few problems. (A few???) All he knows is that the military wants this technology to win the war in Afghanistan and then take on Iran and North Korea. And they don't care who gets hurt in the process. General Braxton keeps putting the pressure on Terrell to come through for him.
Dr. Jonathan Kirk, who is the lead scientist, won't participate if not allowed to correct his mistakes. That leaves Jack and Carly, who don't seem capable of preventing the end of the world, if it comes to that.
Dr. Kirk goes to his former girlfriend Danni, a reporter for CNS, the cable news service. He wants people to know the real story. Unfortunately, Terrell's goons don't want that to happen.
Eventually, Dr. Kirk ends up with Stilman, who is in military intelligence and supposedly wants to help solve the problems weather control is causing. Or does he? Meanwhile, several people have died and Dr. Kirk is wanted by the police. Det. Williams, who sort of looks like Sandra Bullock, was the LAPD investigator when the ARI accident happened, and she joins the murder investigation, believing Dr. Kirk is being framed. Naturally, her superiors would like her off the case ...
Back to Jack and Carly. Yes, there is a worldwide disaster in the making, but we're hardly being told about this in the first half. Miami is about to be hit by a tropical storm. Can Jack and Carly stop it? No, actually they make it worse--a category 5 storm! Oh, no! Miami will be destroyed! Terrell is keeping track from a distance, all the while accompanied by beautiful women in sexy outfits.
In Los Angeles, it has been raining for days. Most of the time during the day, this happens when the sky is blue, and of course the rain stops when it's not convenient for the filming process.
At last, we get to know some of the people who will be affected by the storm. We already met Brian at the weather bureau in Los Angeles, but now we'll get to meet his ex-girlfriend Anna, a bartender. He's depressed because he wants her back, though his job has gotten a lot harder lately and that will sort of occupy his mind.
Also, Gracia is pregnant and her husband, a former medical student, is a paramedic who is very busy, especially after Los Angeles is about to get hit by another hurricane. Gracia's father lives with them, and the actor playing him gives the standout performance here, but I don't know his name.
At the end of the first half, it appears a plane is about to crash. Amazingly, we don't know a single person on board!
From a special effects standpoint, the highlight of the miniseries may be the spectacular lightning strikes that precede the hurricane headed for Los Angeles. And, of course, there are the repeated camera shots of the weather control rays or whatever you want to call them, originating from the dishes on the ground and bouncing off the satellites above Earth. Then there's that "hole". What is that? Why does it mean so much? We do find out. And there is a solution.
I can't think of a good reason to watch this. You have to enjoy movies about disasters where the people who can fix the problems have obstacles in their way. And if you do, it's okay but not outstanding. In the first half, it's more about the chase and the investigation than the weather itself. In the second half, we hear a lot about global disaster, but what we see is mostly an ordinary storm, no worse than storms that have hit other U.S. cities but not Los Angeles. It's still pretty exciting.
I mentioned the older Latino man, but there's not really a lot of good acting here. I thought Treat Williams was pretty good in the first half because Terrell was such a schemer. He reminded me of Alec Baldwin, at least in appearance. Once I found out who he was, I decided Treat Williams needs to stick with wholesome characters.
John Larroquette is a respected actor, but as the CNS executive, he's just not on much. Jeanette Sousa has a memorable scene as Danni's assistant Gretchen. She's got the talent to be a reporter if she wants to be.
It's not a total disaster. It's just not that good.