calvinnme ... so I'm being more than generous for the cinematography, sound, and special effects (they do give out Oscars for these after all) and raising it to 3/10, and still I'm feeling very generous given it is neither Christmas nor my birthday. I thought this thing had been embarrassingly and quietly buried by the networks a decade ago, and there it was today on a cable channel! That I actually pay for! This thing is a camp classic that seems to aspire to be something in the vein of "Independence Day", except this film does not have Will Smith and manages to make that 1996 film look like Citizen Kane in comparison. A bunch of earthquakes strike up and down the west coast making Dr. Samantha Hill (Kim Delaney), "an intellectual earthquake expert" - do they actually give out such degrees and job titles? - believe that there is an even bigger earthquake coming. She manages to keep a straight face spouting lines like "These are not from our fault. They are from the faults affected by our fault." Hey this dialogue is somebody's fault! She predicts a "big one" will come and lop off a piece of the entire west coast UNLESS...they follow her cunning plan. Of course this involves nuclear warheads planted all along the west coast and therefore a massive migration away from the west coast for everybody. And we must have a tent hospital with lots of doctors out in the desert encampments being forced to make life and death decisions, acting like they have never had to do this before. Are these guys all podiatrists or something? But I digress.This thing drags on for four hours so we need lots of interpersonal relationships that need healing, including a father/daughter pair that I didn't recognize until today. Hey, that's Kaley Cuoco as the daughter when she was only 17, three years before "Big Bang Theory", here in a film in the tradition of Irwin Allen, who ironically believed in the theory that any film with a big enough bang is worthwhile entertainment! Oh, and then there is Jeff Bridges as the president, who proves he still has that common touch by playing basketball with Fred Ward's character, who although he is the FEMA director, actually gets his hands dirty in the disaster. Oh well, at least he wasn't at some horse show at the time. See Hurricane Katrina and FEMA director Michael Brown for reference.Well after four hours of sitting through this I will tell you that "the movie ends with a big explosion". It would have to, else there is really no payoff. I'm going to make you sit through the entire thing to learn anything more. If you must. Not recommended for anything but beer bong or drinking game enhanced laughter.

OllieSuave-007 The action in this made-for-TV movie about the world's strongest earthquake takes place almost immediately, as it shows the collapse of the Space Needle toward the beginning. Suddenly, the entire country is in a state of panic as scientists and seismologists determine that a 10.5 earthquake followed by a series of major aftershocks and tsunamis, resulting in federal officials dealing with an influx of displaced citizens.The special effects were pretty incredible and realistic, from the collapse of the Space Needle to the crumbling of the Golden Gate Bridge onto the ocean. It's depressing, but intriguing seeing much of the country's major landmarks and cities fall to this gigantic quake, and it's suspenseful as you see the scientists scramble to find a way to counteract against the quake.It's basically non-stop disaster action and chaos from start to finish. It's pretty exciting, but the movie, unfortunately, is marred by its very sub-par and below average acting. As a result, it's not the greatest TV movie, but it's not bad for some action fun.Grade B-

elliott78212 Now I'm not saying its 2012 I have seen worse movies on the sci-fi channel. A likable cast of B & D list actors, some moments of unintended hilarity, and decent special FX, make this a popcorn movie for the whole family. The beginning made me laugh this dude on a bike not gonna giveaway anything there you will judge for yourself. Now some reviewers have talked about the bad science the over the top this and that but I think any film like this we suspend one part of belief just to watch and enjoy none of these type films is totally plausible so putting that aside is important, like seriously as good as 2012, or Day after Tomorrow were you have to admit they were no more realistic just bigger budget. I thought this was better than Earthquake with Charleton Heston.

Draegast The idea of it all was great and with a massive earthquake dividing America in half it draws you to see the movie. But once you get into the movie it starts getting cheesy. They discover an never before seen major fault line running through North America 700 km below the surface. Now as everybody knows 700 km into the surface THERE Isn't ANY SURFACE, its all just a pile of molten rock cause of the heat, it couldn't ever get any pressure to build up under the tectonic plates. Its just impossible. And the worst setback is the zooming in, zooming out part of the camera's. One second ur looking at a high image of a disaster scene, the next you see feet trampling around and pieces flying around their ears but always able to dodge every piece of it. If i can give you one piece of advice, if this is EVER on TV again, just SWITCH THE CHANNEL! It'll put you asleep when you watch it.