Why So Blu?

Collision Earth (Blu-ray Review)

We’ve seen all sorts of ways the world is going to end.  There have been asteroids, aliens, earthquakes and floods.  And all have been done countless times.  But, never have I seen something boasting another planet on a destruction course headed right toward us.  Not the biggest planet, mind you, little ‘ol Mercury.  And Mercury is one heated angry moe foe charging straight toward us.  Lives will be lost.  Sacrifices will be made.  Good effects will cost too much money.  You’ve seen these circumstances before, but sometimes it’s ok to run through them again.  Collision Earth makes for a nice time waster that is both nothing all too special but pretty far from foul.

Film

While on a mission to observe Mercury, the shuttle Nautilus and the planet itself are struck by solar flares coming from the sun.  For that time the sun had become a rare occurrence called a “Magnetar”.  The sun has fully magnetized Mercury, knocking it out of its orbit and putting it in a collision course with Earth.  On Earth, the husband of one of the crew members on Nautilus, James (Kirk Acevedo, who you might remember from Fringe), is onto the phenomenon.  He must work to get his government funded and shut down “Project 7” back into action to stop Mercury and get his wife home safely.

Collision Earth brings to life another tale of doomsday for us humans.  This rather clichéd effort does appear to at least have some care.  The structure follows your typical 90s large scale summer sci-fi action film. While it wants to be big, it doesn’t have the money to pull it off.  There’s a small amount of roles and little to no extras to be found.  It’s an obvious cable production done in Canada.  There’s cable-level acting talent throughout (and some struggling to hide Canadian accents), but it’s ok.

The story tries to show a bigger impact of the events.  While a noble effort, with the lack of being able to see a lot of damaged extras, the impact is not felt.  There are some surprising deaths that occur throughout that keep things interesting.  They manage to overcome poor effects and make a little car chase pretty exciting.  Overall this is very passable for what it is.  If you caught this on TV with nothing to do, you might enjoy it.

Video

Anchor Bay brings to Earth the 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encode colliding with a 1:78:1 frame.  The picture is for the most part flawless.  Detail and clarity are very good.  The picture quality is so good the poor effects stand out even more.  The only complaint is there’s nothing really bold or vibrant to stick out during any of the live action scenes.  It’s a very good transfer nonetheless and give the best possible picture Collision Earth could possibly hope to have on Blu-ray.

Audio

Mercury rumbles into your living room with a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD surround.  The overall sound is a little low volume, but not drastic.  Collision Earth does utilize the 5.1 aspect, but could serve to be a little more playful with it, considering this is a movie with things consistently falling from the sky.  The 5.1 track is sufficient enough, but could be slightly better.

Extras

Collision Earth contains no extras.  Trailers for The Walking Dead and The Day precede the main menu.

Summary

Collision Earth is a film that premiered on the SyFy Channel.  So right up front, you pretty much know what you’re in for.  There’s a wonderful charm that comes with their original movies that you either get or you don’t.  I get a tickle at how hard and ambitious these super low budget films try to get.  The cheap CG work is also a hoot in a lot of these films.  Things happen in these films that make little sense or bend logic rules primarily because they are on a time constraint and also have no money.  These are things that I accept and can embrace.  That said, Collision Earth actually tries a little harder and is a bit more competent than most.  It’s not an awful way to spend 90 minutes.  It’s definitely somewhat passable and ok.