The two-part CBS miniseries "Aftershock: Earthquake in New York" is rather run-of-the-mill TV disaster-movie making.
You know the drill -- introduce a bunch of characters who have various things going on in their lives. Hit them with the disaster, then have them deal with it as their storylines are woven together.Basically, you're talking about a few minutes of special effects with several hours of plot woven around them. And the occasional infusion of more special effects to shake things up a bit -- there's one major earthquake, which takes place toward the end of the first hour, and three aftershocks.
"Whenever we needed someone to die, we threw an aftershock in," joked director Mikael Salomon.
The special effects are certainly good. And the producers and director of the film are certainly proud of them.
"I've been in the motion picture business most of my life," said executive producer David Picker. "The work that we're doing on the shots that we have is as good as the work that any technical house can do."
Indeed, while the version of the miniseries sent to critics didn't contain all the completed special effects, the ones that were there are impressive. Scenes of the Statue of Liberty toppling, the Guggenheim museum collapsing and the New York Stock Exchange crumbling are, well, pretty cool.
And smaller scenes of individuals in collapsing buildings are also quite effective.
But there's the feeling that we've seen New York destroyed before. And we've seen it done better on the big screen in a wide range of movies -- everything from "Armageddon" to "Independence Day" to "Deep Impact."
And, while those special effects sequences play out on the wide screen, "Aftershock" will play out on TV screens that may be as small as 13 inches in some homes. But even the 19-, 25-, 27- or 35-inch TVs found in most homes aren't exactly the ideal venue for special-effects spectaculars -- a fact that even Picker acknowledges.
"I'd be thrilled if we could see this movie on a big screen. I think it stands second to no one," he said.
And Salomon offered a bit of puckish advice. "I'd just sit a little closer" to the TV, he suggested.
But even viewers with big-screen TVs aren't going to have the same experience that moviegoers get from special-effects films. Which begs the question -- why bother?
The answer to that one is as predictable as anything on television.
"Aside from the logistical problems that you'll always have in a show like this, what really excited me about it was that when I was first approached, everybody said, 'This is CBS.' It's a character piece, first of all," said Saloman, whose previous experience includes directing the feature "A Far Off Place" and working as director of photography on "The Abyss," "Always," "Arachnophobia," "Far and Away" and "Backdraft."
"I think it's very hard to beat theatrical filmmaking at its own game, so I said, 'OK, this is great. I'm being pigeonholed as a special-effects director -- now I get a chance to do character.' "
Executive producer Matthew O'Conner agreed.
"When we set out, we said, 'We're never going to beat those movies.' That's why we really must focus on character and story," he said.
And there are certainly lots of characters in lots of different situations, including:
Fire Chief Thomas Ahearn (Tom Skerritt), who is at odds with the mayor and has tendered his resignation, has a disaster to deal with -- and he doesn't know his daughter is buried in the rubble of her high school.
Mayor Bruce Lincoln (Charles S. Dutton) has to provide leadership while worrying about his family -- his mother (Cicely Tyson) is trapped in the basement of her church, and his daughter (Lisa Nicole Carson of "Ally McBeal") is trapped in a subway tunnel that's filling with water.
Dori Thorell (Sharon Lawrence), a former Los Angeleno who's still recovering from the death of her young daughter in an accident. Her ongoing trauma threatens her marriage, but she's got to pull herself together to save her young son, who's at school when the quake hits.
Dori's ballet dancer sister, Diane (Jennifer Garner), and the Russian immigrant (Frederick Weller) who was driving the cab she was in when the quake struck, work together to help each other through the aftermath.
"I always felt that if you're not vested in the characters, who cares if they fall down (and) break their necks?" Salomon said. "So it was important that we love them before we kill them."
The problem is that the script, by Paul Eric Myers, doesn't succeed particularly well in making anyone care about the characters before disaster strikes. The first hour is downright dull in spots, and none of the stories is compelling enough to carry the movie. Compared to some previous efforts -- ranging from "Asteroid" to "The Big One" -- "Aftershock" isn't bad. And the presence of fine actors like Skerritt, Dutton and Tyson certainly helps.
It would have helped even more if the movie had run no more than three hours. And two hours would have been better yet.
"Aftershock: Earthquake in New York" isn't a bad TV movie, but it isn't a real good one either. And it proves once again that large-scale special effects just aren't that big a deal on small TV screens.