This kind of epic disaster movie is right up my alley, and I was not disappointed.  What did surprise me is how so few people took the approach of a comet to Earth seriously.  Although comets are mainly ice and dust that would burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere there is always the chance that heavier elements are possible and might reach the surface.  And in this case, obviously, there was much more than meets the eye about the comet Clarke (named for Arthur C. Clarke, evidently).

Ric Roman Waugh’s film starts innocently enough, but after Tampa, Florida, is flattened by a comet fragment, the panic is on.  Engineer John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and child Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd) are selected to be flown to a bunker in Greenland, but they have a heck of a hard time getting there.  More cities fall as the Garritys drive or hitchhike north, alone or together due to circumstance, until they essentially force their way to safety.

I really appreciate the realistic depiction of people under pressure; some are good, doing their jobs until the brutal end, helping as many people as they can, while others look for any advantage to survive.  I like that the separation of the family occurs early in the story, when it is most believable, and not held until later as yet another obstacle to overcome.  I like the depiction of Allison’s father Dale (Scott Glenn), a tough, no-nonsense guy who is ready to face the end of the world on his own terms.  And I like the detail involved in the final flight to Greenland, as the pilots do everything they can to land the plane safely.

In some ways, perhaps many ways, this is formula stuff, a by-the-numbers vision of how the world’s countries would try to survive an apocalypse.  But that’s okay, as long as it is done well, and this is done well, in my opinion.  The visuals and sound effects are impressive, and the sight of so many jets in the sky taking people to safety early in the drama is both awe-inspiring and frightening, because of what it represents.  As end-of-the-world dramas go, this one is pretty solid.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  3 October 2021.