Fridge Logic: How exactly did America and the Soviet Union launch satellites armed with over a dozen nuclear warheads in complete secret from the rest of the world?
Funny Moments: Since this film can be considered cheesy, some scenes might give you a laugh.
There's this exchange between Dr. Paul Bradley and Tatiana Donskaya about the possibility of the latter living in the USA:
Paul Bradley: Ever thought of living elsewhere? Tatiana Donskaya: No. Not often. Paul Bradley: Sometimes? Tatiana Donskaya: Well... Paul Bradley: You'd like it here. We've got everything. Powercuts, strikes, unemployment, race riots and a terrific crime rate.
It's even funnier considering the fact that Bradley's actor, Sean Connery, is Scottish.
This could even be applied to Donskaya's actress Natalie Wood, as she is an American actress.note Although it should be noted that Natalie Wood was born to two Russian immigrants.
In the scene where people in Hong Kong are evading a tsunami on the way, a man can be seen stealing a painting from a shop as well as a little boy stealing an apple from a shop.
Later on in the same scene, there is a bit where the tsunami gets to some people, most people accept their fate and crouch on the ground, while one man quickly runs across the street to try to evade the tsunami.
The World Trade Center is hit by the meteor, and violently explodes. This is made even worse when you realize that the meteor enters from the same direction as the plane that hit the South Tower in 2001.
A spaceship known as the Challenger 2 is destroyed early in the movie.
Even if the movie isn't a masterpiece, some might consider the disaster scenes terrifying, as cities are destroyed and citizens perish.
The World Trade Center being violently obliterated by the meteor. It's bad enough knowing what eventually became of the two towers but the shot being a violent explosion tinted an ominous bloody red doesn't help.
When Challenger 2 passes by with the sun in the background, the "sun" is clearly a stage light.
Many of the disaster scenes are actually reused Stock Footage from other films, including Mia Farrow's film Avalanche and just normal demolitions.
As the asteroid hits New York, the stock footage is tinted red to hide the fact that the buildings look nothing like Lower Manhattan. (In fact, the footage is of the controlled demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in St. Louis.)
Hong Kong harbor made of cardboard cutouts (and accompanying tidal wave that didn't quite make it), mudslides made of brown water, an avalanche clearly blue-screened over footage of a skier.
Strawman Has a Point: General Adlon is meant to be a General Ripper, but he makes very good points about not being able to trust the Russians at the height of the Cold War.
Tear Jerker: The deaths of all those people in Hong Kong, particularly that of the family trying to flee with their sobbing child and their dog, who very nearly got abandoned in the chaos only to die anyway.
Visual Effects of Awesome: That being said, the shot of the meteor hitting the WTC actually looks well-done.
