Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Scorcher'

Written by Scott Edwards

With all that science has been able to teach us about our planet, there are still plenty of things that we do not fully understand about it. We know what causes earthquakes, but we still do not have a way to predict when or where they will occur. Same with volcanos erupting, we know what the signs are, but we have no way in telling how big the eruption will be when all is said and done. The earth holds her secrets near and dear to her heart and maybe one day we will be able to find out more about what else we have not figured out yet, before it is too late.

Colonel Ryan Beckett is on his last mission before retirement.  Wanting to be able to settle down and have some quality time with his daughter, he is ready for it all to end. But after retrieving Dr. Julie McGrath from an active volcano zone, he finds out that there is something more dangerous coming his way. Sitting in on the president's briefing about what is happening to the planet, he finds out that the world will be getting hotter and hotter every day, and within three days, an extinction level event will take place and no one is immune to the planet's wrath. 

With there being only one way to counteract the shifts in the tectonic plates, a location has been decided upon by the world's upmost expert, Dr. Sallin, on where to push back. Needing to set off a nuclear bomb in the L.A. city limits to the save the world, Beckett has no time to waste before taking on just one final mission. With his daughter inside the city limits, Beckett asks that she be removed before he goes forward and as far as he knows, she will be out of harm’s way when the explosion takes place. With his men ready to go and getting help from Dr. Sallin and Dr. McGrath, everything seems to be going fine, but they are in a race against time as the world is slowly burning itself out.

The closer the Colonel and his men get to their objective, the more destruction they encounter. With looters trying to take away anything they can from the newcomers, men are lost in the process and it will continue to be a battle to the end. Faith has also not been able to escape the city limits, instead she is kidnapped by a psychopath who is trying to bring his own version of what is happening outside into her life. But what none of the opposition know, is that if Beckett and his men do not complete their mission, there will be nothing left for anyone to care about when it all shoots up in flames. Scorcher does not only refer to what will happen when the world goes up in flames, it also is a warning about those who could care less if they burn you.

Who does not love a good apocalyptic movie with a little bit of heart behind it. This one has found a soft spot for me since it reminded me of a few people that I have worked with that made things a little bit difficult for me to get my job done. Needing to get everyone on the same page to see the bigger picture of what they are trying to accomplish, rather than being the lone hero, is really the lesson learned here. There is no fame, there are no parades if there is no one left to know what you did and that is something that some people need to understand. When the world is tearing itself apart, it is a nice idea that there might be a way to fix it, even though at this point, I am sure not even our greatest minds would give us a shot at pulling anything off like they did in this movie. Happy Viewing.

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