Stonehenge Apocalypse (2010)

Starring Misha Collins (Supernatural), Torri Higginson (Stargate Atlantis), Hill Harper (CSI:NY), Peter Wingfield (Highlander)

Okay all you Misha fans out there.  Did any of you catch his SyFy movie Stonehenge Apocalypse?  I did, and I was very surprised. I was expecting the same ‘ol SyFy, but instead found this an above average movie for the network.  The generic title makes it sound like just another doomsday movie going in, but the thread of the story is all tied together pretty nicely.  The script manages to offer a few new ideas, and they actually paid attention to small details as well, which added to the attraction. I was actually interested in most of the characters and wanted all to survive…all the good ones that is.  Baddies go into the pit.

This was actually fun to watch, and that says a lot for a SyFy original movie.  More than once I have actually turned off their movies because of the poor quality, but this movie has some structure and held my interest to the end.  Misha delivered some great one-liners and aptly portrayed the very dry humor of his character. 

Collins plays Jacob, a brilliant scientist who has cast off the expectations of the world in order to answers life’s biggest mysteries. He runs a basement talk show for conspiracy buffs, and that’s how he finds out that Stonehenge is on the move….literally.

He discovers the ancient shrine is actually a doomsday clock, a countdown machine with a destruction mechanism designed to lead the terraformation of the world. The system has been reactivated, thanks to Joseph Lashem (Hill Harper) Jacob’s friend and radical colleague. Now the circular monoliths pulse at regular intervals with strange electromagnetic waves emanating from the altar stone.  Each pulse causes the stones to revolve like a giant combination lock in the ground resulting in a cataclysm somewhere in the world, all at locations marked by pyramids. 

At the same time, Joseph, who has already discovered a new pyramid buried deep underground in Maine, comes upon information about an ancient key (which some have described as looking like a Ford Falcon hood ornament) that is on display at a NY museum, and could be used to either stop the current destruction, or terraform the world killing all current life. Joseph, of course, wants the later as he and his demented cult are currently residing in the only safe place in the world during the terraforming process, the pyramid in Maine. 

It’s a struggle to the end, as Jacob tries to turn off Stonehenge before the military nukes  Stonehenge, all the while getting chased by Joseph with a gun that never seems to runs out of bullets. 

There was also some ‘fast and loose’ time playing here.  At the start, they find that the  countdown clock is about 30 hours and ticking down. During that time, Jacob flies from the US to the UK, gets to Stonehenge, sneaks on the site, gets caught, and subsequently locked up. At 20 hours and 10 hours, pyramids explode destroying sections of the world. During that time, Kaycee (Torri Higginson) breaks Jacob out, they fly to New York to get the ancient key. They get ambushed by Joseph and his fiendish cult who are also there to get the key, Jacob & Co. escape, drive to Maine (yes…I do mean ‘drive’), do battle with Joseph (who was already there….. guess he flew), stop at a hospital, fly back to the UK, get back to Stonehenge, and there’s still 5 minutes left on the clock.  Guess we have to remember this is sci-fi and we’ve seen the same concept in a number of Supernatural episodes.  That impala gets around PRETTY DARN fast sometimes!

This is not one of SyFy’s notorious ‘creature features’, so the computer-generated imagery shows scenes of global disaster, the eruption of the pyramids, and the rotating stones of the famous site.  The imagery is actually good for the limited budget the movie had.  The big item for me was that it does not overshadow the ideas involved, and that’s what really makes for good science fiction.

Misha Collins puts in a good performance in the movie, but I have to admit I have seen him do better on Supernatural.  I really wonder here how much of the fault lies with the dialogue and directing. Collins, Higginson and Wingfield did a good job of carrying the story, but Harper was not up to the quality acting I have seen from him in CSI:NY.  Ditto for Higginson. I like her and I know she can act, but she spent much of the movie looking like she was not quite with it.  Not the best I have seen her do.
 

Basically if you like Misha Collins, I think you will like the movie. Because of the  mysterious origin, creator, and purpose of Stonehenge, it is classic for an end-of-the-world prophecy theme story. Okay, granted there are certainly parts that require a leap
of faith but the story is well told, and the ending not only ties the plot together, but gave a nice finishing touch to Jacob’s story.
And Jacob was much more appealing than the self-righteous know-it-alls that they typically feature in this type of movie. That is something different, and I had to give bonus points for the new twist on the ancient site. For those who enjoy new theories about Stonehenge, this is a fun way to spend a few hours. 

I won’t tell you how it ends though. If you want to know who wins, Jacob, Joseph or the nuke, you’ll have to watch the movie. I’m sure it will pop up on SyFy again sometime soon.