Simply Faulty
There are movies which are just bad, others which are so bad they're good and then there are those who take suckage to a whole nother level where badness is no longer funny and "Faultline" is one such movie. Even by TV movie standards "Faultline" is bad and it is not just one thing because everything from the plot to the acting and the special-effects all sucks. It doesn't even have a saving grace and even if you are a fan of the cast which includes Doug Savant and Brandy Ledford you are going to be left feeling robbed of 90 minutes of your life.
On Pajaro Island off of the coast of Florida Frank Martell (Justin Melvey) is building the latest in a succession of holiday resorts employing architect Lynn Larson McAllister (Brandy Ledford - We'll Meet Again) who he is dating. Her estranged husband and geologist Prof. Anthony McAllister (Doug Savant - Godzilla) can't stand Frank but has bigger problems to worry about as his assistant has noted an increase in seismic activity. But before Anthony can warn anyone the island is rocked by an earthquake with Lynn, Frank, her assistant Allison (Catherine Munden) and electrician Harland (Joe Miller) stuck in the resorts network of tunnels whilst Anthony and Lynn's father, the sheriff on the surface desperately trying to find and rescue them before the chemical plant explodes due to a fire.
When it comes to TV movies I try to be fair, I try to judge them on what they are rather than comparing them to big screen movies but sometimes a TV movie sucks so bad you just can't defend it and "Faultline" is such a movie. Everything about it is bad and that starts with the outrageously convoluted yet completely predictable plot which sees Anthony trying to save his estranged wife with the help of his father-in-law who doesn't like him. You know what will happen and whilst Lynn has been dating her boss Frank you know because he is an arrogant jerk what is going to happen. Oh and just for good measure you have Harlan who fancies Allison, two nice young people so you know what will happen there.
But being predictable is not a huge crime, being outrageously convoluted is from the screaming bikini clad swimmer we meet at the opening who's boyfriend bites the dust because of a fissure to the maze of tunnels spreading under the island which somehow stretch for miles into the middle of nowhere. There are also some stupid rescue attempts with equipment which does not look right and well I could probably spend longer writing about the list of plot problems than it would take to watch the movie.
But there are other problems and the special effects, from fake masonry to the cameraman shaking the camera to try and recreate a tremor being just two of a catalogue of sins. And then there is an acting and it seems like Doug Savant and John Novak have been smoking Woodbines because they have unnaturally gruff voices which is comical when they have such inane dialogue to say. Dialogue, there is a lot of bad dialogue in "Faultline" but it is made 10 times worse by actors who often seem to be searching for their lines, looking furtively to the side as if they need to be prompted.
I am going to stop there but what this all boils down to is that "Faultline" is a bad movie even by TV standards and goes beyond the point of being good for being bad and ends up just painful.
