Absolutely Fantastic

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This is a made for US TV. The sword of Thutmose III (The Napoleon of Egypt) is taken by some college kids and placed in the ground by a Vegas pool. This sets off a series of attacks on the city, mostly by a sand snake twister. A small group has figured what what it takes to stop the attacks and goes about the task.The film was designed to be campy, but was no "Sharknado." Barry Bostwick plays Sal, an overly stereo-typical Vegas has-been piano player. He thanks a single person clapping and plugs his album on sale in the casino lobby. An Elvis impersonator asks Olive (Maggie Castle) if she has seen Elvis 68. "He has left the building." While this is not knee slapping humor it is typical of what is going on in the film.With other and better disaster films out there, I can't see wasting time on this one, now on a multi-pack of 12 films.

Released to TV in 2013 and directed by Jack Perez, "Blast Vegas" (aka "Destruction: Las Vegas") concerns a group of college guys vacationing in Las Vegas, three of whom steal an ancient Egyptian sword from an exhibit and unwittingly unleash a colossal sand storm with other magical things, like a huge sand cobra.I generally like TV-budgeted MOTW (Monster of the Week) movies. "Gargoyles" from 1972 is Exhibit A. "Blast Vegas" has a great setting and an interesting MOTW, albeit ludicrous. With a setting like Vegas you'd expect a lot of comely females and the movie delivers to a degree, particularly in the first act. Most of the settings involve the group of protagonists traveling in the basements from one big casino to another (trying to stay away from the storm outside). It's reminiscent of the group in "The Poseidon Adventure" where they traveled through the unseen innards of the vessel. In regards to the gargantuan sand storm and peripheral menaces, like a deadly cobra and an escaped tiger, the producers could only do so much with a TV budget. All things considered, the CGI storm looks fine, as does the cobra, but the tiger looks too fake. Yet this is somewhat expected in a flick of this ilk.Beyond the setting and MOTW, it's the story, characters, suspense and subtext (mindfood) where a movie like this stands or falls. The plot's good but the group of protagonists needed something. Frankie Muniz works surprisingly well as the unlikely hero, as does Barry Bostwick as his amusing supposed-mentor, a Vegas lounge lizard. The females, however, are weak, except for Maggie Castle as the non-hero's potential frumpy babe. The cast desperately needed someone like Cerina Vincent in "Sasquatch Mountain" (2006), Erin Karpluk in "Wyvern" (2009), Cindy Busby in "Behemoth" (2011) or Rebekah Kochan in "Flu Bird Horror" (2008).As for suspense, it was okay. One sequence in particular was effective, the one involving Steven Schub as a working class thug, resentful of the "rich kids" who vacationed in Vegas. But suspense is created as much by the rising tensions between group members as the threat of the MOTW and this is the movie's weak point. The same with the subtext, which amounts to (A.) don't fool with ancient Egyptian magic (rolling my eyes) and (B.) even a likable "runt" can get the right babe if he plays his cards right. The second is good stuff, but it's not meaty enough to sustain a movie. As such, despite the numerous exciting things going on, "Blast Vegas" is curiously boring and isn't worth mentioning in the same breath as those four Syfy flicks noted above (take that as you will). However, it's still worth catching if any of the aforementioned positives trip your trigger.The film runs 86 minutes and was shot in Indio, California (and, presumably, Las Vegas, at least establishing shots).GRADE: C/C- (4.5/10)

There has definitely been worse movies on the SyFy Channel, and Blast Vegas- or Destruction: Las Vegas- is one of those movies that you should try to watch without expecting too much or take it for what it is. Unfortunately even when trying to do that, Blast Vegas came off as a real mess. Barry Bostwick is okay and at least he tries to have some fun, and the attack in the underground parking does have some excitement and tension. The rest of the acting is very bad though, Joe Dante and John Landis are wasted in literally irrelevant cameo appearances and Frankie Muniz's lead performance is both uncharismatic and charmless. With the characters they are so cardboard and poorly developed you cannot root for any of them and some even do things that are infuriatingly ridiculous. The dialogue has no spark either, it's either very bland, it's very shallow-sounding throughout, or too reliant on the silliness, and sadly the silliness is not fresh or witty enough to be effective. The story has one good scene amongst the numerous but soulless action sequences, dull pacing, disaster scenes that lack any kind tension or sense of danger(not helped by that the characters show no signs of being genuinely concerned about what's happening) and dramatic scenes that are frankly predictable and ham-fisted. The movie is not cheaply made- well apart from the special effects which look hurried and poorly textured- but shows no sense of style, and the direction is similarly characterless. The music plays too much of a dirge and isn't memorable enough in the slightest, at no point either does it do anything to enhance what's happening. In conclusion, has a couple of redeeming merits but a very. very bad movie that is really bland with no character, energy or soul. 2/10 for Bostwick and one good sequence. Bethany Cox

SyFy cranks out another bomb. A gaggle of friends attack Las Vegas for Spring Break; on the agenda is getting nerd Nelson(Frankie Muniz)laid. One of Nelson's dimwit friends steals an ancient Egyptian sword on display mocking the warning of a curse. Nelson strikes up a friendship with a plain looking girl named Olive(Maggie Castle)and it is nerd love at first sight. Uh Oh, the curse kicks in and the city that never sleeps becomes ground zero for an unusual sand storm fueled by massive tornadoes with hurricane-like winds. Nelson and Olive realize what is happening and discover the way to stop Vegas from being blown off the map. The group of friends gather to hunt for key elements to stop the curse. Good thing that legendary lounge lizard Sal Rowinski(Barry Bostwick)is willing to show the Spring Breakers shortcuts through underground tunnels to find the way to keep the bright lights of Vegas from going out forever. Lame as lame can be. SyFy's gamble on this one craps out quickly. The special effects don't do anything to redeem the silly script. Other members of the cast: Jillian Nelson, Summer Bishil, Andrew Lawrence, Adam Walker with cameos by Jon Landis and Joe Dante.