Who doesn't enjoy watching big things fall to pieces? Category 7: The End of the World wreaks havoc on the Eiffel Tower, Mt. Rushmore, the Pyramids, and a midwestern trailer park, among other things. More or less a sequel to Category 6: Day of Destruction (presumably the latest in a series that began with Category 1: Don't Forget Your Umbrella), Category 7 offers the reassuring sight of Gina Gershon, skilled with disasters like Showgirls, taking control of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Confronted with city-destroying weather, she calls in rebel meteorologist Ross Duffy (Cameron Daddo, star of such classics as Pterodactyl and Anthrax), who runs the Extreme Weather Lab and harbors theories that threaten the political status quo. Ross brings in Tommy Tornado (Randy Quaid, the sole returning actor from Category 6), Faith Clavell (Shannen Doherty, Charmed), and Col. Mike Davis (Tom Skerritt, Alien) to gather data...which isn't the most dramatic of activities (even when it involves souped-up cars and superjets), so the movie adds a subplot about a religious zealot (Nicholas Lea, The X-Files) who wants to unleash the plagues of Egypt so that everyone will realize it's the End of Days.
What does it all add up to? A lot of over-the-top hooey (and that's not including the assorted family turmoils), but pretty entertaining nonetheless. It's like a lesser Michael Crichton novel: Take an inflammatory vaguely scientific premise, add two-dimensional characters, cheesy but spectacular effects, and a full-throttle if nonsensical plot, and presto! Over three hours of silly yet utterly watchable television. For added fun, drink a shot every time one character tells another "You're the most important person on the planet right now."
--Bret Fetzer