What makes it different from others?

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Describing what could happen in the future, the film combines formulaic character subplots with terrific visuals in the second half to convey a fictional but realistic story of people caught up in their own private dramas before and during a devastating earthquake.There are a couple of problems here. The first relates to the subplots; there are too many, resulting in an unnecessarily long run-time of about three hours. The assassination subplot seemed a bit hokey. At least 30 minutes probably could have been cut out without affecting the quality of the overall story. Because of so many speaking parts, I lost track of how some characters connected to other characters.Also, the sound quality in the copy I watched was not very good. At times I could not understand the dialogue; it seemed muffled.But of course viewers aren't really watching the film for the melodrama. They're watching for the disaster that's about to befall the characters. And the visuals during and after the earthquake are spectacular, every bit as good as in the 1974 film "Earthquake", if not better. Attention to detail is terrific. A lot of time and effort went into the visuals of this film, and it shows.Casting of main parts is fine; the cast of extras is enormous. Overall acting is average, though I thought Joanna Kerns, as the lead character, gave an especially credible performance. Production design was far higher here than we would expect for a TV movie.And I think it is indeed the "TV movie" label that brings down the cumulative rating for this film. Actually, "The Big One" is closer to a blockbuster theatrical release than it is to the stereotyped image of made-for-TV movie that viewers have come to expect. Unnecessarily lengthy subplots notwithstanding, if the viewer can watch the film for what it is, sans TV label, the viewer will enjoy it all the more.

While this 1990 TV movie had a heap of familiar faces from both TV and movies alike from the 1980s and 1990s, then this movie wasn't particularly thrilling. And the title is somewhat of a lure.The story is about Dr. Clare Winslow who pinpoints the location and time of a massive earthquake that will strike sunny Los Angeles.Greanted, the TV movie is not depending on grand effects, but more on the drama and fear of an earthquake, as well as the impact such an event has on those living in an area at risk of earthquakes.The cast list was quite nice, with a lot of familiar faces, at least to us who watched TV shows and movies during the 1980s and 1990s."The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake" was too slow paced for my liking and my interest was fast drifting away a couple of times throughout the 180 minutes that the TV movie ran for.If you enjoy disaster movies, then I would suggest that you watch something else entirely. But then again, that is because I like for thrilling things to happen in a disaster movie. If you enjoy a human drama set in the face of an earthquake, perhaps this TV movie might appeal to you.

First off let me say that this one has more ups than downs, and it's better than you're average disaster movie,, first the ups,, the fact that big money plays a part in this film,, you have real estate moguls,, the mayor,, all wanting to hush up the story of "The Big One" for political interests, except for the governor. i liked the ending,, that's always a plus. great acting for the most part,, ed begley jr.. dan lauria, jo anna kerns,, all great actors, and actresses, some of the downs are it takes to long to get going,, to much character development,, and why the heck was there this lame assassination plot,, that had absolutely nothing to do with the story,, and after the big one hits,, the assassination continues,, that took balls, but i kinda liked that,, the plot was very good i thought, the peoples reaction to the big one, and how the media perceives things and "can" twist things is very real,, this movie took some raw facts and shown us that, most disaster movies don't really do that,, you had a great ensemble cast that deserves kudos,,

Convinced that an earthquake is going to destroy Los Angeles, a seismologist tries to alert the authorities of the city and the population. Traced on " films disaster ", this fiction turns out without surprises.