Given that we’ve explored just about every imaginable means of destruction of our own race on film, it’s hard to fault a disaster movie for hitting typical clichés. Earthstorm is a passable low budget effort, dealing with the possibility of an asteroid hitting the moon, splitting it in half, and sending a portion of it down to Earth. While illogical for most of the running time, the script handles these pitfalls nicely on a brain dead Saturday night made-for-TV fare level.

Stephen Baldwin handles his demolition expert character stuck in the space program by replacing Bruce Willis as America’s new Earth-saving hero. Much of the human conflict is wasteful drivel, particularly the government agent who refuses to listen to logic or reason when searching for a solution to the rather dire circumstances. A subplot about a building demolition is rather baffling, given that the entire world may see an unscheduled deconstruction, never mind two small brick buildings.

There’s a nice, solid build-up to the threat. Chunks of the moon, having been picked off after the collision, begin slamming into Earth. The CG effects are tolerable for the most part, and they keep some action in the back of the story. A sequence of jet fighters moving in to blow up a massive chunk of falling rock is as ridiculous as it sounds, but fun to watch in a movie lacking any logic or scientific sense.

In actuality, much of the banter on the ground can be swallowed. An actor tossing around scientific implausibility makes for enjoyable B-movie dialogue. However, sending a small crew into space without the zero gravity of space taking effect is something a first grader will pick up on.

In true American movie style, nuclear bombs can solve anything. Even without training, Stephen Baldwin’s character manages himself in space just fine as he attempts to place the nukes in the right spot to sew the moon’s widening fault line back up. This creates quite a few scenes of a spaceship barreling through asteroids, debris, and falling portions of the lunar surface. The sheer amount of effects for a zero budget film is staggering, making those missed shots slightly more tolerable.

While disaster films come and go, Earthstorm can be enjoyable is you let it do its own thing. Thinking is the first thing you need to stop doing when the film begins. If you can do that, you’ll find this a better effort than the hilariously awful 1979 Sean Connery vehicle, Meteor. If a made-for-TV B-movie can outmaneuver Sean Connery, it deserves some credit.