2 out of 5

Director: John J. Lafia

10.5 is about a rad biker who does awesome BMX tricks to outrun falling buildings. Go rad biker, Go! There’s a bit more to it than that, but there’s your opening sequence, and if it sounds thrilling then 10.5 might be your made-for-TV kinda bag. For me – a viewer who watched the sequel 10.5 Apocalypse before this one – the movie didn’t hold much, as the insanity that propels the sequel forward for 2+ hrs is on hold in this film as we build toward the titular event. As with the sequel, and as with MFTV from this era, the acting, editing, camerawork and effects are all just steps above the basics, with flashes of effort here and there. Interestingly, something that I would find needless in most films – halving the screen at various points so we can monitor two different scenes – actually works in the films benefit here, as whoever made that decision (we’ll credit director John J. Lafia) realized that the predictable character types and plot threads wouldn’t survive the silent wrap-down of most scenes and so it speeds our attentions along to overlap the end of scene x with the beginning of scene y. Regardless, it’s almost all filler, put points for story editing and rad biker. If you see the sequel you get everything here plus some extra insanity, so watch that instead.