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It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

While conducting experiments at Midwestern Quantum Research Laboratory in St. Louis, Missouri the technicians discover the formation of a black hole within their structure. As it increases in size and becomes even more destructive the Army is called in to investigate and they find that there is something other than the black hole that demands their immediate attention. At any rate, rather than risk ruining the movie for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this film had several weak areas. It started off okay but then it seemed to go downhill fast after the first 20 minutes or so. One reason for this is that while Kristy Swanson (as "Shannon Muir"), Judd Nelson ("Eric Bryce") and David Selby ("General Ryker") turned in adequate performances the same could not be said for the secondary cast (other than possibly Heather Dawn as "SGT Alicia Bennett"). Yet, rather than minimizing their roles, enhancing some of the dialogue, re-filming some of the scenes or possibly cutting some of the weaker segments the director (Tibor Takács) let it all slide. Perhaps there was a time-crunch or a lack of resources but whatever the reason there were certain parts of the film that were pretty sloppy. For example, the uniform for "General Tate" (Peter Mayer) was totally comical and nobody who has ever served in the military could possibly take it seriously. Yet here was a 4-star general wearing a field jacket with 4 shiny stars on his shoulders, medals on his chest (which are normally worn only at ceremonial functions) and one huge shiny star on his hat. Apparently whoever was in charge of the wardrobe didn't realize that field jackets require subdued insignia and use a camouflage pattern so that people blend into the surrounding environment whereas shiny things only make them stand out. In any case, he looked quite ridiculous. It should also be noted that this was a made-for-television movie and as a result the makers of the film were somewhat handicapped due to broadcast limitations. So there is no profanity, sex, nudity or anything of a graphic nature allowed which might possibly enhance the picture. Such was the hand they were dealt and they knew this going in. All the more reason, I would think, to have some good quality assurance every step of the way. Unfortunately, this movie didn't get it and the results speak for themselves. Below average.

I originally picked The Black Hole up because I thought it was the original seventies one. So I was already a little disappointed when I discovered this was some TV movie from two years ago but I watched it anyways and I'm glad I did. Certainly it's not going into the sci-fi hall of fame but considering it's a TV film on a TV budget it's a decent little flick with some campy acting but somehow a relatively decent story and even some very decent special effects. It would appear as though director Tibor Takács is one of the masters of TV horror camp. He has done no less than 20 of these types of films so he should have some sort of talent involved in it and he does. He uses the story and budget and effects the best that he can to make a decently watchable flick. The plot of the film is actually very good for sci fi fans. A man made black hole releases a monster of energy that begins to destroy everything in it's path. Focusing rather heavily on the city of St. Louis they certainly create a destructive path in the city.Judd Nelson plays outcast scientist Eric Bryce who becomes the unwilling hero of the story. Nelson can act...we've seen it before but he seems to be getting caught in these roles of the washed up drunk but even still he does a pretty decent job of carrying this film. He's watchable and actually makes a very down to earth hero in the end. Kristy Swanson is fellow scientist and love interest Shannon Muir. Swanson looks like a deer in the head lights for most of the film but she supports Nelson decently enough although their romance and tension is a little strange to me. She is okay in the role but not the stand out performer by any means. David Selby is really terrific in a very subtle kind of way as General Ryker. He is also a hero in his own way and although he doesn't get a lot of dialog he does a really great job in the role and is probably one of the stronger characters in the entire film. I think he could have carried the film himself.The Black Hole won't put you on the edge of your seat by any means but to kill an hour and a half it's not the worst thing you could watch. The decent story and decent acting makes it worth seeing if you're a sci-fi nut and looking for something different. As mentioned earlier the special effects really aren't that bad, in fact they are well done. Watching the St Louis arch fall apart was very cool and although it's probably stock footage...the actual city being destroyed was also very cool. All in all I suppose you'd have to be a fan to really bother watching it but there is far worse out there in Television and on DVD for that matter. 7/10

We have no idea what a "Black Hole" would do if it suddenly developed on the surface of a planet. It could act like a block of sodium metal on the surface of water. Whatever you think a Black Hole is, in terms of physics, it is first of all a distortion in time and space and gravity. Whatever is at the center of it is not anything we consider to be matter. While there is a great deal of elaboration on the theory that fits the data, science is about experiment. We have not probed or experimented with a Black Hole.Here is a mind experiment for you. We know that as matter approaches the speed (or velocity) of light, its mass increases without limit. Imagine an object with a mass that was infinite.Gravity is directly proportionate to mass. So, an object with mass without limit would have gravity without limit. The reason a photon (light) is able to travel at light speed is because it has no mass.If there were any possibility of creating a Black Hole, likely it would be in a situation, like an accelerator, where a particle with mass is forced with great energy to accelerate toward that light velocity.Since that particle's mass is increasing with velocity, it would take exponentially more energy to accelerate it further. You would need energy without limit, therefore to accelerate a mass without limit to light velocity.So, the issue of how a Black Hole would interact with a planet's surface is a moot point. Likely if you turned the whole planet's mass into energy you could still not produce a Black Hole.In the movie the phenomena is characterized as a Black Hole mainly by the media man in a news chopper. It could be a distortion in space/time like a wormhole as well.When we are willing to suspend disbelief in a movie for faster than light travel, it seems trivial, to me, to get excited about what a Black Hole might do on suddenly appearing on the surface of the planet.

Two weeks before this I read Gregory Bendfords COSM. When the movie started I thought no way, it almost looked that this was going to be much fun. But as you know, there are so many great stories written, than why are the new scifi movies only about special effects, and everybody is forgetting the base, a good story.After watching this, I really thought what did I see, were did the time go. Calling this movie scifi because there is a black hole in it, is a bit mediocre.Better watch 'The day the earth stood still', special effects are simple, and it's black and white. But someone paid attention to the story.