Solar Attack

Plot

While a solar probe operated by the fictional Solar and Near Earth Laboratory (SNEL) is obtaining data, a large CME or solar flare destroys the probe. A manned spacecraft, Galileo, is caught in the CME and destroyed; the tragedy is blamed on bad Russian equipment. CMEs knock satellites out of orbit, turning them into deadly meteors, and a CME hits New Zealand, destroying it and turning it into a huge mass of molten rock.

After a multi-millionaire, Lucas Foster (Mark Dacascos), funds a program to fight global warming, it is discovered that the Earth's atmosphere is now 5 percent methane. Multiple CMEs are bound to hit the Earth, ignite the methane, and suffocate every living thing on Earth. Foster, who is also a scientist, tries to convince his skeptical colleagues. The government officials and fellow scientist Joanna Parks (Joanne Kelly), his ex-wife, do not believe Foster either.

As the CMEs strike, it is determined that 25-megaton nuclear missiles fired at the North Pole will release vapor that will extinguish the methane flares. Fortunately, Foster knows a Russian Navy submarine captain who reluctantly lets him board his submarine. Foster explains that although satellite communication has been disabled, the submarine can communicate via a transatlantic telegraph cable located at a depth of 800m. The sub is designed to dive to 700m, but the captain tells his reluctant lieutenant to dive to 800m anyway. The submarine survives the dive with minor damage. Communication between the captain and the Russian president results in the latter, who has been informed of the situation by U.S. president Ryan Gordon (Louis Gossett Jr.), telling the captain to go ahead with the plan.

Meanwhile, the Russian submarine has detected a U.S. Navy submarine. Before the Russian missiles can be launched, a lieutenant threatens the captain at gunpoint, but Foster wrestles the gun away. The Russian submarine is detected by the Americans, who threaten to attack if the it does not surrender. The Russian captain launches the missiles anyway, and the American submarine fires two torpedoes. The Russian submarine releases countermeasures that destroy the torpedoes, but it still suffers damage. The Americans finally realize that the Russians are friendly after learning of the presence of Foster.

The missiles arrive at the North Pole and the Earth is saved. At the end, Foster and his ex-wife hug; Foster's comment about going "down the aisle" suggests that they may renew their romantic relationship and remarry.

Production

Solar Attack under its original working title, Solar Strike, was shot in Hamilton, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The HMCS Haida is seen in the last scene of the film, standing in for a U.S. Navy destroyer.

Scientific accuracy

Solar Attack claims that the ozone layer blocks CMEs, but it is actually the magnetosphere that blocks these charged solar particles.