Critical Assembly on AllMovie

Spurred on by the politically committed Alzy (Katherine Heigl) and Bobby (Kerr Smith), four bright college students assemble a nuclear bomb, just to prove how easy it is and to press the case for better national security. Unfortunately, one of the students sells out to a group of terrorists, who steals the makeshift doomsday device. Forced to work side-by-side with the FBI, the remaining students race against time to prevent the destruction of San Francisco Bay. Based on James Mills' best-seller The Seventh Element, this film was originally titled Ground Zero and initially slated to air in the fall of 2001. The tragic events of September 11th prompted NBC to shelve the film, which was finally -- and very unobtrusively -- telecast under its current title on July 12, 2003.