Into the Storm (2014) Reviews

• If you want to see tornadoes, go on the internet. Stay away from this disaster at all costs.

  lnvicta2015-04-20

  Let me start off by saying I'm fascinated by tornadoes - I've seen Twister 100+ times as a kid and it still holds up today. Why? Because it has relatable characters, great pacing, and a looming sense of danger that's always around the corner. I was hoping Into the Storm would be a modern day Twister but better - with technology the way it is, how hard can it be to create a worthwhile disaster film with such a simple premise? Well, Into the Storm makes it look damn near impossible. The positives of this movie are as follows: the tornadoes. They look cool. That's it. Tornados on the internet look cool as well. No one should have to sit through an hour and a half of trash to see a few nice storm graphics. The characters in this movie are dreadful. I challenge you to care about a single one - hell, try remembering one of their names after the movie finishes. They're all awfully written, and the acting doesn't help one bit. Richard Armitage was fantastic in The Hobbit movies but holy hell it's hard to believe this is the same person. The story (or stories rather) are abysmal. Seriously, why make three separate story lines for characters we don't care about? Are we supposed to care if the dad gets forgiveness from his sons? Are we supposed to care if the kid gets the girl from school? How about whether or not the hillbillies make it big on Youtube? The answer is an overwhelming "F*ck no". Also, this is a found footage movie. Why? Beats the hell out of me. The gimmick is getting thin in horror movies, let alone a movie like this where they have to constantly make up excuses for these characters to be filming everything. In fact, nothing in this movie is believable. Twister had characters with depth - you believed that these people were storm chasers, and you believed in the tension between Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt's characters. Here, everything is so blown out that the imminent threat of what's happening on-screen doesn't phase the audience at all. We're supposed to believe that a tornado can rip through a concrete building in two seconds but can't suck up someone holding onto a flimsy car door? The movie makers take unbelievability to new levels here. Into the Storm is a collection of disaster scenarios loosely connected by multiple underwritten stories being carried by unlikable characters. The most unbelievable thing about this movie is the fact that I actually made it to the end. If you want to see tornadoes, go on the internet. Stay away from this disaster at all costs.

• A really good bad film

  bob-the-movie-man2014-08-21

  There are bad movies that are just intolerable to sit through. And then there's "Into the Storm". Jan de Bont's 1996 "Twister" came into cinemas like – and excuse the pun – a blast of fresh air. Whilst "Into the Storm" is not exactly a remake (there are no cows present at all for example!), it shares many of the key characteristics that made Twister such a fun popcorn movie: a truly terrible script, some pretty awful acting in places, a predictable plot, and the occasional mind-bogglingly improbable scene, but all redeemed by some slam-dunk fantastic visual effects. Firstly, the script. Sneak a shot glass and a flask into the cinema and play the new drinking game: a shot for every time anyone says "Are you alright?". You'll be legless before the first hour is up. Secondly the acting. This is a cast where the most well-known faces are Richard Armitage (Thorin in the Hobbit films) and Matt Walsh (Mike McLintock in the excellent "Veep"). And I don't like to be harsh on a young cast of actors in the early dawn of their careers, but let's say that some of the cast were probably cast more for their looks than their acting talent. I also struggled with Armitage's single dad/school principal character who in certain scenes (particularly one in the front of the stormchaser's van) looks the spitting image of Leslie Nielsen's Dr Rumack from "Airplane". I almost expected him to go off into that character at any moment – – "No, the school won't be safe. And don't call me Shirley". One of the youngsters that I think did make an impact was Nathan Kress in his movie debut as the younger son Trey. The predictable plot. No spoilers, but there's a small town and lots of tornadoes: "bigger than any storm that's ever been" (since "Twister" anyway). The plot, as it is, centres around a failing documentary film crew trying to capture good footage before the tornado season is up: with backer's funding drying up, the pressure is on. Walsh plays the hard-pressed producer/director sparking off the Helen Hunt character Allison, played by the fetching Sarah Wayne Callies, a data-besotted scientist for who, it seems, science only works for when good luck is in her favour. Aside from the film crew, the remainder of the cast are the residents and schoolkids of the backwater Oklahoma town of Silverton, with the usual disaster movie will they/won't they (die) tensions as the tornadoes wreak their havoc. Humour is injected through a couple of rednecks intent on making their fortune through Jackass-style video clips on Youtube. The improbable scenes. Again no spoilers, but one of the characters meets an end that is massively improbable, poetic, beautifully shot and ironic…. but also snort-worthily funny. And why suddenly does sleepy old Silverton suddenly reveal itself to have a MAJOR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT with dozens of Jumbo jets waiting to be lifted into the skies? Whilst a memorable special effects scene, it makes absolutely no sense at all. It's almost as if the filmmakers got to the end of the film and found a million dollars of contingency funding they hadn't used: "What can we do with this? Oh, I know!". Bizarre. And those effects! This is no "Sharknado"! The special effects are all top notch, including a spectacular scene where a twister gobbles up a petrol station and all of its burning fuel which is a masterclass in CGI. I have no idea where you would even start in developing that. The director is James Cameron protégé Steven Quale (2nd unit on "Avatar" and "Titanic" and director of the passable "Final Destination V"). And all in all, I think he does a pretty good job. The film is massively helped by a sensible 90 minute running time, which is all the light plot could really sustain anyway. And it is a good decision to adopt (in part) a "Cloverfield" type of video blog format (part documentary footage; part high school 'video time capsule' interviews) that holds the interest well. So, in summary, this is a terribly good bad film and well deserving of your summer popcorn money. Just about everyone came out of the cinema with a silly grin on their face. Nuff said. (If you enjoyed this review, please see my other reviews at bob-the-movie-man.com and sign up to follow the blog. Thanks!)

• See it on a big screen!!

  swiss4222014-08-07

  I caught an advance screening and found it a heck of a ride and thrilling fun to watch. I thought it really delivered the experience of being close up and inside the most power weather on the planet, and left me with images that I continue to chew over with awe. For a "disaster movie" it felt extremely realistic, and when you see news reports on TV or YouTube you realize this stuff happens again and again, usually in small towns just like the one in the movie, so it's completely real and they didn't really make any of this stuff up. And I really felt for the characters who, just like real people caught by these events, don't want to be in a disaster movie, they just want to get out of there alive. It got pretty emotional by the end. I don't get all the negative reviews I've been reading, I thought it was really good and delivered a great night out. What do people want, stupid Sharknado? Whatever, I had a good time watching it. And I'm glad I caught it on a big screen instead of renting it later. Seeing it big and overwhelming is the way to go!

• Worth it just for the Tornado scenes.

  Loving_Silence2014-08-05

  Into the Storm was not a movie I had a lot of expectations for. I just wanted to have fun seeing huge tornadoes destroying everything in their path. And that's what I got for the most part in this movie. The first 15 minutes of this movie was so bad, the dialogue was atrocious, the characters were annoying and the writing was completely abysmal. But as the movie starts to show more of the tornadoes, it got really fun really quick. the movie got so much better. One of the best aspects of this movie is how close you really get into the tornadoes. You go inside it and it looks frightening and beautiful at the same time. The visuals look amazing when you're in the movie theater. This is definitely a movie that should be seen in your nearest theater, because it was such an experience seeing the tornadoes, hearing the train-like noise when a tornadoes comes barreling towards the cities and cars. It's just so awesome. One of the weakest aspects of this movie are the characters, we just don't care what happens to them in the movie. But the tornadoes are terrific and they keep coming on at you every twenty minutes or so for two hours. Now this can be a little tiresome, but "Into the Storm" does stop itself just in time before it completely overstays its welcome. In the end, it's not a very good movie by any stretch of the imagination. Again, this is the film that one will either like as a guilty pleasure, like me, or you won't care for it at all. And even if you do like the movie, there is still one big lapse in the whole thing that you realize at the end. If tornadoes really did show up as often as they do in the movie in the same general area, there would be nothing left standing in the Midwest anymore. It would all be leveled.

• Special Effects +++ but that is all.

  panther_husky2014-10-29

  How this movie got a 6 rating is beyond me. Maybe people don't care much for the acting and storyline and settle down to a movie with good special effects. Yes, the SE were great to watch and at times kept you on the edge of your seat but that is all. Weak in every aspect though the SE kept the movie on its feet. There are 2 rednecks in the movie who were possibly put in there as comedy relief but they annoyed the hell out of me and then you have those stupid school kids who have lines which make them look like uneducated American teens. I wanted to switch the movie off after the first 30 minutes as the acting and lines just didn't do it for me, but I thought to give it a go and as mentioned earlier, the effects were the only thing that kept me watching till the end. .... and the ending made me curse a little. Give me twister which was and still is a great movie whereas Into The Storm was nothing but a Hype into nothing.