Into the Storm

Into the Storm

Starring Max Deacon, Sarah Wayne Callies, Nathan Kress, Richard Armitage

Directed by Steven Quale

Synopsis:
It's graduation day in Silverton, Oklahoma.  Vice Principal Gary (Richard Armitage) is busy getting everything prepared, ignoring his sons Donnie (Max Deacon) and Trey (Nathan Kress), who are supposed to videotape the graduation.  As a storm looms, he debates holding off graduation, but decides against it, while Donnie skips out to do a special film with Kaitlyn (Alycia Carey), a girl in school he likes.

Meanwhile, a team of storm chasers led by the annoying and downright rude Pete (Matt Walsh) are on a dry streak, and they feel this upcoming storm system is what they need to finally find a tornado.  Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies), the meteorologist on the team, uses her instincts and directs them to Silverton.

As the outdoor graduation ceremony takes place, storm clouds form, and soon the town in the setting for several horrific tornadoes, one that traps Donnie and Kaitlyn at an abandoned building, and one that even catches fire.  As Gary joins Allison in trying to rescue his son, they soon learn the deadliest tornado is still to come - a rare and extremely dangerous F5 tornado that is making its way to the school - and all alarms are disabled.

Review:
Taken as the "Twister" for the new generation, "Into the Storm" fails to deliver any real story or character development, but what it fails to do there it exceeds in special effects and stunning visual action.  What "Twister" didn't have was all the computer generated effects of today, and they use it in spades.  I wouldn't be surprised if it earned some Oscar nominations for best visuals.  The tornadoes in the film are downright terrifying, showcasing the true horror they deliver.  The firenado is particularly frightening, as it sucks up one hapless soul who you see go up the tornado and get caught on fire in the process, which was a surprisingly unnerving scene.

The creme de la creme of the film is the final tornado, the F5, which looks about as big as the city itself, and extremely destructive.  It even takes out an airport and tosses several 747s like they're toy models.  Knowing that twisters this size really do exist is the most terrifying part, and the utter destruction it leaves in its wake.

Now that I've talked about the good, it's time to gloss over the bad.  First is the acting, which isn't anything special.  More importantly, the script was horrible, and seems to have been penned by someone who's never experienced a tornado in their life, or at least never lived in Tornado Alley.

The characters make extremely stupid decisions, one of which is having an outdoor graduation when everyone knows a huge storm is approaching.  Even outside of Tornado Alley, when you know a storm is coming, you don't host a big outdoor extravaganza, and especially in the heart of the Alley, you don't do that. 

Another stupid move is when Donnie and Kaitlyn are trapped, they try their cell phones which, of course, don't work.  They should expect the power lines to be down when tornadoes hit, but they seemed totally oblivious to that fact.

Summary:
The film's characters don't make a lot of sense, and there's no real character depth or development, but the visuals and the action definitely leaves you on the edge of your seat, and makes up for lackluster performances.

My Rating: B+