Give it to me, I must have it. Precious treasure, I deserve it… It would be cool if the movie Into the Storm started with Blind Guardians’ Into the Storm, but what can you do… That was a weird intro, but this movie is even stranger. Based on the popularity of those Storm Chasers or whatever that show is called, Into the Storm is no Twister [1996], but it’s good enough to be a warm-up disaster flick. Documentary and TV show creators try to make them as cinematic as they can and Steven Quale, director of this movie tried to make a movie that has that vibe. With the advent of the “New TV movies” that look like regular movies, especially if they’re produced by big shots like HBO, the term TV flick is slowly starting to lose its meaning. There’s not much of that shaky camera that I hate so much and the special effects are really good, so we can say that this is a visually good movie (the rest doesn’t really matter :)
A storm is brewing near the town of Silverton and it attracted all kinds of folks into this peaceful town. Some of them are crazy rednecks and some of them are skilled professionals like the crew that just started tracking something that could be their catch of the career. They have a specially designed cool-looking vehicle that enables them to withstand even the most ferocious storms, but this time…
There’s not much to be said about Into the Storm, it’s a commercial product and should be treated as such. Clear evidence of this is the story that’s your standard-issue melodrama with lame characters and a bunch of cliches. I just can’t figure out why they are writing these types of stories if you already decided that this is going to be a commercial flick. They could have made it much, much better. However, the redeeming quality of Into the Storm are the visuals and the fact that there are few tornado movies out there. After Sharknado the whole genre just slowed down :)
Using found-footage gimmick to add authenticity and better introduce us to the characters was a good move. Just a year earlier Europa Report did the same thing with great success. Starring Richard Armitage (Thorin from The Hobbit) and Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori from The Walking Dead), the cast did their best squeeze everything they could from the script. Finally, I have to mention the tornado-proof vehicle (say it in Texan accent) that looked pretty cool. I think you already know what type of movie is this, so if you’re up for some safe and commercial tornado fun check it out.
Director: Steven Quale
Writer: John Swetnam
Cast: Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Max Deacon, Alycia Debnam-Carey
Fun Facts: Some of the news footage & radar images shown on the screens behind Sarah Wayne-Callies in the storm chaser van, was actual news reports/footage from the ef5 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013.
Rating:
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2106361/
