All Rise...

Judge Patrick Naugle don't know why there's no sun up in the sky.

Editor's Note

Our review of Into The Storm, published December 16th, 2009, is also available.

The Charge

A storm is brewing.

The Case

Silverton, Oklahoma is in for a rude awakening when a massive storm of epic proportions rips through the town, creating deadly EF5 tornados (the worst kind there is). The residents, including the vice principal of the high school (Richard Amritage, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) and his two sons (Max Deacon and Nathan Kress), are about to have their world torn apart when the catastrophic weather threatens a high school full of kids. As the town prepares for the worst, a group of storm chasers led by a meteorologist named Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies, Prison Break) and her boss Pete Moore (Matt Walsh, Role Models) descend on the town with plans to film the one-of-a-kind twister. When Mother Nature suddenly goes to hell in a handbasket, the only question plaguing the citizens is: who will survive and what will be left of them?

I can still remember seeing Jan De Bont's disaster film Twister when it hit theaters in 1996. My initial reaction was dumbfounded; how could someone have actually thought this movie was a good idea? The plot was as thin as tissue paper and the characters as engaging as blocks of fresh cut wood. It was hard to believe that someone could make more insipid movie than that. Oh, how wrong I was. It took almost two decades, but here it is: Into the Storm, a movie that makes Twister look like Titanic.

As I started watching, a sinking feeling began to creep in: this movie was going to utilize the stalest of cinematic tropes: the found footage narrative. I knew for certain what I was in for. Terribly cliched POV shots. Actors talking to the camera. Unrealistic filming of supposed "real life" and "everyday" events. Special effects shots are so rickety and shaky that it's hard to tell what's going on. All of these things and more permeate Into the Storm, a found footage disaster movie that appears to have been made by people who had previously volunteered for a lobotomy.

Into the Storm is a dreadful movie. Storms and tornados show up only out of convenience, not because they make any sense to the plot. At times the "found footage" crutch also makes no sense; there are moments when characters are the ones recording the movie, then it seems like whoever is filming the movie is nearly non-existent. How is it two teenagers standing inside a dilapidated warehouse can't hear the "storm of the century" brewing outside until one of their father's calls them on their cell phone? Consistency is not one of Into the Storm's strong point.

There are many things wrong with Into the Storm I could make a list a mile long. If I were to offer up a glaring example of why the film is so bad, I'd choose the scenes with a couple of redneck good ol' boys (including comedian Jon Reep) who are amateur storm chasers. Brandishing a flip video camera (seriously, what is this…2005?) and acting like a couple of extras from Deliverance, they truly embody what is glaringly bad with Into the Storm: it's stupid and wearisome. I've never wanted to see two characters be torn apart in a tornado as much as these two. Had the film tried to offer up real, substantial characters for us to care about this may have made the movie better (though probably still not "good"). Unfortunately, there was no one I was rooting for. Had a funnel cloud dipped down and scooped everyone away to a gruesome fate, I'd have been a happy camper.

Shockingly, Into the Storm features real, actual, respected actors who are given almost nothing to do by screenwriter John Swetnam (Step Up All In) and director Steven Quale (Final Destination 5). Richard Armitage plays a distant father who has to make up for his apparently terrible fatherhood by saving his children, Sarah Wayne Callies is a fellow storm tracker who looks pretty and spends the rest of the movie also looking pretty, and Matt Walsh (Old School) is her storm chasing boss who is as likable as a loaf of moldy bread. The performances are so stilted and almost non-existent that the filmmakers could have used cardboard cutouts and would the movie still would have had the same outcome. I'm sure the one component of the film most readers are wondering about are the special effects. Yes, there are some relatively cool looking effects in this movie (including a tornado made of fire that engulfs one character). To what end? The movie around these effects is so paltry that it all but kills the wonder of the effects work. We've gotten to a point where seeing a credible tornado on the movie screen is old hat; watching barns being torn apart by twisters isn't very interesting unless there's something human connection to the movie. In the case of Into the Storm there isn't, so all viewers are left with is the equivalent of a really exiting day on The Weather Channel.

Into the Storm could have been a brainless yet still fun summer action movie, but the filmmakers clearly had other plans. They've crafted a film that doesn't work as a narrative, doesn't work as an action movie, and has as much replay value as Larry King interviewing a slice of chocolate cake. I never thought I would type this sentence, but here goes: stick with Twister or you'll be disappointed.

Warner Bros' Into the Storm (Blu-ray) is presented in 1.85:1/1080p HD widescreen. No matter what your thoughts are on the movie, the transfer looks great. The film is bathed in dark colors and muted tones, but it's a specific choice that works with the theme of the movie. The transfer is crystal clear and is void of any imperfections. This is, in short, a great looking picture. The soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround in English. Not surprisingly, this is rollicking and very expansive surround sound mix that features whipping rain, blowing winds, and loud explosions. There are a lot of surround sound effects here that will give viewers's home theatre systems a heavy workout. Also included on this disc are Dolby 5.1 mixes in French and Spanish, as well as English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Extra features include some behind-the-scenes featurettes ("Into the Storm: Tornado Files," "Titus: The Ultimate Storm Chasing Vehicle," "Fake Storms: Real Conditions"), plus a DVD and digital copy of the film.

Into the Storm is a bad movie. Not good bad, offensive bad, or "so bad it's good"; just plain old bad. I'm glad I didn't plop down $10 at my local theater to watch this turd of a movie, and if you are a smart viewer you'll stay as far away as you possibly can. That being said, Warner Bros' work on this disc is excellent with a solid video and audio presentation. Caveat emptor.

The Verdict

A true natural disaster.

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