Into the Storm (Blu-ray / DVD)
Starring Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Arlen Escarpeta, Max Deacon, Nathan Kress, Jeremy Sumpter
Directed by Steven Quale
Distributed by Warner Bros.
The first thing you’ll notice when Into the Storm begins is that you’re dealing with a found footage movie. Another found footage movie. There are a couple of ways to do found footage. You can stick a camera in one guy’s hand and have the show run completely through him, or you can get creative. Into the Storm gets creative (using security cams, a GoPro, Skype footage), employing a hybrid found footage/traditional filming technique that does a good job of making the audience feel like they are part of the scene.
And what a scene it is. Into the Storm is like Twister on performance-enhancing drugs. The effects put together in this film are absolutely stunning. If you’ve been looking for something to show off the power of that 70″ HD television you’ve got as the centerpiece to your living room, Into the Storm delivers some incredible scenes of the destructive power of Mother Nature. Looking stunningly realistic, the tornado devastation is amazing. The only thing missing are sharks, but take our word for it; you won’t miss them at all. These are dynamic special F/X that will blow you away.
Unfortunately, what won’t blow you away is the rest of the movie. Into the Storm is painfully predictable with a couple of decent characters surrounded by ones you couldn’t care less about. There are several sub-stories that feel meaningless…Sarah Wayne Callies plays a storm chaser at odds with the team leader, Pete (Matt Walsh), while longing to simply be with her young daughter. There is also a single dad who is having trouble connecting with his two teenage sons. These stories converge as a super storm system heads toward the unsuspecting town of Silverton.
Definitely more of a true action film than a horror offering, Into the Storm does certainly manage to keep the audience glued to the screen with the frantic goings-on with the storms. There is also an effective comic angle as Kyle Davis and Jon Reep play Donk and Reevis, a pair of unemployed rednecks who are doing their best to get famous by posting videos of Donk doing completely asinine stunts to YouTube, hoping one goes viral and they are able to cash in on it. When Donk and Reevis realize they should be storm chasers, hilarity ensues and the duo manage to get some decent dopey laughs.
As mentioned above, there is some dissension amongst the professional storm chasing team, which provides thin drama for the movie. Honestly, between the lame spats between the storm chasers and the predictable unrest between the single dad and his two teen boys, director Steven Quale would have been better off focusing even more attention on the storm footage and less on weak attempts to build drama in the film. And big, destructive footage is nothing new to Quale, who was second unit director for James Cameron on Titanic as well as on Avatar.
Your satisfaction with this film will depend on what you expect from it going in. If you are the kind of viewer that is satisfied with some brilliant-looking Hollywood special effects magic that brings the destruction of a tornado right onto the screen in front of you in amazing quality detail, you’re going to go crazy for Into the Storm. However, if you need a little more from your action/horror film, you’re going to find yourself sadly disappointed. The F/X work is amazing, but the characters are generally flat and the story so routine that you could see every move coming a mile away. Luckily, it clocks in right around the 90-minute mark and much of the time is loaded with glorious, shiny F/X.
As for the special features, there are three, each clocking in between six and eleven minutes, that focus on the film’s effects work, building the storm-chasing vehicle, and more. Nothing too standout but nothing bad either.
Get your popcorn, belt in for a good old fashioned devastation movie, and have some fun. Check any cinematic snobbery you may have at the door and go crazy watching things get blown away. It’s a wild time.
Special Features:
- Tornado Files
- The Ultimate Storm-Chasing Vehicle
- Fake Storms / Real Conditions
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Film
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Special Features
Categorized:Reviews
