Into the Storm ** (2014, Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh) – Movie Review

Director Steven Quale’s disaster B-movie takes a stale idea borrowed from Twister, adds a played-out found footage idea, boring characters, a tiny plot and cheesy dialogue, casts a bunch of lost-looking B-movie actors giving bad performances, and splats CGI across the huge cinema screen.

But, even after nearly 20 years, Twister looks so much better and is a lot more fun. Take a bow, Industrial Light & Magic’s 1996 visual effects! However, to be fair, the storm action in the film’s second half does finally deliver some exciting, convincing-looking thrills.

The town of Silverton is at the mercy of deadly cyclones, as storm trackers arrive and predict the worst of the tornadoes is yet to come. Most people seek shelter in the local school, while others run towards the vortex, which only goes to show how far a nutty storm chaser will go for the money shot.

The three main stars, Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, are stiff as boards in stereotypical roles that defeat them. But the young actors come off best, Max Deacon, Nathan Kress and Jeremy Sumpter, at least giving this dinosaur some teen appeal.

In Silverton, it’s high school graduation day and single parent vice-principal Gary Morris (Armitage) has asked his two sons, Donnie (Deacon) and Trey (Kress), to make a time capsule video, to be viewed in 25 years. The community is blissfully unaware that a deadly storm is about to hit their town. Playing truant from the graduation ceremony, Donnie clears off to a mill nearby to help a girl he fancies with her project. Meanwhile, storm chaser Pete (Walsh) and his team members (Callies, Sumpter) have tracked the storm to Silverton to capture tornado footage for their documentary film.

The film’s serious tone gives it the heavy weight of importance, but it’s a popcorn movie that needs to have entertainment on its fore-brain. Writer John Swetnam’s screenplay is not good on fresh, credible ideas, plot development, character drawing or dialogue.

Quale directed Final Destination 5 and co-directed the underwater documentary Aliens of the Deep with James Cameron. He was also second unit director on Cameron’s Avatar and Titanic. Swetnam wrote the horror flick Evidence and the dance film sequel Step Up 5 All In.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

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