INTO THE STORM – The Review

In 1996 producer Steven Spielberg and director Jan de Bont jump-started the Summer box office (May 10, that’s still Spring, for goodness sake!) with the release of the thriller TWISTER (not based on the classic Milton Bradley game, of course). The film was a big hit and sparked a brief revival in the major studio disaster flicks similar to the Irwin Allen-produced crowd-pleasers of the 1970’s. Movie technology has advanced by leaps and bounds since then, and now mass-destruction is at the fingertips of most film makers, really just a few computer keyboard clicks away. The superheroes and giant robots have been trashing towns and cities long enough, it’s time for Mother Nature to strut her stuff once more. That may be part of the thought behind the new film INTO THE STORM, which has its roots in that almost 20 year-old flick and the proliferation of the basic cable TV reality shows that have flooded (no pun intended) us with stories of grim, determined researchers and “storm chasers”. But FINAL DESTINATION 5 director Steven Quale has thrown in another element. We see most of the action from camcorders, cell phones, laptops, and other easily accessible bits of tech recording devices. Yup, in the tradition of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, this is another found-footage feature. There are lots of folks talking in the camera, but instead of spooks and spirits, they’re fighting funnels and gale-force winds. Time to head to the multiplex storm shelters and try to dodge them flyin’ cows.

Much like TWISTER, we first get to meet a band of weather researchers, led by the arrogant, impatient Pete (Matt Walsh of TV’s “Veep”) who mans the controls of “Titus”, an armored vehicle built to withstand anything the elements dish out. Pete’s hoping to get one-of-a-kind video inside the eye of the storm. His cameraman is twister vet Daryl (Arlen Escarpeta). They have a back-up storm-tracking tech van driven by jittery newbie camera guy #2 Jacob (Jeremy Sumpter) and ace meteorologist but new to this operation, Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies of TV’s “The Walking Dead”), a single mom hoping to head back to her young daughter. After a couple near misses, a freak hailstorm sends them racing to the little Midwestern town of Silverton. A couple of dim-witted, wannabe viral video stars, “Donk” (Kyle Davis) and Reevis (Jon Reep) see them race by and decide to join the “convoy”. That morning, in the town, high school administrator and single dad Gary (Richard Armitage from THE HOBBIT trilogy) tries to get his boys Donnie (Max Deacon) and Trey (Nathan Kress) off to the high school where they will videotape the mid-day graduation ceremony. But Mother Nature has other plans and soon these groups unite in a desperate race to avoid the multiple twisters that threaten to wipe little Silverton off the map.

The cast does their best with their respective “type” roles. Walsh cranks up the obnoxious in a variation of the old reporter character that cares about nothing or nobody, but the story (in this case it’s the tornado footage). He’s good, but his buffoonish blowhard doesn’t work once the body count starts to rise. Callies is the “conflicted working mother” who must juggle the aggravation of Pete while enduring the gult-inducing, pleading calls and video chats from her adorable, but sad moppet. Kudos to the actress for not flinching or rolling her eyes when the redneck comedy relief duo tell her that this storm is nothing, compared to the upcoming “zombie apocalypse”. Armitage must constantly grimace as the hard-nosed pop who’s got to raise his boys “the best darned way her knows how” while we wait for disaster to melt his heart just in time for the big family hugs. Deacon is the way too-sensitive young man who must be separated in order to realize his chance with his dream girl, the popular, but still a tad insecure Kaitlyn (Alycia Debnam Carey). And then there’s the internet age hillbillies played by Reep and Davis to provide a few easy telegraphed bits of levity. This game troupe of thespians do their best to engage us until the real stars of the movie show up.

The real stars, of course, are those demonic, almost sentient, twisters who make an all-you-can-destroy buffet out of Silverton. As soon as the characters look skyward, we see the funnels forming, almost like a fin popping out of the water before a shark strike. And like those ocean predators, the twisters almost go into a “feeding frenzy” mode as they take on the town square, and that very well-stocked airport (is Silverton an aviation hub?). The best sequence may be when the storms start a fiery explosion at a gas station. One funnel scoops up the flames looking like a Tasmanian devil crossed with a dragon. When an unfortuate soul gets sucked in, his fiery body swirls up, as though we’re watching him being digested by this beast from the bowels of Hell. There’s even a bit of a commentary about global warming causing these frequent weather events (and a mention of Joplin, MO), but why does the inept school principal resemble a prominent political figure? But that’s just filler for the next big “money shot” in yet another big CGI “destruction porn” Summer feature. Even the producers decided that the “found footage” gimmick would be tossed in order to get better airborne shots of the twisters ganging up. It’s a shame that some of the time and budget spent on the effects couldn’t gone into another run-through on the story and dialogue. Cardboard characters like these would only need a strong breeze to be knocked over. There’s the sirens saying the multiplex is all clear!

2.5 Out of 5