Starring: Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Arlen Escarpeta, Jeremy Sumpter, Nathan Kress, Max Deacon, Kyle Davis, Scott Lawrence, Jon Reep, Kron Moore, Lee Whittaker, David Drumm, Brandon Ruiter, Anthony Rogers.
Year Of Release: 2014
Certificate: 12A (UK)
Runtime: 89 Minutes
Director: Steven Quale
Synopsis: "Storm trackers, thrill-seekers, and everyday townspeople document an
unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes touching down in the town of
Silverton." IMDB
Into The Storm was very low on my expectations list, while it did bring together a pretty decent cast I wasn't that excited for the release. Maybe growing up on "Twister", "Dante's Peak" and "Deep Impact" in my honest opinion three of the better Disaster films ever, has given me higher expectations for the genre.
The film opens up with a group of high school students in a car together messing around when a huge storm is brewing around them, when the storm begins to get worse they group sees a tornado rapidly approaching. One of the girls wants to run, while one of the guys overly cocky and arrogant like 95% of teen males in movies today are decides to try recording the tornado gets back to the car just in time for the tornado to pick them and kill them all in the process. Back in the town of Silverton, Oklahoma, the local students are preparing for their graduation, whose vice-principal Gary Fuller (Armitage) has told his two sons Trey (Kress) & Donnie (Deacon) to capture messages from students for a time capsule (a convenient trope in order to add found footage).
Somewhere else entirely, we meet Pete (Walsh) has been attempting to intercept and film a tornado up close in his self proclaimed "Titus" which is a heavily armoured vehicle to ride out the worst of the worst storms. Hearing of the possible happenings in Silverton they head there in hopes of finding themselves some tornadoes worthy of their life long dedication to the craft. After arriving in Silverton they discover that the "cell" they had been chasing has suddenly dissipated, as the teams gets themselves together it's back again, stronger and more vicious than ever. As the team is filming the funnel inexplicably changes course head right for the school. This is when the destruction truly becomes over the top movie madness.
Overall, the film was a pretty good watch, while the acting was less than desirable throughout and there was little to no character development. This film is not really about those aspects, it is purely a popcorn flick same goes for the majority of films that fall under this category. After all the boring attempts at relating to characters is over and the true nature of the film begins the tornadoes, I began to enjoy myself, the film shifts quickly into the end of days feel you'd expect in this world. The visuals at times are fantastic other times they slip a bit, overall though they are more than adequate and do the job of portraying the destruction you want to see.
The film is not a very good film by any stretch of the imagination it is exactly what it advertises to be just a film about tornadoes with a kind of overlying story. I will say though it is a film you will either enjoy or hate, there is no middle ground, for me it is a guilty pleasure I could happily sit back, relax and watch again. The film doesn't disappoint with its tornadoes, they come fast and thick, I'd say every 15/20 minutes something HUGE weather wise happens, which may sound like a lot, but they breaks between events makes it a pretty well paced film.
It will not win awards for originality, nor with actors/actresses be getting Oscar calls anytime soon as they shouldn't. Pretty much anybody could have played the roles in the film and done an equally as good display, the saving grace is the truly over the top destruction caused by mother nature herself. The first half of the film can be slow and boring at times, but stick with it, once the action starts it doesn't stop and that's a good thing.
5/10
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