Into the Storm: The Review

Director: Steven Quale

Starring: Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Max Deacon, Nathan Kress, Alycia Debnam-Carey

Running Time: 89 minutes.

Certificate: 12A.

What is the plot? 

On graduation day at a local high-school, an unprecedented series of tornadoes touch down around the small town of Silverton.  As locals like school vice-principal Gary Morris (Armitage) struggle to keep their families safe, storm chasers Pete (Walsh) and Allison (Callies) arrive to document the storm.

Review

Warner Bros., the studio that distributed TWISTER (1996) and THE PERFECT STORM (2000), has now released INTO THE STORM, about the biggest tornado of all time.  The movie is directed by Steven Quale, who worked on the James Cameron blockbusters TITANIC and AVATAR and he is back once more putting his technical expertise to the test in this summer’s disaster movie.

The audience may not recognise or be familiar with the cast members, but it does star THE HOBBIT’s Richard Armitage, who is looking very normal after almost three years of seeing him on the big screen looking dwarf-like and hairy and Sarah Wayne Callies from THE WALKING DEAD who are part of a varied ensemble of cast members.

There is certainly no calm before this storm as tension between a local family starts the day off badly for deputy head teacher Gary (Armitage) and his two sons Donnie and Trey (Max Deacon and Nathan Kress) which the story initially centres around in the fictional Midwestern town of Silverton.  Gary is a single father struggling to raise his two teenage sons after the tragic death of his wife,  who is too preoccupied at work and the sons are rebellious.  

Unbeknown to them, a storm is brewing and tornado chasers are in hot pursuit to catch footage of the biggest tornadoes the world has ever seen.  

The meteorological team is headed by weather expert Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies) and storm chaser Pete (Matt Walsh).  Most of the characters are chasing the storm with handheld cameras and a lot of the action is presented through their lenses.  The found footage element of the film helps to create a documentary home video feel, as though the tornadoes are striking in real time.  

Only at this point does the movie retain your attention after spending too long introducing many of the characters.  Once the funnel clouds drop, Quale and his special effects team create some scarily realistic and frightening scenes.  It seems no object is too small to be sucked up the giant beast of tornadoes with cars, trucks and even planes aplenty being thrown around as if they were weightless grains of sand.   

From this point on, the action does not stop as the tornado chasers race against time to capture shots of the twisters and get inside the eye of the storm and for Gary, it’s a race against time to save his son, Donnie and his love interest (Alycia Debnam-Carey) who are trapped underground in a mill that begins flooding.  As the two teenagers record emotional messages on their camera for their families as the prospect of death looms, the emotional reality of what can happen when a tornado strikes does hit home and no doubt could stir up emotional flashbacks for those who really have witnessed and survived a ferocious tornado or storm in real life.  

Despite the multitude of great special effects, it’s good to see realistic situations have been used to create the action.  Armitage in particular seems to have faced his fair share of extremities when filming, with a gigantic truck being dropped only feet away from him, he has been tied up to giant wires and blown around the street and jumped into a huge underground mill seeped in water.  He definitely deserved his wages when making the film!

The storyline may not blow you away (sorry, I couldn’t help it!), but the realistic special effects are a sight to behold.

What’s great about the film?

There are formidable technical achievements in the film and it’s nice to see less familiar faces take up the roles within the movie.

What’s wrong with it?

It takes too long for the action to start.  The movie spends too much time introducing characters for the first twenty minutes or so of the movie.

Verdict

★★★

INTO THE STORM shows off some spectacular and realistic special effects.  It does exactly what it says on the tin.  If you’re after a movie that focuses on a meteorological disaster that is doused with special effects, then this is the film to watch.  

Here is the trailer to tempt you…

Please follow and like us: