Tornados are an ever fascinating subject, that to this day, still give me chills just on the thought of discussing them. Growing up, if I had just one fear, tornados were just that. So then in 1997, a little film came out from director Gus Van Sant called, “Twister” a ravishingly look into the undetermined answers as to how Tornadoes work. The film itself was terrifying, exciting and to this day, still holds up as one of the better disaster films ever made. Now, fifteen years later we have, “Into The Storm” even from the same studio, no less Warner Bros Pictures.

“Into The Storm,” has some breathtaking scenery, and the visual effects department worked some magic somewhere into the film. But, if we look at statistics and facts this movie is completely off the wall. Where “Twister” was engaging for the depth of factuality. Not only that, the characters, the performances, and the point of view camera style never works in the films favor. Instead it rambles all over the place, never finding a true balance and making it hard to keep up with and maintain.

Of course, the film revolves around a small town’s hope for survival as one of the biggest storms of the century starts formulating. And of course, the storm chasers are attempting to make a documentary and claim that, “this is the biggest storm I’ve ever seen.” These are lines you will hear constantly. The crew itself is just surrounded by danger; it’s like they’re magnets to tornados. Because, believe it or not, when the crew hit’s the road, trouble usually ensues. None of this is at all believable.

The film is told through a kind of found-footage concept, which is a blunder of an idea for a movie like this. It only works in its favor towards the end of all the carnage. The characters are almost always in danger. Cars are flying at their heads, schools are being demolished, and the single handily, most deadly tornado is heading right towards you. Let’s stand there and film with a camera, like we are superman. When third death rolled around, I didn’t care what happened anymore, because at that point, I was long gone from where the film was headed.

There are some crafty visual effects shots that are eerily exciting. The intro to the film, in particular, got my heart racing. However, the film never exfoliates beyond those boundaries. Instead, it just borrows elements from better-made disaster movies like, “The Day After Tomorrow.” There are a slew of recognizable faces along the way. Richard Armitage from the Hobbit Series is front and center. Nathen Kress from I-Carly has a little supporting role as well. Their performances are pretty slick given all the reaping mayhem that is occurring. “Into The Storm” will do its part for most mainstream junkies looking for a fix of entertainment. The film only lasts less than an hour and half run-time, so it ends fairly abrupt.

The fact of the matter is, I could go on about all the mistakes and stupidity the film ensues. Frankly, it would take me all night. So I will leave you with this, did you see the movie “Twister?” Because if you have great, I’d go watch that again. The old tagline for “Twister” was actually going to be called “It Sucks,” but they changed it, so critics couldn’t use it as flames in their fire. Hmm go figure right?

D+

By: Nate Adams

Directed By: Steven Quale

Rated: PG13

Runtime: 89 mins

Studio: Warner Bros Pictures

Release Date: August 8th 2014

Thanks For Stopping By.