INTO THE STORM (2014)Cheap knock-off of TWISTER (1996) done in the found footage style.
I go 2 out of 5.
It was not "bad" in terms of story. It was an entertaining enough 89 minutes. Predictable and even sappy at times, but not the worse.
Visual effects were ok, but I did not like (do not like) the 'shaky cam' style of basically making it so you don't have to have visual effects. So, I gotta mark down for the fx.
The film was covered in continuity and internal consistency problems. There were some things that just plain did not make sense...like the high school graduation seemed to be being held on a normal school day. It seems like a quibble, but there were enough things like this to take you out of the movie often.
Another one was the airport...small town in the middle of nowhere with a Hartsfield sized airport next to it...that was GONE in subsequent overhead shots? The airport was there just to put some cool visuals with the planes, but it was just kinda stupid.
There was one other BIG continuity problem, and it took me repeatedly out of the film. Two characters made the drive from the school to an old papermill in no time. They got there in time to set up and stage video. Yet, the others going out there took half the dang movie, like they were driving to another town. Then, the drive back to town...no time at all.
What REALLY got me, though, was the super-duper heavy handed "OMG...weather is getting WORSE! What will we DO?" hysteria coupled with the constant hitting over the head with "all good things come from government and authority."
Let's examine a few:
In TWISTER, the character Bill could 'sense' where a tornado was forming. His team used data and his sixth sense to suss out where to go. They were self reliant, solving their own problems when they occurred (such as rescuing Aunt Meg) and were shown as the very definition of rugged individualists.
INTO THE STORM'S main meteorologist, played by Sarah Wayne Callies, was NOTHING like this. She was whiney and weepy in her personal life and we got WAY too much screen time of her agonizing over her daughter who was 200 miles away with Grandma. But worse than that, she was not a meteorologist at all, it would seem. She ONLY announced weather stuff when she heard it on the radio or NWS made an announcement. Not one single time that I noticed, did she look at her DATA and conclude, "Oh my goodness, there's something big and bad forming there!" Every time..."NWS says this system is getting bigger!" or some such.
In a similar vein, there was a big deal made about the town being extra-vulnerable because the sirens had been knocked out. Okay, but...there are OTHER ways people can get information. Did no one in that town ever hear of a battery operated radio? Or what the hell...LOOKING OUTSIDE to see what was happening?
Also...it was not lost on me that the main Dad-who-rescues-his-kids character was a school vice principal (and one with more moral authority, apparently, than the actual principal). They could have made him a baker or used car salesman, but no. The hero had to be an authority figure.
Finally, I've got to ding this film a bit for the use of "found footage" style. While it was creatively slipped in in a few places, I think this is one film making style that has run its course. I don't know; its going to have to be EXTREMELY well done for me to see it as positive anymore. As a cliche movie making technique, it has gotten annoying.
The sad thing is that it COULD have worked in this film, with the premise being Storm Chasers that are ... filming stuff. It was just overused and heavy handed...and the whole bit with the kids doing a "time capsule" just seemed contrived.
