Review of Into the Storm (2014) by Tyler R — 29 Mar 2015

It's pretty bad when you start hoping that every character on screen dies. Such is the case with Into the Storm, which features nice visual effects at times, but is filled with horrendously unlikeable characters, zero plot, and cringe inducing dialogue.

The film follows a group of people who try to survive mega tornadoes. I know that sounds dumb, but is there really any other way to describe the film? We have characters that may as well not even exist chasing after tornadoes that do the following: Become fire tornadoes, become extremely particular about the proximity one has to be to it for any lifting to occur, and morph together to become a mega tornado, which is my personal favorite.

But let's start with the characters. We have storm chasers under the command of a rude boss, a "witty" teenager, two storm chasing wannabe rednecks, a teenager with daddy issues who miraculously develops a love interest with another troubled teenager, and the vice principal who is said dad.

What we have are dull, one dimensional characters portrayed by dull, one dimensional actors. We are never care about these characters, and more often than not, I was rooting for the tornado. In terms of a plot, good luck finding that.

Then there is the poorly handled use of POV shaky cam to accompany the traditional camera. Why was POV included? Was it, perhaps, a way for the audience to hate this film even more? Maybe...just maybe.

The only thing this film has going for it are the visual effects...at times. Sometimes they look pretty good, and then there are times when you can almost see the Syfy logo in the bottom right corner of the screen, because they look pretty rough.

The film ends with the typical, clichéd ridden conclusion you'll more than likely see coming a mile away. Luckily, there doesn't seem to be any sign of a tornado franchise, so let's count ourselves lucky for that.