Review of Into the Storm (2014) by Quincytheodore — 07 Aug 2014

Deceptively looking as if it's a straight to DVD B-movie, Into the Storm is actually a fairly good disaster movie with decent acting and effect. The buildup takes quite a while as it switches back and forth between into mockumentary and usual catastrophic shot. It is a different kind of style that tries to establish more authenticity, which to its credit, work adequately in some scenes. Upon first glance it highly resembles Twister, though effort has been made to avoid such resemblance, and it still treads the line between absurdity and timely coincidence, but surprisingly the movie entertains well enough to breathe some fresh air to audience.

Frankly speaking, the most notable actors in the movie are Richard Armitage (Thorin from The Hobbit) as Gary and Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori from Walking Dead) as Allison. They fit their roles which are both single parents accidentally trapped in a dire situation, Armitage in particular looks believably parental. While a bit hard to discern without costume and beard, he's strikingly a bit like Jeremy Renner here, his echoing voice might be familiar to some. The movie delivers more in acting department with some good scenes, while its characters are pretty likeable and easy to sympathize with.

It's not a slouch on special effect either, although most movies these days possess some degree of blockbuster effect. Into the Storm is at its best when the disaster happens in first person or documentary style, since these types of spectacles usually provide typical grandiose crash and mayhem. While it's not a big budget or metropolis level carnage, the movie produces the scenes effectively. However, it still confusingly drags a couple of dumb countryside show-offs who miraculously stick in the movie for Youtube fame, a missed comical attempt there. Some law of physics and remarkably timing are seen as well to get the plot going, albeit they are the somewhat expected and understandable.

Despite some setbacks and its moderate production value, it brings enough to warrant a decent disaster movie.