"Into the Storm" is a disaster film from those Hollywood people that know better. In the 70s, these movies were at their forte (Earthquake, The Poseidon Adventure) and always made impressive numbers at the Box Office and the same was repeated in late '90s (Twister, Volcano, Dante's Peak) while there were some similar productions in the previous decade (for the DVD market). I'm a big fan of these movies and I really wanted to watch "Into the Storm" since it was released in America. The negative point about this film was the fact that projection during the second week, only a few theaters played it around my city. Therefore, we hadn't many choises to watch it. I guess that Greek viewers are not too crazy for disaster movies as Americans.
The beginning of the film, I would say it was quite tragic, because the dialogues were completely infantile and the performances below average. When the giant tornadoes made their appearance, the film started to get better and the performances "came (thankfully) in the background". The tornadoes were doing pretty good via editing and some scenes were very exciting, but there were others who seemed quite fake. The script did not demand special inspiration although some information about the tornadoes were enlightening. It had also too many cliches during the plot (mainly relating to the family). However, it had the most impressive sound effects in this year. The tornado sounds so loud and intense that you thought you were in the place where they were touching down. Of course, the equipment of that cinema hall played an important role for this. Richard Armitage (Hobbit) was suitable for the leading role while co-star Sarah Wayne Callies was convincing enough for her role. I found the second roles very miserable. In no case, I found it better than "Twister" but for fans of this kind of film, it offers entertainment. I guess that director Steven Quale had this on his mind too.
"Into the Storm" cost only $50 million which is considered a fairly low production for films that require elaborate sets and impressive visual effects. Nevertheless, it managed to outnumber his budget three times over ($150.000.000) and it is regarded as a blockbuster worldwide. It has received an average rating on IMDb (6,2) which is relatively close to my own rating for this movie. It is certainly not a bad film but unfortunately it struggles to surpass the frames of a video film with low production costs.
I quite liked this tbh. I found it was great as a disaster movie although Looe a bit predictable with the family like you've said. Childish even.
I've had the opportunity to watch this today, and overall it was definitely worth watching. I have mixed emotions, the second half of the film was sensational especially from rescuing Donnie and Kaitlyn onwards. The special effects and overall cinematography was just outstanding!
But I feel the filmmakers missed an opportunity to make this into a modern classic. To me the strongest characters were the family unit of Gary, Trey and Donnie along with Kaitlyn and the scene with Donnie and Kaitlyn trapped as the water was about to overwhelm them was very effective. If I were making the film I would've focused the majority of the film on the story of Donnie and Kaitlyn, and what was happening at the school and the mill. Then when it came to that water scene the emotion would've been heightened even further and you really had characters to root for. Maybe this makes it too much of a romantic drama than an action thriller, but I think it would've been the best route for the film to take.
I appreciate the need for the storm-chasers back story and I'm sure there could've been a way to neatly interweave the storm-chasers and Donnie/Kaitlyn/Gary/Trey. The scenes with the two drunk guys felt a complete waste of time, were they there for supposed comedy value? They distracted away from the strong characters and were the only major downside of the film - luckily they weren't in it too much, and hardly at all in the very strong second half of the film.
Overall, it was very enjoyable! It was just frustrating to see such potential that wasn't tapped into and could have made this one of the must-see movies of recent years.
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