Into the Storm (2014)

Charming and brutal

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Twister isn't the best film ever, but In to the storm is a total waste of money. At first I actually liked this film! Good action and ok CGI! But I rewatched it and it sucks! The acting is trash, the only good thing is the CGI... it's a fun movie though..

I love a good disaster movie, this was, well not all that good but not terrible, just very B movie-ish. For some reason I was expecting more. Its on the level of a made for TV Sy Fy movie just with a bigger budget for special effects, following fearless storm chasers who risk their lives in order to collect data on an unprecedented weather pattern that unleashes multiple tornados on a small town, meanwhile the terrified locals race for shelter at the local high school. Unfortunatly there also aren't any interesting characters to get invested in here, everyone is pretty bland, the two boys and the high school dad moderately caught my attention and the teens trapped in the collapsed paper mill filling with water but it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. There are also randomly a couple of Walking Dead alumni in the cast with Sarah Wayne Callies and the chick from Fear Alycia Debnam-Carey.The formulaic storyline doesn't help, its just there to tie all the tornados together so that the whole thing becomes totally forgettable, like a cheap Twister without Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton to care about. I've seen it all before, dull.I will say the fire tornado was very cool.

Overall: A lazy, boring atrocity and is just a bad movie with little to redeem it.Good: The visuals are actually quite good and the destruction looks quite cool.Bad: The characters were just bland and unlikeable blobs that run the story. You don't care at all about them and couldn't care less if they survive or not. I have no idea how these people got the part; it actually baffles me. The plot was so stupid and had an over abundance of stupid, unlikeable characters to drag on a leash. It is very clichéd and so boring. The cinematography was bad rapidly switching between found footage and professional camera-work which is just frustrating.Best Part: The destruction scene at the airport was incredible and truly showed the potential of this movie.MVP: Matt Walsh as Pete4/10

I've been on a bit of an Alycia Debnam-Carey trip lately and went through all of the films she's done so far, which are not very many as she is mainly known for her television work at this point, like 'Fear the Walking Dead,' where I first noticed her. If it wasn't for Alycia being part of the cast, I probably would never have watched 'Into the Storm.' I had heard about the movie back when it came out but had no inclination to watch it as I thought it would be nothing more than another mediocre disaster film, a notion which the generally negative reviews and bad ratings for the movie strongly support.As I only wanted to see Alycia and how she was doing in her role, I had no expectations whatsoever of 'Into the Storm' and was very pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be an entertaining, action-packed thrill-ride of a tornado disaster film very similar to 1996's 'Twister' but with more impressive visual effects due to the drastic advances in computer-generated imagery since then. Most of the CGI looks absolutely stunning and rather realistic and is the definitive selling point of the movie as the bare-bones script doesn't offer much character development or any real surprises in the progression of the plot. It's simply a very typical setting for a disaster film with a straightforward plot: Small groups of strangers meet through the circumstances of a disaster and have to fight to survive while they bond a little bit in the rare quiet moments. For instance, Donnie (Max Deacon), an introverted nerd-like character, gets stuck with Kaitlyn (Alycia Debnam-Carey), the pretty girl he has had a crush on for a long time. You can probably guess how their chance meeting turns out in the end as this is a very commonly used but still effective plot device.As I said, this movie delivers just what you'd expect from a disaster film. Still, 'Into the Storm' received generally negative reviews, which is not surprising as these types of movies are always panned by critics for no apparent reason. After all, director Steven Quale certainly didn't set out to make 'Citizen Kane' or something but an entertaining action flick. I don't think there even is such a thing as a critically acclaimed disaster film except for maybe 'Titanic' (1997). Critics hate disaster films! Even the best movies of its genre like 'The Day After Tomorrow' (2004) weren't received very well at all by critics. That's just the way it is. So don't let negative reviews and low ratings put you off!Despite the fact that the adult main characters of the movie, portrayed by Sarah Wayne Callies ('The Walking Dead'), Richard Armitage ('The Hobbit') and Matt Walsh ('Ted'), are the protagonists, the teenage characters are really the ones who shine. Nathan Kress' character is the most elaborate in the script. He has some of the best lines and his portrayal of the character is energetic and simply fun to watch. Max Deacon is pretty good, too. He has a quite convincing crying scene. On the other hand, lead actress Sarah Wayne Callies' character is not fleshed-out enough to carry the movie on her own and Richard Armitage's dad-character remains stiff and somewhat distant throughout. Matt Walsh is great, though, as Pete, the daredevil documentary filmmaker who seemingly has no scruples but is actually a loyal friend.While the main characters are likable, many of the minor characters remain bland as they don't have enough screen time to amount to anything. The notable exception are the two Jackass-type dumbasses Donk and Reevis (Kyle Davis and Jon Reep), who voluntarily risk their lives driving into the tornadoes with their pickup truck and a quad bike just to shoot YouTube videos and get more views on their channel. This dumb-and-dumber-like duo doesn't really serve a purpose in the plot but is hilarious to watch.So, while the 'Into the Storm' is certainly not perfect in every aspect, there is a lot to like about it. To get back to the sole reason why I initially watched the movie, Alycia is fine in her role but she doesn't have very much screen time. She looks very pretty, though, so she does obviously serve the purpose of eye candy and I absolutely mean that as a compliment. After all, she shows a lot of potential in many of the roles she has taken on over the past few years and she's just really breaking out as an actress in Hollywood. When she gets the right role, she might turn into a major star. She certainly possesses the right qualities.