Into The Storm

Director Steven Quale's last film was the surprisingly enjoyable Final Destination 5 but, whilst his new film is also about death and destruction, it's a lower certificate outing following a bunch of storm chasers (professional and amateur) documenting a series of tornadoes as they ravage a small US town. The lack of edge is a problem as despite some decent special effects the whole package can't shake the feel of a TV film, not helped by a selection of US small screen stars from such varied shows as Prison Break, The Walking Dead and Veep. There's a family element thrown in in the shape of Richard Armitage's strict dad and the relationship with his sons, but its the carnage we've come to watch, right? The film utilises the now basic staple of telling a large portion of the story from the characters own camera's, smart phones etc, but like most films that do this there isn't really any exact science behind it. Talking of science, there isn't much background or explanation to the storms which might annoy some, but in a film that's only 90 minutes long it really doesn't make much sense to dwell on things you can read about on-line in five minutes. The lower certificate means more mild peril than blood and terror (apart from the only real on-screen death which is somewhat disturbing and I suspect will give the youngest members of the audience a few nightmares), though the safety message seems to be somewhat lost in the mix as at no point do any of the characters shown much respect to the destructive power that tornado's can bring. On that note there's a problem at the end of the film where, after watching death and destruction for ninety minutes in the form of entertainment, we're shown some real news clips of devastated US towns and the effect on its residents. This doesn't really sit very well. Have the producers of this film given any of the revenue over to such causes? I doubt it. Apart from the impressive effects (Unmanned flying 747's! Though why a one horse town in the middle of Oklahoma has what appears to be an international airport in it needs a bit of explanation) there's not much here. Don't worry though Twister fans as, yes, there is a flying cow. Rating: 5/10.