Official Synopsis
In the span of just a few hours, the city of Silverton is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of the most furious twisters they’ve ever seen. The entire town is at the mercy of the erratic and deadly cyclones, even as storm trackers predict the worst is yet to come. Most people seek shelter, while others run toward the vortex, testing how far a storm chaser will go for that once-in-a-lifetime shot.
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The film starts off on a high note, a group of kids hang out (possibly prom) in a car on a rainy/stormy night taking photographs of street lamps shorting out. They think it’s a power surge, but soon feel the wrath of a rogue tornado.
I love when a disaster movie doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s what makes a disaster film oh-so brilliant. Right from the get-go in Into the Storm we know that something is coming and it’s horrible. Before it can get to such a horrible thing, the movie has to introduce our cast of characters that will be surviving it (well, almost everyone).
We go from terribly shocking destruction to a calm and serene scene that introduces us to Gary (Richard Armitage) and his two sons Trey (Nathan Kress) and Donnie (Max Deacon). Trey is making a time capsule video for the family, while Donnie is trying to figure out his role in life — he starts by hating his father. Gary, a vice principal at a local school, is trying to keep his family from falling apart after the death of his wife/their mother. In the meantime, the school is having a graduation of sorts that may/may not be ruined by something sinister in the film (can you guess what that might be).
The movie shifts and we get a glimpse of two very ‘red’ country boys named Donk (Kyle Davis) and Reevis (Jon Reep). Their ambitions in life? Stunts Jackass style. They want to do something spectacular on YouTube to gain notoriety. They are the comedy relief of the film and somewhat enjoyable, especially at the very end (stay for that).
The movie pushes over to our next group of folks all of whom are storm chasers. Led by Pete (Matt Walsh), a storm chaser trying to find a big storm and keep his career alive. Pete is followed by his driver Daryl (Arlen Escarpeta), a newbie camera operator and his storm analysis Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies), whom he doesn’t trust. They are in quite a bind to get shots of a storm before an investor pulls their funding.
You see where all this is going? Well the movie doesn’t take long to get everyone together when Allison convinces Daryl that storms are about to hit Silverton. Silverton is where Gary and his sons are, as well as the reds. Of course, all three groups come together to weather the storms (pun intended), while trying to save each other’s lives (or sacrifice themsevles) during what can only be described as one of the worst tornado events ever in human history.
To be quite frank, none of the characters will stick with you in this film. They seemed a bit one-dimensional and very predictable. You know what’s going to happen to bring Gary and his family together. You understand what’s going to happen when Daryl and his group get in the mix. You can already guess what is to become of Donk and Reevis. Again, one-dimensional folks and predictable.
They are not the stars of this film (I mean, they are, but well…you know).
Into the Storm is enjoyable because there is so much ridiculously beautiful destruction going on in the film that you really don’t have time to sit and try to turn this into a drama. Director Steven Quale and writer John Swetnam set up the destructive moments of the storm beautifully and don’t apologize for anything along the way. It’s a tense movie. The best part about it? The special effects and the constant fear of the storm are out of this world for a movie like this. This is probably how Twister should have been from start to finish. Just one big trail of destruction. The storm keeps you glued to the film because the situations for ‘trap and escape’ are really quite good. For example, near the end, the group is trapped in a large drainage cement pipe, where one end is clogged with a giant truck and the other is just bars for water to pour out. The way they survive and eventually escape is breathtaking. The situation constructed was the right type for this film. I’m very surprised and pleased that Quale didn’t waste anytime getting to the destructive goods because the story through the characters wouldn’t have been enough to keep this movie entertaining.
In short, stay for the storm, take the characters with a grain of salt and enjoy the destruction.
On the Blu-ray side of things, Warner Home Video did another bang up job for another release. I really enjoy the fact that WHV doesn’t judge a movie on its popularity and sets the same HD transfer standard for all its films. I’ve yet to really run into a film that didn’t look sharp from WHV. Anyway, the movie itself is tinted blue, so you get that throughout the film (it makes sense because there are storms). The blues, grays and whites stand out quite well. There’s a good level of detail achieved in the movie that works well for the format. There aren’t any compression issues or color banding problems. Surprisingly, there are no issues with the special effects. For a movie that had an estimated budget of $50,000,000 (according to IMDB.com), that’s impressive. Good stuff all around.
The audio, which is key for this release, comes to you in DTS-HD 5.1 and the aspect ratio of the film is 1.85:1.
As for the features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Into the Storm: Tornado Files
– Titus: The Ultimate Chasing Vehicle
– Fake Storms: Real Conditions
The special features aren’t bad at all. They add some value to the overall package. Interesting stuff nonetheless.
