twister 2: get twistier

Experiencing an actual tornado may be more pleasant than experiencing Into the Storm, a godawful storm-chasing B movie which cannot hold a candle to Twister, a flawed film itself, but an entertaining one (now almost two decades old). This picture is partly presented in the hand-held found-footage style, but it tends to abandon the conceit at the drop of the hat, shifting to flatly shot and poorly composed objective images. It spends an inordinate amount of time establishing a set of characters who are at best uninteresting, at worst toxic. Most of them have a predictable arc. There is the brooding and guarded vice principal who has become estranged from and lost the respect of his teenage sons. (Will the days of tornadoes renew their family?) There is the meteorologist whose adrenaline-and-spectacle-minded employer, a storm chaser, prefers instinct to science. (Will they find common ground, and will she prove her value to him?) Then there are two hillbilly daredevils trying to create the ultimate viral video. They come and go and are, I suspect, intended as comic relief. (No predictable arc here. They are just among the most grating and grotesque film characters in recent memory.)

After a deadly dull half hour watching these characters' morning routines, the tornadoes descend. There are one or two instances of genuine spectacle, including a death by fiery cyclone and the destruction of an airport as the planes are lifted from the ground and thrown to and fro in the air, a moment shown in every trailer and television spot. In general, however, nothing raised my pulse. There is a notable dearth of showmanship and suspense, rendering scenes of extreme weather rote and inert. This is a bit of an unpleasant surprise, too, considering the director made the disposable, but largely enjoyable Final Destination 5. The ability to blend the macabre and the playful eludes him here. To be blunt, there are no grounds on which to recommend Into the Storm. It is a creative and technical dud.

F

The acting and dialogue here was terrible here, so much so that a few moments I laughed unintentionally but I thought it was fun and it had quite a few moments where I was on the edge of my seat. There was a subplot with rednecks that was just dire though. I have no idea why they were there besides to provide some kind of comic relief, which they didn't do. The special effects were good too. Definitely wasn't a very good movie but I had fun.

C+

I got this confused with Into the Woods after hearing the latter was a musical and thought they made a tornado disaster musical for a second (And trixster's reply, made perfect sense)

I had fun with it. The visual effects were better than I expected going by the ads. I agree with reviews saying that the character development (or lack thereof) leaves a lot to be desired, but the tornado mayhem provided for some cool scenes. Ultimately forgettable but it delivered a short, fun ride. I could have done without the embarrassingly over-the-top redneck characters that were meant to be comic relief but only served to insult the audiences intelligence.

I'd give it a B.

Uh how do you make a movie about tornadoes ripping a town apart so damn boring ? I admit after seeing the trailers for this I wasn't expecting much, but at the very least an hour and a half of fun escapism.

Sadly, this movie doesn't come anywhere close to the popcorn entertainment of past disaster movies like Twister or even more recent films. The characters here are beyond dull and on top of subpar effects this could have honestly been your average Syfy channel movie that premiers every Saturday night.

It was entertaining tbh

C+

It gets overtly ridiculous just like most of these films do but I guess the documentary-style filming along with it's consistent pace made it entertaining enough. Plus, at least it knows not to go over 90 minutes and overstay it's welcome.

The special effects are great. The humans are shit. At least Twister got that last part somewhat right.

*½ (C-)