INTO THE STORM

US, 2014, 89 minutes, Colour.
Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh.
Directed by Stephen Quale.

Whew!!

Actually, that sounds rather weak as a verbal effort to describe the impact of the tornadoes in this semi-documentary disaster film.

How to describe the extraordinary special effects, making the tornadoes (storm in the title is definitely an understatement) seem so real, visually, aurally? So that by the end of the film, though comfortably ensconced in our cinema seats, we do feel the aftermath of being battered and bruised by being immersed in these twisters. (“Awesome”, had it not been hijacked by modern usage, over-usage, could have been a word to describe the impact of the effects – a friend kindly came to the rescue and suggested “astounding” which will do!)

The plot is fairly standard, the attention of the film-makers going to the action sequences rather than to their particularly ordinary dialogue. And the characters, also, are rather ordinary. There are three groups who eventually come together.

The main group is the storm-chasers, professionals, who roam around in high-technical vehicles, one really like a tank, another with sophisticated storm-chasing computers with links to television stations to bring immediate tornado footage. They are led by a very demanding professional named Pete, harsh towards everyone, challenged that he is thinking only of money and reputation rather than the concerns of injured people, but, of course, showing himself heroic at the end. There are drivers as well as camera operators, and Alison, the university educated expert on storms.

The second group focuses on a family, widower father, rather severe on his two teenage sons, who go to a graduation at the local school only to find that the graduate son is absent, making a video with his girlfriend.

The third group, negligible (and the film could’ve done without them), are some Youtube Yobs, not a brain between them, drinking then drunk, carrying on with attitudes and behaviour and stunts like the Jackass team.

But, the screenplay posits more tornadoes on the one day than Oklahoma ever saw. And then they start to split. As has been said, the visual impact of the tornadoes, the pace of the editing for maximum shock and involvement, more than justifies the making of the film. If you want to see instant destruction, from the continually moving tornadoes, the film certainly provides it. (In the old days, Dorothy’s house rolling through the air and landing in olives’s’sOz, seemed spectacular. This time, roofs and vehicles are easy targets – by the end, there are several 747 is whirling through the air.)

By the end, there is a group in peril, the father and his son, the rescued son (in the nick of time) and his girlfriend, Pete and his team, hiding in a stormwater channel, experiencing the twisters, the calm of the eye of the storm, and the final battering.

In one sense, the film is a very average B-budget story. But, it is an above average experience of cinema tornadoes.

1. The popularity of disaster films, especially during the later decades of the 20th century? Fictions? Documentaries? Semi-documentaries?

2. The reality of tornadoes in the United States? Origins of storms, progress, the whirlwinds, the twisters, striking, destruction?

3. This film and the impact of the visuals? A huge sense of realism? The quality of the special effects? The visual impact, the aural impact? Tornadoes in themselves, a sense of wonder watching them, people and their effects, attempts to escape and save themselves, the ruthlessness and the impact of destruction?

4. The basic plot of this film, rather ordinary, the writing, characters and types?

5. The editing, the shock, the pace, audience involvement, the score?

6. The subplots and their coming together?

7. The storm chasers, as a profession, on the lookout for the tornadoes, Pete and his life, hard, demanding on the others, telling them off? Alison and her studies, the five-year-old daughter? The camera operators, the drivers? The television link for immediacy? The importance of making money out of this profession? Seeing the characters in action, the dangers, continuing filming? The young man and his being caught up in the explosion and the fire?

8. The father, widower, his relationship with his sons, hard, one building the time capsule, missing the graduation? The younger brother and his going with his father? David, going with his girlfriend, making the video? The younger son going to school, participating in the graduation?

9. The Youtube Yobs, their bikes, vehicles, drinking and drunk, mad and the risks, like the Jackass team, caught up in the whirlwind, ending up upside down in the trees, falling down? This contribution of comedy – necessary or not?

10. The school, the kids, sheltering? The principal, the warning, going to the buses, being saved?

11. The final group, Peter and the vehicles, and the technology, anchoring the vehicle, the tank? The growing fears? The fire, filming and deaths? The father and his son, joining the group, getting the lift, the phone calls, trying to contact his son, the decision to go to find the son, the young man and the girl, the collapse, trapped in the water, their serious final words? The group’s arrival, the rescue, the car moving the blockage, the young boy with his knife? The hiding in the drain, Pete and his saving the group, in the truck, lifted up, going up above the clouds and his sublime moment, his death? The peace of the eye of the storm? The further impact of the tornadoes? The group in the drain? Finally emerging?