Oil Storm

A well done disaster film that holds your attention because it has something important to say, namely that we are are long past the time when we should be looking for alternatives for oil. The film suggests that if we don't prepare for the end of the oil era, any number of miss-steps by ourselves or nature could suddenly and unexpectedly ruin our economy as well as result in thousands of casualties among our troops as well as civilians. Not a message I would have expected from the Fox channel ! It was good to see them explore the possibilities in a persuasive documentary - like format. The arguments are similar to those documented in the recent non-fiction book "Blood and Oil" by Michael T.Klare.

Admittedly I only caught 5/6th of the movie because I was called out of the room on two occasions. However overall I have a pretty good idea of the movie and where it was going.

The documentary footage format served it well, though because documentaries aren't very good at building tension this movie never made me really emotionally engage the characters.

I give the movie credit for educating me about our oil infrastructure, and they paint a somewhat feasible picture of a sequence of events that could lead to a serious economic drought in America.

What I don't like about the movie is that it never looked at any possibilities of 'alternative fuels'. They mention present day politicians like President Bush, but they never mention present day initiatives like alternative fuel vehicles and Willie Nelson's Biodiesel efforts. The fact that these things were omitted makes me wonder who paid for this movie and what it's purpose was. Every time a problem with our oil supply occurred, the documentary just said "So we needed to find another source of oil"..

Most die-hard (and they will) conservatives label anything against their beliefs as anti-(insert Patriotic jingoism here) but, this MADE_FOR_TV_MOVIE is simply anti-us dependency on foreign oil. And any good American should be concerned with our dependency on foreign oil. We need to take this opportunity (decent economy, lots of wealth) and make the investment in our future. Sure, ANWAR holds some oil, but what we really need is a systematic plan 10-50 year plan to eliminate our need for foreign oil. We have the resources, let's do it.

Oh, the movie was a war-of-the worlds style of realism, using "real" TV broadcasts, probably more because it's a cheap way to go, rather than it being an effective means of communication. Good topic, OK execution.

I was only able to catch portions of the movie, it aired on my wedding day, and between chatting with in-laws and other relatives, I was able to sneak in a few scenes to view...I remember telling myself back then, a lot of stuff that went down in this movie is going to come to pass, and darn it, I was right, we are now on the verge of gasoline going up to a ridiculous $4 dollars a gallon, it's already happened in Alaska.

They don't come any greedier than the oil and gasoline industry in this country, yet, in parts of the Middle East, gas is selling for less than a dollar a gallon. Just the other day, I heard a news report on radio about a 19-year old that got arrested for trying to drive off from a gas station without paying, he'd pumped $70 worth of gas before police hawked his stupid butt down. As weeks go by in this town in which I live (I'm too embarrassed by this place to mention its' name), there are fewer and fewer cars on the expressway during rush hour, yet we have one of the worst transit systems in the country, no light rail, just a dilapidated fleet of rundown, 30 year old buses.

Oh, yes, the "Oil Storm" is coming, and it's going to hit some cities much harder than others. This pathetic town in which I live is not ready for it. And to address the comment about this movie's availability, FX created it, perhaps there's a chance they can tell us about it, if they ever took the time to address the concerns of their audiences, which very few do today. If "Redemption" is on DVD, perhaps "Oil Storm" is as well...I want to see it again, in its' entirety this time...What about YouTube? Everything else is there, eh? There's one other movie I can't help but think about in the midst of this pending fuel turbulence....Ummmm..."Mad Max", anyone?

Very well made fictional work. Makes you think hard about how dependent we have become on foreign sources of power. It also makes you think about American people love affair with gas guzzlers and the love/hate relationship with the powers that hold the biggest amounts of oil. Many conservatives do not like their religion, but own vehicles that take $50+ to fill tank. Even being a work of fiction, it still makes you wonder if something like this would happen. What can we do? I do remember Arab Prince Addulah being asked around April 2004 if oil prices would be lowered for the November elections and he stating in that oil is a very important commodity to play political games with it. Funny that prices dropped a few cents in August, and are back high again.