Ice Twisters

An awful lot of camera shaking going on and I also wonder why -when time is short and the hero needs to be in another place a.s.a.p- there always seems to be time stop the car beside the road (where a film crew just happens to be) and enjoy the scenery.

The music b.t.w. Is even worse than the acting.

A cheesy B-movie combo of TWISTER and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, which sees Oregon plagued by an outbreak of government-created tornadoes which additionally have the power to freeze anything in their path (apart from the protagonists, of course).

The resulting film is as silly as they come, made on a low budget so there's plenty of talk and not so much disaster. When the weather outbreaks do hit, we're treated to flying CGI cars and hilarious shots of people/buildings turning to ice as the tornado passes over them. I don't mind a bit of cheese like this, but the rest of the film is so poor as to make actually watching it just not worthwhile.

The acting is extremely wooden, and the characters anything but true to life. Nobody seems to show any emotion and you wonder whether those involved are all Stepford creations. The thrills are nonsensical and short-lived, and the supposed technological explanations ridiculous. Sadly, this is exactly what I was expecting from a 'Syfy Channel' television movie, and I got it.

He who controls the weather controls the world!

Yep, another twister movie with ice-cold humor. This time it follows our ice maiden from the Midwest to the West Coast. Her daughter becomes the main "Drama Queen", but many people take turns. Robert Moloney plays Frank, the "government" bad guy with nefarious plans. Alex Zahara plays Eric the bad guy's stupid drone. Mark Moses plays Charlie Price the scientist that walked away from science and allowing the whole bad guy scenario to take place.

Everyone keeps asking what's happening in doesn't listen to the answer.

So, let's twist tonight like we did last summer.

For a made for TV movie, this was pretty good. It is a pretty standard disaster story. It makes sense (if you just accept that the science is correct). Tends to be a bit cliche and predictable. The effects aren't great, but work well enough. Many reviews complain about the acting, but I thought they did a pretty good job. Yes, there are muted reactions that you get when you tell actors to pretend a bunch of ice tornadoes are about to kill you, but that is to be expected. Overall, a solid middle of the road film for me.

Survival lesson: hugging is good for your health, and for surviving ice tornadoes.

I have made no secret of disliking a lot of movies that air on the SyFy channel, but seeing as I have seen some good disaster movies in the past. Ice Twisters is not the worst I've seen on that channel by a long shot, however it is a very bad movie. The film does have some nice locations/sets, the concept was somewhat interesting and Ryan Kennedy was decent. But that's it. The script may have been corny and derivative, the story predictable with so many unrealistic elements to it, the direction lethargic, the pace dull, scenes ending abruptly with few suspenseful or dramatic build ups and the acting especially from the very bland lead patchy, but it is the special effects that bring the film down, most of them such as the ice twisters themselves look ridiculously fake. In conclusion, not a good movie. 3/10 Bethany Cox