Nell'occhio del ciclone

It was on TV last night. I wasn't expecting anything since I knew nothing about it. There were some negative parts, plot gaps, action gaps, logic gaps, the use of what appears to be a F-117A as the new "mystery" super plane. If you took it seriously and you had any idea about military, then there is a good chance you will not like this at all. I have plenty of knowledge about military matters but I still enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of one of those war movies from the 80's, with lower budget and not much time given to film or edit it.

If you used to enjoy those films and you are willing to turn down your thinking for the duration of this movie, you can enjoy it. The action sequences are OK enough, Dolph has the best performance among the other actors and the whole thing is ridiculous enough to be interesting to watch to see what is going to happen next.

Not sure if I am ever going to buy the DVD of it, but I do not regret at all watching it last night.

There is nothing wrong with the plot itself, but the actors/actresses can't really carry the heavy load of bringing the thin dialogue to the level expected for a movie with this magnitude.

The tear-jerker scenes in Storm Catcher (there are more than one would think) doesn't really do the job either.

Since i myself like Dolph Lundgren as an actor and was looking forward to some real action, i was disappointed with this movie. Storm Catcher lost it's momentum after only a few minutes, and wasn't able to really draw my attention until close to the end.

There are better action movies around, although Lundgren's performance was pretty good compared to some of his older ones.

When you hear the name Dolph Lundgren, you rarely think of quality films. I can't off the top of my head name one single good film I've seen him in. However, you can usually count on him being a good lead in the typical more-Braun-than-brain action-flick. This film is a tad bit uneven, but it doesn't deserve its low rating and bad rep. The plot is not original, but the twists are fairly good(I didn't see them coming, at least) and the pacing is above par for the genre. The acting is a bit below average in some scenes, but it's mostly satisfactory. The characters are pretty much one-note and underdeveloped. The cinematography is stylish, but there are times when it's a bit overdone(you know how, sometimes when you watch a film, you're wondering if the cameraman has fallen asleep? There were times during this where I wondered if the cameraman was sober). The director uses slow-motion a bit too often, particularly during action scenes. To counter that, however, there's some very good camera-movement in some of the action scenes as well. The one-liners get to be a bit over the top in some parts of the film. The action is usually intense, but a bit too often it's unrealistic, to the point where it becomes completely unbelievable(a goon's gun running out of ammo in a half a second burst, for example). The film managed to do something quite unusual for the genre, namely surprise me several times. I thought on more than one occasion that I had figured out exactly what was going to happen next, but the film surprised me. Something that bothered me(being a weapons enthusiast) was the amateurish way the guns were handled. Many silenced weapons made the sounds of non-silenced guns of a completely different type. Of course, that probably won't impact the viewing experience for anyone who isn't interested in weapons. All in all, good for a single viewing, if you can catch it for free. I recommend it to fans of the typical action-flick and/or Dolph Lundgren. Not particularly good, but you could do a lot worse. 5/10

On the final stages of testing a military top secret stealth bomber, Air Force pilot Major Jack Holloway ( Dolph Lundgren ) is accused of stealing the aircraft and being part of a conspiracy. On his way to prison Major Jack Holloway is captured by a military special forces unit called the "Serpent Killers".

With his life on the line, Major Jack Holloway ( Dolph Lundgren ) must do everything he can to escape their captured and find out who they are and what their plans are with the stolen military stealth aircraft bomber. With no one to turn except his friend Sparks, both must find out the "Serpent Killers" true intentions with the Storm Catcher.

I really liked this movie, it's got great military stock footage, which is very well put together with the movie. The story is simple but it will keep you guessing till the end of the movie. It's got great action moments both in the ground and in the air, which i quite enjoyed.

The only negative thing i did not like in this movie was some of the acting by some actors, which was really poor. Dolph Lundgren was the better actor from all the cast and Robert Miano was also good playing the General. In the end if you like action a little bit of drama and a twist in the end of the movie, then you will like this movie.

I have to say that this movie gets an "A" for effort for at least trying to be a good action movie. And although on some points it fails to deliver, it is still however an entertaining action movie. As a said above there are a few things that aren't that good about this movie. There are only really too things that stand out to me:

1- The needless graphic, and sometimes slow motion, violence. We don't need a closeup, slow-motion shot of a guy spitting blood just to make the movie better.

2- Some of the camera angles- In some of the more "dramatic" scenes in the movie, the camera tends to have a life of its own and seem to shake quite violently. This is so bad that you can barely see what is happening in the scene and it ruins it. Another thing is the excessive use of slow-motion. Anthony Hickox, as you will notice, is no John Woo. Except for one scene I can think of, this type of filming doesn't work in the movie.

Apart from that this movie is rather entertaining and, aside from the usual B-Movie plot-holes and bad acting, can provide a decent nights entertainment. I give a 6/10 purely on entertainment value alone.

PS: Notice how in one shot of the StormCatcher, one of the control panels looks somewhat like a control panel from The Enterprise? See if you can spot it at the beginning of the film.