Storm

First of all the actors. Sasha Becker, who I have never seen before, does an excellent job. He holds the movie together nicely and goes through a variety of moods flawlessly. Now for the rest of the cast... Jonas Karlsson, an actor who I normally respect, is horribly cast for this movie and the role as the "bad guy". With or without a scar (hah) by his right eye. Eva Röse is not only poorly casted in her role but does a terrible job, overacting every single line she does.

Another major problem with this movie is that it tries to much. It's like they added comic-book / matrix / fight club / anime / computer game references and scenes in the end just to be the flavor of the month and it totally destroys this movie! If all of that was removed and the tempo was actually slower the movie would benefit greatly. I mean come on,.. jumping over laser scenes and random running with ninjas hunting you in the midst of a otherwise good movie. Granted, the script steals a hell of a lot of influences (ripping of?) from other movies (butterfly effect / hell raiser / matrix etc) but it's core is good. Sadly this is like watching 3 movies in one with only one being good and them pulling different ways and you almost feel like jamming a fork into your leg every time you see a scene that apparently "has to be there" with no intent but to show that the movie is hip.

Cudos has to go to the art department and the Cinematography guy in charge Linus Sandgren cause *that* work is totally flawless. I left with a bitter taste of what this movie could have been LIKE and what a waste of talent of the cinematography and lead actor it had been.

Don't get me wrong. This is an important film (for Sweden especially as it's so rare to see a Swedish sci-fi that actually lives up to it's title) and the visual style takes influences from a bunch of ground-braking classics; OldBoy, Fight Club, Se7en, The Terminator, 28 Days Later and many more (though these references feel more like homages rather than bad rip-offs and so it just goes to show that the film was made by people who really just like movies in general).

Anyway, on with the show. The film follows DD - a hip guy hanging with all the right people and living the trendy life of a Stockholm-journalist - who suddenly has his path crossed by Lova, who seems more like a superhero than an actual Swedish girl (and yeah, I know what Swedish girls look like in general). She disappears as fast as she arrived and DD goes home to his bachelor pad.

Later on she shows up at his door, giving him an address to visit if things start to go bad. And eventually, they do (of course). When trying to find Lova again he comes across a strange box and is forced to flee the scene of a shoot-out. Now, on the run from the cops, and also from the people originally chasing Lova, he must figure out the secret of the box and manage to open it before it's to late.

This was an interesting plot to say the least and I really enjoyed the work that these directors did in the past. Unfortunetely, the wonderful visual styles used here don't quite make up for the fact that the story ends up with too many loose ends.

It could have been a brilliant film but, in the end, the final answer to what's happened during this hour-and-a-half (or whatever) just leave a whirlwind of new questions stirred up in the backwaters of the credits.

Sorry guys, I really wanted this to work as something more than just eye-candy :(

The world of DD is all a bit dulled. He is insensitive to touch and doesn't really know what he wants out of life or where he wants to take his career. Whilst pleasant enough to those around him he is the kinda guy who never returns the DVD's you lend him and he isn't the kind of guy to go out of his way to help a stranger in need, or to even give them the time of day. DD is a reflection of society in general.

So what would happen if this easy life was torn in two because of lost remnants of his childhood? Storm takes the viewer on a twisting comic book journey that forces the main character to question his entire way of life by looking back upon his previous choices and actions. Storm has often been likened to the Matrix in terms of style, both of the main characters are comic book heroes of sorts, both are lost in a confused world, but the comparison ends there. There are a couple of nods to some scenes from the matrix (Run DD) but Storm takes an entirely fresh look at what it is to be alive and to feel. Some scenes are very eerie and are reminiscent of silent hill and the ending is quite bizarre too. Essentially Storm questions the intrinsic nature of man, albeit with clunkiness and size 11 boots.

I saw this movie at its World premiere at Stockholm's Film Festival. From the get go, this movie proves to be like nothing that has ever come out of the Swedish movie business before. At first, I though that was a good thing. Then I thought it wasn't that good. Then I thought what I really thought wasn't that good was the movie, while the IDEA that the movie tried something that was new to Swedish movie production, was good. Now I just hope that the people who fund Swedish movies don't see this one as a failure - because Storm, if successful despite its flaws, might give all the aspiring Swedish action directors (that I'm sure are hiding out there) a chance, and start a wave of awesome Swedish action/adventure/Sci-Fi/contemporary-fantasy movies. Something better than the movie itself might come out of "Storm".

In Storm's Matrix-esquire introduction sequence, we see two characters running and fighting through dark culverts to get away from bald goons. It all looked very good, and Eva Röse proved to be a really convincing action heroine, which all really got my hopes up. "Are they trying to do it the Hollywood way?" I thought to myself - knowing that that would be tricky considering the history of and budgets for Swedish films don't allow a lot of the necessary stunts and special effects. Swedish films, in my mind, are mainly dramas about dysfunctional, broken people - movies that only make me feel bad. Even Swedish comedy doesn't go far outside that framework.

Well, after the introduction sequence, things change quite a bit. Immediately, a narration with comic ambitions wipes the Matrix-esquire atmosphere clean off. The first thing I thought was "Oh, so now they're showing everyone that they're indeed NOT making an attempt to 'do a Hollywood all the way', by stepping off that vibe in the harshest possible way". I was very disappointed, but on the other hand, I hardly think they, as any Swedish filmmaker, would be able to pull off a "Hollywood". Look at "Rancid".

Soon, influences from all kinds of weird places start to show up. As the movie continues, the viewer is required to digest a multitude of different story telling techniques and movie references - all in all not giving a very solid impression. There's the narrator talking directly to the audience. There's the comical flashback sequence. There's the emotional flashback sequence. There's blood squirting out of someone's neck, then there's the funny taxi driver. There's the Swedish countryside, then there's the Cuban beach. There are more something-moves-in-the-foreground-with-a-sudden-horror-music-cue scenes than I can remember. There are unintentionally comical cartoon sequences. There's the raising of the question "What is real, what is fantasy?" which has been made popular lately by movies such as "The Matrix" and "Vanilla Sky". The end leaves the viewer with some philosophical thinking to do, as the movie makers don't give you all the answers. At least some of those answers, I would like to have served.

When it all comes together, these things don't blend all that well. It feels like the filmmakers thought "Wow, we don't know when's the next time we'll have THIS much money to make a movie - we'd better squeeze all those movie ideas we've had for the last ten years into this one production!".

Nevertheless, the film becomes quite absorbing at times. The acting is good - especially Jonas Karlsson was great in his role - the camera work is superb, the production style sleek. It's amusing to see how much they make the old city of Stockholm look like "steel and glass".

This all makes me hopeful. I encourage everyone who has the chance to go see this movie when it hits the cinemas, or rent it when it's released on DVD - because if this movie makes enough money we might see more, better films like this coming out of Sweden. I know know what I have long suspected - the will and skill is out there. "Storm" is not the hit - but it might give birth to the hit. I'm crossing my fingers.

Swedish film is subject to a completely different scale of judgment when I sit down to write a review. When i review a Hollywood movie my demands are much higher. And why? Simply because Hollywood has so much more invested in each film they release. The budget-constraints on a Swedish film probably doesn't even reach the catering-budget on a regular action-movie in Tinseltown.

"Storm" has become quite successful in Swedish theaters since it was released, it has also gained some admiration from critics. So of course i was curious, having passed on the opportunity to see the movie at the Stockholm Film Festival back in November of 2005. So, did it live up to the hype? Is the Swedish thriller of the year? Well, both yes and no.

Sometimes when i watch a movie i can like it more or less purely based on the ambition rather than the result. "Storm" is a bit like that. While i didn't enjoy the movie as much as i had hoped, i did enjoy the ambitions the film-makers obviously had. There are editing, shooting and effects here never before seen in a Swedish movie. While the rather modest budget shows in some more effects-laden sequences, the movie still looks good most of the time.

What surprised me the most is the lack of action. When they promoted the film it seemed like it would be an action-movie. There would be athletic women in leather and high kicking. And there was, for a total of ten minutes throughout. The other 100 minutes is more of a drama, a movie about finding happiness and dealing with things instead of repressing them. Sound boring? Not as bad as you might think, in my book it's more about expectations. A big part of the reason why this works as well as it does is the acting. Eric Ericson as the main character "DD" is solid throughout, and Jonas Karlsson is in my opinion one of the best Swedish actors today which he shows here in a role far from what he usually does. Eva Röse also does well, both when it comes to dialog and high kicks.

In short, sure this is cheesy at times, overblown and rather pretentious. But still: there was at least the ambition to do something different! And that is what Swedish movies need, they have to get the opportunity to miss the target a couple of times. At least now things feel like they are moving forward. So while "Storm" is only half a success it's still important and I can see why so many people enjoy it. If the development goes on like this I suspect there will soon be a movie that I can enjoy as much.