Supercell

This movie tries to portray itself with mystique and fantasy, but winds up just being boring and unrealistic.

Going into this movie I had no idea who was even in it, but soon into it I then realize the problematic it was to an already a slow-moving drag of a movie.

The script was really lame but worse, the acting was amateurish.

Anne Heche's acting in this movie was awful and failed to deliver lines clearly or believably. Her presence in this movie was very distracting.

Alec Baldwin equally did a pretty substandard job in being believable, I simply did not get the Indiana Jones type of persona he was trying to deliver, it did not fit the overall flavor of this movie and his performance detracted from the theme of the flick.

The movie score on the other hand, was pretty good, it seemed to fit an ET or Gremlins sort of feel, its kind of felt like they tried to build a movie around the music, but unfortunately the movie doesnt hold up to the soundtrack. Slow moving snoozer.

With a great cast I was expecting so much more. Title should of been dysfunctional family that try's not to chase storms. Watched the entire movie hoping it would get better, but alas no. The back ground music didn't match what was happening it made it lead into something great was going to happen but nothing. You never get to see any great action scenes everything just leads up to something but falls flat. At one stage I thought the son was a teenager with well below average intelligence as he did some enormously stupid things and his behaviour was like that of a child. Sorry to say but 4 star was very generous and do not recommend this movie at all.

Disclosing up front, I've been storm chasing for about 10 years, so this is my perspective.

The film is not perfect by any stretch. It has some actual, authentic storm footage, but it's mixed in with low quality effects and blurry scenes. Many shots are filmed in wide angle and the perspective is all distorted. (Sorry, the photographer in me was cringing)

I digress. The plot had moments of suspense and drama, but it was way too jumpy. Plenty of Easter eggs for storm chasers, but a lot of that will go over the head of the casual viewer.

It would have been nice if they took a little bit of time of clearly outline what a "supercell" actually is. Sure, I know what one is, but it would help the viewer understand better. You see lots of radar clips, but with little to no explanation at all. Dramatic music is also thrown in all over, but it doesn't always fit with the flow of the movie.

Unfortunately, there were also many errors, in terms of meteorology, storm evolution/continuity and with geography. At one point, there are interstate signs visible from the wrong state. Unless you're a storm chaser or travel often across the Plains, it's really hard to follow where they are and what they are talking about much of the time.

Overall, it seems best watched in a group. Go into it accepting that it's not a perfect cinematic masterpiece. It's dramatized for Hollywood. If you can look past some of the flaws, you will probably enjoy it. If you're expecting an award winning film with epic tornado footage, then you'll be disappointed.

I give it a 5/10, trying to not let the storm chaser in me skew my perspective.

This was Anne Heche's last film before her tragic death in a car accident, so what a great pity for her it couldn't have been better.

Alec Baldwin plays Alec Baldwin, what happened to him - he used to be such a Leading Man, think Hunt for Red October and even 3rd Rock from the Sun and ... this. I guess he needs to feed all those kids that he can't seem to stop producing. Someone should tell him about birth control.

However, the guy who played the kid was the absolute worst thing about this movie. Supposedly highly intelligent, he just looked and acted like a dumb idiot all the way through. Such bad casting.

I liked Skeet Ulrich though even though I hardly recognised him.

Almost everything about this movie reminded me of adventure movies from the late 70s to early 90s:

• A classical score as if it was E. T.

• Cinematography as if it was Close Encounters of the Third Kind

• Production design as if it was Back To the Future

• Even the characters and the dialogs

It was like a magical nostalgic trip. And while the superficial topic was not really important to me personally, they used it as a vehicle to provide all the above mentioned qualities and to distract from the underlying light family drama.

Will I watch it again? Most probably not because there are many other productions to watch instead, and I would rather watch the original movies from the 80s again. (Hence no 8 points.)

Do I regret it to have seen it? No because I enjoyed the relaxing mood it got me into. (Hence at at least 6 points.)

Would I recommend it to others? Yes if I knew that the person could relate to the nostalgia, I tried to describe in this review. (Hence 7 points.)

But I would not recommend it to people who expect a tornado disaster movie.