Cyclone

I think the summary says it all. I can't believe I rented it.

I don't normally write scathing reviews of movies but I wasted six bucks and nearly two hours on it, so it has to be done.

You might expect this kind of movie from Luke Perry, but I thought that Martin Sheen might have been above doing movies like this one.

Generally, the standard of acting was terrible. Perry should stick to teeny-soaps, where acting is not a prerequisite. Whoever cast him as a meteorologist should be flogged to death with a wet cat.

Sheen is better but still unconvincing in the role of the renegade Airforce officer.

The special effects were so fake you could practically see the fishing line. The last minute double-cross in the plot could have worked except for the wooden acting which killed it.

In conclusion it's a waste of perfectly good video tape. I give it a great big ZERO out of ten.

This is a film whose plot showed potential. Ok it's far fetched but no more than a GREAT many films that were a success. The tiny budget is obvious, with poor special effects and synthesized orchestral mood music (which never comes off). Martin Sheen is average, but he was never going to give his best performance in this kind of film. Perry does his best to hold the lead with an admirable performance, but it's the way the movie is handled that lets everybody down. It looks like the B movie it is; like some second rate TV series. The movie also contains the most poorly acted scene I have seen in any movie ever; it is not one that contains any of the lead actors though. Done properly, the plot could have carried this movie to success at least as great as Twister, but it was obvious from the outset that it was never going to happen that way.

Dr Ron Young is a leading expert on storms and weather systems. When he loses his job at an University due to his reckless experiments he is recruited by the military to be involved in work to develop a system to control storms. Once involved in this work he begins to suspect that the desire to control storms may not be designed simply to move them away from endangered areas but instead to use them as weapons against other countries.

The set-up is quite interesting but is spoilt by several things, the main thing being the low budget that means the film can only afford cheap sets and poor special effects. The plot is for the most part a bit silly, and it misses great opportunities to look at the value of foreign lives v's American lives in the scene where the media have no interest in a hurricane heading towards Mexico but suddenly drop all other news when it turns towards America; this scene just rushes by when it could have been lingered on to make a strong point. Of course all disaster movies are silly but most are saved by great effects and great spectacle. Here the main effects are two fold - either stock footage of windswept houses and cheap visual effects. Even the scenes that could have added spectacle value are poor - one scene of a huge tidal wave bearing down on LA as two character run from it ends as the two characters dive over a 4 foot stone wall to get cover.....the huge wave then splashes harmlessly up against the other side of the wall. Compare that to the tidal wave in Deep Impact and you can see the wasted opportunity.

However in some cases bad effects can be saved by a good plot and good performances. Here the plot is daft but the performances are also weak. Perry is a terrible choice for an expert in anything, he plays it like he's a reckless scientist but it goes totally against what you feel his character should be. Other small roles are poor, such as Robert Knott as the "sinister" agent ensuring the project's security is ok, David Moses as Dr Platt hams it up as his character gets a conscience, and Alexandra Powers is terrible for the most part as the very un-major-like Major Goodman. Only Martin Sheen comes away with a good performance, but really he only gives the military tyrant role that he has done so many times before.

The film has some minor twists towards the end, you see most coming from miles and they're not exactly earth shattering but they at least bring some interest back into the film. Overall poor casting, poor effects, poor plot, poor movie - even for a TV movie.

Normally I try to say something good about every movie that I write a review for, but what to do when there is absolutely nothing good to say about a movie??? I'm in this situation right now: Storm is one of the worst movies that I've ever seen. It's incredible what kind of crap Hollywood produces from time to time.

Let's be honest: a movie doesn't always have to be intelligent, as long as it is entertaining. But this one isn't entertaining nor intelligent. It was only annoying. Not only annoying because of the acting, but also because of the bad special effects, the weak story (scientists working for the army try to influence weather so they can hit other nations with it)...

I really can't find a reason why I should ever see this one again or why I should ever recommend it to anybody. No, I give this one a 2/10 and hope to forget it as soon as possible.

The Storm is so cheesy, so fake that it's not even funny to watch. Terrible special effects, not only feeling fake, but looking fake too. Aside of terrible acting, we get to watch unconvincing plot too. To summarise: a disaster movie with almost no casualties, and with a happy ending.