Cyclone

I have said this many times before, this time I'm more serious than ever, this is one of the worst films in existence. I have also said before that films like this, should stretch the laughable script a bit further and make it spoof. You could even bring the Neilsen in. This film reminds me of Airborne - that one with the Guttenberg in it. Airborne was atrocious as well, but I actually quite enjoyed Airborne partly because the Kim Coates was in it.

There is a great scene at the end of Storm where the hero, Luke Perry (don't laugh), has been dragged out the end of an aeroplane (the plane is about 20,000 feet in the air, about 800 mph) and manages to hold on to the missile which is attached to the plane with his bare hands. He then manages to crawl up the missile and drag himself back into the aeroplane, unscathed.

Ridiculous.

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 movie is not worth the time taken to watch it. Luke Perry should stick to acting in soaps, where by he can relay on his looks to see him true the show. I would say that Martin Sheen was the most convincing of the whole lot and was a waste that he had agreed to act and degrade his name with such trash such as Storm. The story takes the line of an UN REAL plot where they are playing god by manipulating the weather. Special effects and acting is below par and like I said it is fit for the bin and no where else.

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.

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.