Tornade de glace

"Charlie Price" (Mark Moses) is a former scientist who has quit his profession in order to write science-fiction books. One day while at a book signing ceremony in a small Oregon town the weather suddenly changes and a tornado rips through the main street. Not long afterward he notices a former colleague named "Joanne" (Camille Sullivan) taking water samples and immediately connects the bizarre change in weather to her sudden appearance . After coaxing her and another scientist by the name of "Frank" (Robert Moloney) he finds out that they work for the Federal Science Foundation and that that have indeed been manipulating the weather as part of their research. Yet, while they have been able to change the weather they gradually realize that they cannot control it and this leads to disastrous consequences. At any rate, rather than detail the rest of the story and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that even though the formula was pretty standard it was a fun movie all the same. Naturally, as a made-for-television movie there really isn't anything too graphic or risqué but then it wasn't necessary anyway. Although I didn't care for the rather far-fetched ending I thought that the overall action and special effects were essentially okay and the actors played their parts pretty well. That said, while this certainly isn't a great movie by any means I still found it to be a satisfactory movie all the same and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Ice twisters was fun to watch. I wouldn't buy it, but looked forward to seeing the end after dinner. It involves using technology to alter the weather with some unforeseen consequences. It surpasses a native American "rain dance" at first, however soon becomes something more than rain on demand. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon if your not a football fan in the fall/winter. The central characters are an award winning scientist turned fiction writer, because of governmental ulterior motives and his book writing assistant who suddenly encounters serious dangers in a small American town for a book signing and television interview. On the other side are the mobile scientists testing this new weather creating technology nearby where tornadoes have never been seen before. Tornadoes capable of freezing entire landscapes in 72 degree weather. The fight begins as the characters join forces in this rural area, and because of casualties the "evil" government gentlemen attempts to continue regardless, but when destroying the ice twisters is no longer an option, communications with them are inevitably very difficult to say the least. But will destroying them solve what has been put in motion closing in on populated areas?

A cheesy B-movie combo of TWISTER and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, which sees Oregon plagued by an outbreak of government-created tornadoes which additionally have the power to freeze anything in their path (apart from the protagonists, of course).

The resulting film is as silly as they come, made on a low budget so there's plenty of talk and not so much disaster. When the weather outbreaks do hit, we're treated to flying CGI cars and hilarious shots of people/buildings turning to ice as the tornado passes over them. I don't mind a bit of cheese like this, but the rest of the film is so poor as to make actually watching it just not worthwhile.

The acting is extremely wooden, and the characters anything but true to life. Nobody seems to show any emotion and you wonder whether those involved are all Stepford creations. The thrills are nonsensical and short-lived, and the supposed technological explanations ridiculous. Sadly, this is exactly what I was expecting from a 'Syfy Channel' television movie, and I got it.

For a made for TV movie, this was pretty good. It is a pretty standard disaster story. It makes sense (if you just accept that the science is correct). Tends to be a bit cliche and predictable. The effects aren't great, but work well enough. Many reviews complain about the acting, but I thought they did a pretty good job. Yes, there are muted reactions that you get when you tell actors to pretend a bunch of ice tornadoes are about to kill you, but that is to be expected. Overall, a solid middle of the road film for me.

Survival lesson: hugging is good for your health, and for surviving ice tornadoes.

An awful lot of camera shaking going on and I also wonder why -when time is short and the hero needs to be in another place a.s.a.p- there always seems to be time stop the car beside the road (where a film crew just happens to be) and enjoy the scenery.

The music b.t.w. Is even worse than the acting.