Storm Catcher

There is nothing wrong with the plot itself, but the actors/actresses can't really carry the heavy load of bringing the thin dialogue to the level expected for a movie with this magnitude.

The tear-jerker scenes in Storm Catcher (there are more than one would think) doesn't really do the job either.

Since i myself like Dolph Lundgren as an actor and was looking forward to some real action, i was disappointed with this movie. Storm Catcher lost it's momentum after only a few minutes, and wasn't able to really draw my attention until close to the end.

There are better action movies around, although Lundgren's performance was pretty good compared to some of his older ones.

I have to say that this movie gets an "A" for effort for at least trying to be a good action movie. And although on some points it fails to deliver, it is still however an entertaining action movie. As a said above there are a few things that aren't that good about this movie. There are only really too things that stand out to me:

1- The needless graphic, and sometimes slow motion, violence. We don't need a closeup, slow-motion shot of a guy spitting blood just to make the movie better.

2- Some of the camera angles- In some of the more "dramatic" scenes in the movie, the camera tends to have a life of its own and seem to shake quite violently. This is so bad that you can barely see what is happening in the scene and it ruins it. Another thing is the excessive use of slow-motion. Anthony Hickox, as you will notice, is no John Woo. Except for one scene I can think of, this type of filming doesn't work in the movie.

Apart from that this movie is rather entertaining and, aside from the usual B-Movie plot-holes and bad acting, can provide a decent nights entertainment. I give a 6/10 purely on entertainment value alone.

PS: Notice how in one shot of the StormCatcher, one of the control panels looks somewhat like a control panel from The Enterprise? See if you can spot it at the beginning of the film.

This movies had decent parts but making luvable big lug Dolph act like a loving,sensitive,middle-aged family man just looked silly. Dolph needs to play a emotionless killing machine,which is what he does best. Tony Hickox's directing was pretty good even though it was a little over the top at times. The film looks higher quality than you'd expect but the story and the dialogue are lacking. Mystro Clark is horrible and should have been replaced with Louis Gossett,Jr. For a much better recent Dolph flick, check out Bridge of Dragons.

Okay yet another mediocre Dolph movie. I hear ya, but at least it's not Fallen Knight (AKA: The Minion). This time around Lundgren turns in a good, but predictable performance as a run of the mill character Major Jack Holloway. Who's a test pilot for the military's top secret warplane "The Storm Catcher" hence the movie's title.

What happens to the plane? Well of course it's stolen and he's framed for everything. Is there a conspiracy theory lodged somewhere in Storm Catcher? Yep. Do they use his wife and daughter as leverage to get him to do what they want? Yep. That itself isn't so bad they are typical clichés of the genre. It's the general inept story and more stupid characters than I'd like to count. Like two CIA agents named Lock & Load.

Storm Catcher is yet another undistinguishable action flick with predictability written all over it. It's a cheapie thru and thru (check out the usual assortment of stock footage), but somehow comes out looking half decent. Lundgren is decent here, but that doesn't allow it to rise over the giant heap of mediocre action flicks on the market as it is. You've seen this before, you've probably seen it done better.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Strangely reminiscent of his earlier feature The Peacekeeper in a way,Storm Catcher is Dolph Lundgren's most solid,effective film of late.Directed with assured self style by Warlock helmer Anthony Hickox (who also stars inspiringly enough),this involvingly blends in impressive action scenes,character development and story telling to culminate into a thouroughly entertaining whole.The good,clean fun element of the story however,is ruined by some wanternly unnecessary bad language and bloodshed,which provide cactus stings in the back.Another funny query is if the bad guys went around America stealing company vans to perform their deeds.We see them in an ice cream van and what looks like a furniture company van.Why on earth would members of the milatary need to get themselves mobile in them?Still,it's near impossible to find an action film that doesn't have at least a trace of implausibilaty and weirdness in it.And speaking of which ,look out for Neighbour's Annalese Kimberly Davies as one of two extremely weird FBI agents who follow all the important characters around.***