Nell'occhio del ciclone

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.

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.

On the final stages of testing a military top secret stealth bomber, Air Force pilot Major Jack Holloway ( Dolph Lundgren ) is accused of stealing the aircraft and being part of a conspiracy. On his way to prison Major Jack Holloway is captured by a military special forces unit called the "Serpent Killers".

With his life on the line, Major Jack Holloway ( Dolph Lundgren ) must do everything he can to escape their captured and find out who they are and what their plans are with the stolen military stealth aircraft bomber. With no one to turn except his friend Sparks, both must find out the "Serpent Killers" true intentions with the Storm Catcher.

I really liked this movie, it's got great military stock footage, which is very well put together with the movie. The story is simple but it will keep you guessing till the end of the movie. It's got great action moments both in the ground and in the air, which i quite enjoyed.

The only negative thing i did not like in this movie was some of the acting by some actors, which was really poor. Dolph Lundgren was the better actor from all the cast and Robert Miano was also good playing the General. In the end if you like action a little bit of drama and a twist in the end of the movie, then you will like this movie.

It was on TV last night. I wasn't expecting anything since I knew nothing about it. There were some negative parts, plot gaps, action gaps, logic gaps, the use of what appears to be a F-117A as the new "mystery" super plane. If you took it seriously and you had any idea about military, then there is a good chance you will not like this at all. I have plenty of knowledge about military matters but I still enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of one of those war movies from the 80's, with lower budget and not much time given to film or edit it.

If you used to enjoy those films and you are willing to turn down your thinking for the duration of this movie, you can enjoy it. The action sequences are OK enough, Dolph has the best performance among the other actors and the whole thing is ridiculous enough to be interesting to watch to see what is going to happen next.

Not sure if I am ever going to buy the DVD of it, but I do not regret at all watching it last night.

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.***