Actual tornadoes are far more terrifying than this movie is, and it's a pity that the film squanders that idea,
The sky turns green, the air smells of ozone, the wind rages overhead, and the sirens scream. Typically, you sit with your family in a hot, unventilated bathroom (a tenth the size of the one in the movie) making jokes and trying to keep the kids quiet while praying you won't take a direct hit. You think of every stray tree branch, whether the hail will smash your windows and roof, and think of the times you have seen an entire town leveled to dirty grass after an F-5. Everyone has a charged phone, and it is tuned to the local tv station. As soon as it hits, people begin digging through the rubble for survivors, and everyone is terrified of hitting a life electric wire.
It isn't like this movie and it isn't like "Twister." The fear is real, justified and not based in CGI. The apocalyptic skies and the post hit damage really do feel like they are created by witchcraft. Snakes really do crawl into your house, as the water in the creeks rise.
Fifty years of living in Tornado Alley brought me to this preposterous blend of "Swiss Family Tornadoson" and "The Craft." It's a family drama where I care about no one. Drunk, abusive Daddy is more terrifying that the storm and the bad juju. Mom can't stop whining about protecting her kids, but only helps when it's too late. The little boy actor tries hard to be afraid of a rubber snake. Big Sis wonders if she caused the whole thing by being with her new girlfriend.
The viewers fear for the children saddled with inept parents, which helps the tension rise. But the tension does nothing but make us want to kill drunk, abusive Daddy as the film grinds SLOWLY to the end.
When it's all over, you wish you had taken a direct hit from the tornado instead of watching this movie,
