Storm

Luke Perry, (Ron Young) is required to give his experience to a renegade Air Foerce General Roberts, ( Martin Sheen) who is involved in a top secret government operation in order to control all the weather of this entire country. The secret weapon is able to be launched from an aircraft into the eye of a massive weather front off California which has great winds of over 400 mph. This storm is headed for Los Angeles and there are many struggles that happen aboard this aircraft and many people fight against each other. There is even time for men and women to find love and close relationships. Great film from 1999, enjoy.

Normally I try to say something good about every movie that I write a review for, but what to do when there is absolutely nothing good to say about a movie??? I'm in this situation right now: Storm is one of the worst movies that I've ever seen. It's incredible what kind of crap Hollywood produces from time to time.

Let's be honest: a movie doesn't always have to be intelligent, as long as it is entertaining. But this one isn't entertaining nor intelligent. It was only annoying. Not only annoying because of the acting, but also because of the bad special effects, the weak story (scientists working for the army try to influence weather so they can hit other nations with it)...

I really can't find a reason why I should ever see this one again or why I should ever recommend it to anybody. No, I give this one a 2/10 and hope to forget it as soon as possible.

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.

"Meteorologist Ron Young (Luke Perry) has been recruited to assist renegade Air Force General Roberts (Martin Sheen) in a top-secret government operation to manipulate the weather. On board a specially rigged plane, they launch their device into the eye of a massive weather front off California, which quickly accelerates to hurricane winds over 400 mph. But when an onboard struggle for control ensues, the race is on to secure the storm device and stop the unbridled rampage about to wreak havoc in L.A. This time, the City of Angels doesn't have a prayer!" according to the DVD description.

Apparently re-titled "Storm Tracker" to distinguish it from other storms.

This was obviously made for the home video and/or cable TV market. Still struggling to break-out of "Beverly Hills 90210", Mr. Perry pulled in some viewers, with Mr. Sheen adding his well-respected name to the cast. Both actors dip generously into their bags of acting tricks, and give the script all they can for the money. Sheen's daughter Renee Estevez (as Andrea McIntyre) appears as Perry's TV reporter love interest. The structure and "controlling the weather" story recycled for "Storm" is quite good, and it could have been a big-budget cinema hit. Perry and the plot re-surfaced in 2009.

***** Storm (8/11/99) Harris Done ~ Luke Perry, Martin Sheen, Robert Knott, Renee Estevez

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.