Lightning: Fire from the Sky

And Family Friendly wins. There are times some things have to become compromises when you make a movie, and sometimes you have to compromise on the theme to fit a market.

But unless you are setting up a pure fantasy you should not have to compromise on believability. In this feature, in an attempt pump up the dramatic side at the same time they tried to remain family friendly, lighting was made to "jump through hoops" (sorry about the pun) and things were happening that simply do not happen in the real world. This story had promise, this movie had potential. The direction was fitting, the photography was acceptable, the editing, acting, sound-- all made the grade. Unfortunately, like a wonderful house built on an inadequate foundation, it cracks and falls apart as it ages.

So much potential.

Prime Video offers "Lightning: Fire from the Sky" (2001) which has all the flavor of a family-centered Hallmark movie. If you like this style of film, this one's for you.

The storyline connects two magnetic storm colliding over Rutland, a cozy small town near St. Louis. A 16-year-old would-be meteorologist seems to be the only person who can chart these storms, so, acting on his own, he sets off the town sirens as lightning ravages just about everything from telephone poles to toasters.

It's a bit corny, a bit funny, a bit nuclear family, but I looked past these issues and found it worth the time. I give it 3/5 Stars.

This movie is quite unrealistic. Obviously the story writers didn't bother collect information on weather phenomena. The big problem with colliding weather system isn't lightning but torrential rains accompanied with floodings, and strong storms, even tornados. It is also obsolete that a boy would find out more about the weather than the weather forecasting organisations like the NOAA and others. There are so many exciting scenarios for weather-related disasters--so why did they choose something so unrealistic?

as disaster movies,this is pretty awful.poor acting all around,especially from the woman who played the town mayor.judging by her performance,i'm guessing she thought she was in a comedy.nobody did a good job in their roles,except maybe John Schnieder,who was not too bad and Michelle Greene was okay.as for the rest,there isn't a convincing one in the lot.i was so embarrassed for them all.but to be fair,some of the dialogue they were given is atrocious.not much thought went into this film.1 positive though is that the lightning scenes were done well,and were almost impressive at times.the story itself moves way too slow,with pointless scene after pointless scene.this movie is not worth your time,unless you want to laugh at bad acting.the movie is supposed to be serious,and is not played for camp value,at all,and that is the real disaster.

It's a B or C movie with an all star cast.

It reminds me of late 1960's or 1970's movies where actors only believe they are acting when they are yelling. There are plenty of issues with the story within the script. One instance, the hospital blames funding and budget issues on the mayor of the town. Another has Stacy Keach's character ordering his contractors to keep working despite a lightning storm.

Parts of the movie are decent enough to watch; Some moments are pretty "cringeworthy".

If any readers of this review know of any city mayors having budgetary controls over medical centers, please comment. Jesse Eisenberg is the typical genius teenager no one listens to and everyone regrets ignoring later.

The plot: Weather phenomena in a town causes unbelievable lightning storms. Jesse Eisenberg's character is a student obsessed with weather and lightning. Bo Duke, I mean John Schneider is his father who is also the police chief. Stacy Keach is the guy who builds big box stores called Fed-Mart, and ruins small town hardware stores. The Mayor drives an expensive car and lives in a big house.

A storm of the century is headed for their town.

Chaos ensues.