Nature Unleashed: Avalanche

Nature Unleashed: Avalanche is one of those films that you can occasionally see playing on the Syfy channel at around 2 AM, rounding out another marathon of disaster (both figuratively and literally) movies. If you have trouble sleeping at night, and happen to be up whenever this flick is playing, give it a watch, and I can almost guarantee that you'll soon be out for the night.

Not to say that NU:A doesn't have moments of sporadic entertainment (especially since the titular menace behaves in an eerily similar fashion as the "sentient" tornadoes in the movie Twister), it's just that the package as a whole is bland and uninteresting, much like the snow-covered wastes that make up most of the scenery. Everything you could expect from a made-for-TV natural catastrophe movie is present and accounted for, so much so that even a few minor tweaks here-and-there still render it indistinguishable from the usual early Sunday-morning drivel.

I could go on about the characters and plot, but it just seems kinda moot. Brothers Thom and Jock run a snowmobile rental service in Russia's Ural Mountains, a greedy developer is building a hotel on an unstable slope, and the pleas of a scarred female scientist fall on deaf and money-blinded ears, until disaster strikes! Throw in a few romantic subplots and useless fodder characters, and you get the drill.

NU:A is not a terrible movie, just a very boring one. It's stoically serviceable in every way, but hardly entertaining. If you watch it every night, you'll never have trouble getting to sleep again.

Well, here I was with my geographical education but this certainly taught me about how avalanches work. And you can hear an avalanche growling by listening to the snow. Creaking yes, but growling? It must be the same way the Nu Image sharks growl too. And volcanoes. I love Nu Image films. A bottle of wine and no expectations are needed for this film. And the acting is so bad you can easily recreate treasured moments in your lounge with friends. Careful that your special effects aren't better than the films! If you liked this in the so bad it is totally brilliant category, make sure you watch Shark Attack3 : Megladon very soon. Cheap night in and would be a brilliant first date.

Two brothers from the States run a snowmobile business in a Russian ski town. One loves the daughter of a gentleman who runs the resort, the other has a yen for a touchy geologist. But, at present, biz is not great and romance is not budding. All too soon, the geologist declares that there should be no snowmobiling, as the conditions are ripe for an avalanche. Not only that, she says the ski resort should never have been built in this area, for it will most likely be perpetually dangerous to natural disaster! Of course, no one likes this announcement, for those making money on snowy activities are not ready to pull up stakes. Therefore, contention ensues. No surprise, then, when the big avalanche does come roaring down the slopes and some folks are forces to enter a snow cave to wait out a rescue. Will it arrive? This is a fairly horrid film, except for the lovely scenery. The acting is below average, the script is totally implausible and the direction is lame. Yet, for those who realize most disaster films are not magically believable, some viewers may opt to get this one. As some of the bad guys get their due, the calamity breeds romance among the young and the snowy setting is gorgeous, what's not to love, er, like, er tolerate for an evening?

Rarely have I seen a movie of this calibre. The convincing and passionate actors deliver line after line of heartfelt and meaningful dialogue.

The looming danger of the 'super-avalanche' drives the beautiful avalanche scientist Katya and ruggedly handsome snowmobile driver Jock together. But can unbridled love survive the SUPER AVALANCHE?

I won't spoil the ending, you'll have to see it for yourself. WOW, this movie has everything: avalanches, snow, suspense, and romance. How could anyone not love this movie?

If you like avalanches, and if you want to be swept away by a beautifully written and sublime movie: watch it.

10/10

But it gets the job done.

A bunch of characters including two brothers, the younger brother's lover, her father the developer, and an avalanche watcher start to realize a nearby peak is about to come crashing down. Trying to find a way to keep everyone safe while maintaining profit, all while overcoming their own inner drama and differences, keeps them busy for roughly an hour and a half. We get to tag along too.

It basically has mediocre dialog, mediocre directing and editing, some pretty good photography, and bad acting, but it's the story that keeps this little experience interesting. In general, it's a somewhat tense countdown while the weight of the mountain starts burdening the souls of all involved. Can't say it was that bad.

Obviously a big difficulty was keeping it going with limited materials, being that a few shots/ideas are re-used several times. It also has a pretty useless side-story about the developer's evil business partner that frankly only worked to use up space, then climaxed in a pretty campy shot that I won't give away. But the fact that it even had side-plots and backstory and character development is kind of commendable for the type of movie it was. So there we go. Entertainment fun-fest and all that.

--PolarisDiB