The Final Storm

Nothing particularly terribly awful about this film. After going through all of Luke Perry's movies until this one, The Final Storm seems par for the course for a cheap film. Small hometown cast and location and a kooky story to keep things going.

Luke Perry departs a bit from his Dylan persona to bring out his southern baptist evil bible thumping character that he's toyed with on occasion. He does it believably, that's a testament (no pun intended) to his superb and experienced acting skills. The other main characters were all played well, too. The story didn't blow me away like a big budgeter would. Though you can't expect that it should, I don't look at the movie's production price before watching, so I treat all movies equally and they usually cost the consumer equal amounts so it would be fair to stack this movie against Batman, The Godfather, Men in Black, whatever. So, up against those guys, this movie is cheap and is not as much of a thrilling 90 minutes. But for what it is, it's fun, it keeps you guessing, and it has you rooting at the right moments.

I almost stopped watching after the first minute because Luke Perry's been in so many movies about storms, I thought this must have been one I'd already seen. Turns out, nope, here came yet another storm film from the former heartthrob.

Lots of question remain unanswered after the film's ending, which is annoying, most movies wrap 99% of their story up at Fin time, but the conclusion is satisfactory enough to say, "Cool, that was fun," and, of course, it leaves you wanting more, especially more answers!

If you could watch any movie in the world I wouldn't tell you to bother with this one. But if for some reason you had it in your hand and were wondering if it should be played, I wouldn't be compelled to stop you. Grab some popcorn and enjoy, especially on a stormy night!

THE FINAL STORM is a cheap, end of the world thriller from German director Uwe Boll. This one was made in Canada and features a fiery DVD cover promising all sorts of apocalyptic action. Unsurprisingly, it never delivers on that promise.

Instead, this turns out to be a straightforward (read: predictable) three hander about a married couple and their kid holed up in their dingy farmhouse. One day a mysterious stranger comes along and proceeds to turn their lives upside down. What follows is completely without merit; this kind of cheap situation has been done to death in the past and Boll offers absolutely nothing new to the scenario. A film set in a single location with few actors needs really good writing and direction to make it work, and you just don't get it here.

Instead what we do get are a bunch of has-been actors going through the motions. Former pretty boy Luke Perry plays the mysterious stranger and does a frankly poor job of it. Lauren Holly's appearances in mainstream Hollywood films are long in the past. And main actor Steve Bacic is one of those 'never was' guys, devoid of charisma to boot. In all, THE FINAL STORM is a waste of time.

There's no real point in discussing the movie, if that's what it is. Just because you see moving images when you press play doesn't mean it's a film. There's money here, you can tell, which makes it even worse. So many daring, imaginative filmmakers out there would love to have had this budget. But no, Boll is given yet another project to insult moviegoers. When Boll makes personal appearances he does get crowds, people just love to have their photo taken with him and get his autograph. I'm personally offended by this practice in that it only encourages him. Truly bad movie making should not be praised or encouraged. There are bad films out there that are fun, we appreciate the effort, especially if the filmmaker was sincere but fell short. But this is just another example of a man's insistence on his talent, confident in his abilities, arrogant in the face of audience reaction, time after time. I see in the trivia he blames the script. OK. This mess should come with a manual and some sort of medication. Boll is making Zombie Massacre due out in 2010. May God Have Mercy On Our Souls

If you must see this movie, do yourself a favor and wait until it's in the bargain bin at the video store. If there's any justice in the film industry, one of the main actors will be there to rent it to you.

This movie was sort of a deviance from Uwe Bolls usual action-packed movies. Now, I am not saying that this is a bad movie. It just was building up suspense for something grand, but it never delivered.

The movie in itself is fairly average, there are some nice scenes, and a constant underlying sense of dread throughout the movie. But somehow the movie never really reaches a climax. It never peaks, and just then it is all over.

The story was sort of nice, and had sort of a semi-supernatural thing going on, but then suddenly turned in another direction. And then you just sat there and wondered why. That really didn't work all that well for the storyline.

As for the cast and their acting. Well nothing wrong here. Lots of nice actors and actresses, and they all put on good performances. The cast really bore the movie, and kept it afloat.

Now, I am not one to bad-mouth Uwe Boll's movies, and I like his previous work. I just think this one didn't quite make it up to there. But still, it is not a bad movie. Quite adequate for a thriller.

There are many better thrillers out there, but give this one a chance. You might actually just like it.

This movie was actually decently interesting, right up until the last 10 minutes or so. In fact, if I hadn't gone in knowing it was an Uwe Boll movie, I wouldn't have had any idea because it was pretty low-key. It was an end of the world type with definite religious overtones, but in the end, it just got WEIRD! I wouldn't say it went off the rails so much as it was going in a certain direction, veered off course, then overcorrected so badly that it drove itself off a cliff! The ending was so completely weird, I can't even explain what happened, other than total insanity! I would have happily given this movie a 6/10 if the ending didn't confuse and annoy me so much that it lost 3 full points. Save yourself the confusion and just watch the Left Behind movies, at least they follow the same plot from start to finish!