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THE HURRICANE HEIST

"A Category Two Mess, but Not a Total Disaster"

NoneLightModerateHeavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

THE HURRICANE HEIST is an action, crime and natural disaster thriller about a group of thieves planning to rob $600 million in worn-out dollar bills at a U.S. Treasury office in Alabama. They hope to use a tropical storm to escape with the money scot free. However, they run into three tough heroes with military training, including a female ATF officer. The heroes are also equipped with an indestructible car used for storm chasing. The car is a big advantage for them when it comes to dealing with the movie’s Category 5 hurricane.

If viewers are willing to shut off their brains completely, the action scenes in HURRICANE HEIST are exciting and not too graphic. Also, the special effects are terrific, and HURRICANE HEIST has a strong moral worldview extolling doing the right thing and helping others. However, the performances make almost zero emotional connection to the audience. Some of the action and dialogue is silly and unbelievable. Finally, HURRICANE HEIST’s positive worldview is laced foul language, lots of violence and a politically correct environmentalist message about climate change. Extreme caution is advised.

Content:

(BB, C, FR, PP, PCPC, EE, LLL, VVV, S, AA, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Strong moral worldview with redemptive elements depicts greed and theft as self-defeating, heroes reject every immoral offer that’s made to them and risk their lives to save innocent people just because it’s the right thing to do, characters redeem themselves from past failures, torn relationships are restored, one character talks about buying his way into Heaven, but he is strongly rebuffed, some patriotic elements where the heroine works for the ATF and does the right thing, plus a brief and wild sermon by the meteorologist hero about “man-made climate change” promotes a strong politically correct, propagandistic and false environmentalist worldview;

Foul Language:
About 48 obscenities (one “f” word), six strong profanities, the stand-alone word “mother” is used a swear word, and references to genitalia and urine;

Violence:
Some very strong and lots of strong violence includes multiple fistfight, a man punching and trying to bite a woman, people being held at gunpoint, threatening to put a human being through a shredder, being shocked by an electric fence, choking scenes, shooting people with tranquilizer darts, shooting people with machine gun, furious hurricane winds kill someone with a flying hubcap, deliberate car crashes, explosions, man crushed by falling debris, a cold-blooded murder with a machine gun, hurricane storm portrayed as violent with people and vehicles being violently swept into the sky and buildings being nearly destroyed and whole regions flooding, but the only bloody scenes show light, superficial wounds and a broken arm.

Sex:
Light sexual content, including a subtle depiction of a fully clothed couple engaging in sexual behavior while driving, implied fornication, a kiss, references to dollar bills being inserted into “G-strings,” an empty pair of female underwear implies a one-night stand, and teenager ogles an attractive high school teacher;

Nudity:
No nudity, but woman wearing a short dress exposes her thigh while flirting;

Alcohol Use:
One character is portrayed as an alcoholic, and two characters drink from a very large bottle of whiskey;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
None; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Truck driver deliberately ruins a farmer’s tobacco crop because it causes cancer, and two estranged brothers initially have a dysfunctional and strained relationship.

More Detail:

THE HURRICANE HEIST is an action, crime and natural disaster thriller about a group of hackers who plan to rob $600 million from a Treasury office in Alabama during a Category 5 storm.

The basic storyline is interesting enough. When dollar bills get too worn out to be used, the government collects and shreds them at a U.S. Mint location, set in the fictional town of Gulfport, Alabama. A disgruntled employee named Perkins, played by Ralph Ineson, partners with a group of hackers and elite criminals to steal truckloads of dollars scheduled to go into the shredder. They plan the heist to take place while the town is evacuated for Tropical Storm Tammy, giving them a clear escape route without any witnesses.

However, fate throws a wily ATF employee (Maggie Grace) together with the world’s most rugged meteorologist (Toby Kebbell) to stop the robbery. Together, they must save her boyfriend and rescue his brother (Ryan Kwanten), while eluding the robbers and the natural disaster that could kill the guilty along with the innocent.

Sadly, that’s as interesting as this multi-genre movie ever gets. Coming from Rob Cohen, the director of xXx and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, the movie features loads of action briefly interrupted by unrealistic plot devices and bland performances. Sometimes, the action is over-the-top ridiculous: flying hubcaps kill people! In one scene, the hero and heroine lure the criminals into an abandoned shopping mall to save Kwanten’s life, only to do something that would have killed Kwanten in any real-life scenario. The movie resembles the Clint Eastwood movie THE GAUNTLET in that the real star of the movie is a tricked-out vehicle, in this case Kebbell’s storm-chasing car, “The Dominator.” If Eastwood couldn’t save his 1977 movie, Kebbell couldn’t carry this vehicle, either.

If viewers are willing to shut off their brains completely, the action scenes in HURRICANE HEIST are exciting and not too graphic. Ironically for a movie featuring machine gun fights and a tropical storm destroying a whole town, the most disturbing scenes involve fistfights, especially when a man attacks a woman. The special effects are top rate, however. For example, the cinematography captures the storm’s destruction so perfectly that the opening scene makes the sky seem as if it’s deliberately menacing, like a human villain. The script gives the characters sympathetic backstories, but undermined by some innocuous dialogue and, in the case of Sheriff Dixon (Ben Cross), the phoniest Southern accent since Foghorn Leghorn. Ineson gives the standout performance as a thief trying to maintain his own moral code, slowly corrupted by greed. Most of the performances, particularly Kebbell’s as the gonzo meteorologist, establish zero emotional connection with the audience.

For a banal action flick, THE HURRICANE HEIST has a surprisingly strong moral message. The characters put their lives on the line to stop thieves from stealing dollars that the government is ready to destroy, simply because it’s the right thing to do. The heroes would all be safer, and richer, if they choose the immoral choices the movie dangles before them, but they always firmly reject them. All of the heroes are in search of redemption, and the movie portrays reconciliation of the two brothers after an almost lifelong estrangement. Greed is shown to corrode the moral life of even the most sympathetic robber.

THE HURRICANE HEIST hides explicit, wild environmentalist propaganda. The meteorologist claims the Category 5 storm is caused by “man-made climate change,” which will soon be “killing hundreds of thousands of people.” Global warming will literally rip the steeple off your church (as it does in this movie) and you may “have to watch someone you love die right in front of your eyes,” he says, if the world doesn’t act immediately.

All in all, THE HURRICANE HEIST is a mindless action movie filled with exciting firefights and raging natural disasters created through impressive special effects. Its naturalistic and man-made violence are punctuated with extreme cursing, however, and its surprisingly moral messages come with a sermonette on global warming. Teenagers and adults seeking a big-budget, shallow action flick should watch this only with EXTREME CAUTION.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


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