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INTO THE STORM

"Another Entertaining Thriller with Too Much Foul Language"

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What You Need To Know:

INTO THE STORM is an intense disaster movie. It follows a large number of people as they face off against the most insane day of tornadoes the world has ever seen. The core characters are a group of professional stormchasers pursuing footage of live tornados. Leading the team is Pete, who’s determined to get the best footage at any risk. He’s in conflict with a female meteorologist, who’s determined to survive and return to her 5-year-old daughter 200 miles away. Meanwhile, a desperate father enlists their help in finding and saving his missing son.

INTO THE STORM is not brilliantly written, and its characters are interchangeable in many ways. However, it’s a prime example of a movie where the filmmakers know to keep the focus on outrageous mayhem, and this is what the movie delivers full force. The director and his effects team are the real stars here. INTO THE STORM has a strong moral worldview with brief but strong Christian, redemptive elements. However, it’s marred by a significant amount of gratuitous crude language. So, extreme caution is advised for INTO THE STORM.

Content:

(BB, CC, Pa, LLL, VV, S, AA, M) Strong moral worldview overall with strong Christian, redemptive elements where people help other people survive an intense string of powerful tornadoes and the resultant destruction, there’s a pro-family message, characters find refuge in a Christian church at one point, two characters seem to be silently praying at one point, instances of self-sacrifice, and doing the right thing triumphs over greed, but significantly marred by overt immoral behavior, especially too much crude language; at least 42 obscenities (including one “f” word), three strong profanities and nine light profanities; intense storm violence from powerful tornadoes includes one dangerous situation after another as an onslaught of tornadoes touches down and ruins a high school graduation, decimates downtown areas and countless vehicles, and chases a team of storm-chasers down highways, back roads and all manner of terrain, plus an extended subplot in which two teenagers are trapped under rubble and are in danger of drowning from a water main breaking, and a man gets sucked into a tornado filled with fire and is clearly set aflame while being hurtled through the air; some brief crude content and comments such as two high school couples making out in a car are interrupted by a tornado, talk of “nailing some tail” in one line, teenagers makes rude remark about teacher’s breasts, but another teenager rebukes him, and high school athlete says he wants to “bang” a cheerleader; no nudity but brief female cleavage in at least one scene; brief alcohol use and one man appears to be getting drunk and says he’s just getting started; no smoking or drugs; and, light miscellaneous immorality includes greed but rebuked, and girl admits lying to parents about where she was going to be.

More Detail:

INTO THE STORM is a thoroughly entertaining disaster movie about a series of mega-tornadoes that hit Oklahoma on one really bad day, and the heroic measures people take to help each other survive. INTO THE STORM has a strong moral worldview with brief but strong Christian, redemptive elements, but it’s marred by a significant amount of gratuitous foul language, so extreme caution is advised.

The story follows a large number of people as they face off against the most insane day of tornadoes the world has ever seen. The core group of characters are professional storm-chasers who pursue tornadoes for footage used in thrilling reality shows on TV. Leading the team is Pete (Matt Walsh), who’s determined to get the best footage at any risk. He’s in conflict with a female meteorologist, who is determined to survive and return to care for her 5-year-old daughter 200 miles away. Their conflict fuels the human side of the tension, with a team of young adventurous cameramen caught in between.

Meanwhile, a teenage boy named Donnie (Max Deacon) and his brother Trey (Nathan Kress) are both suffering from having a distant father (Richard Armitage) who’s also their high school’s vice principal. The brothers are supposed to film that day’s graduation ceremony, but Donnie finds a way to help the girl he has a crush on, Kaitlyn (Alycia Debnam-Carey), with her own video project.

When Donnie’s father can’t find him after the high school is hit by the tornado, he enlists the storm chasers’ help in finding his son and Kaitlyn and trying to save them. The resulting tension-filled search reinvigorates the family’s bonds in the process.

INTO THE STORM is not brilliantly written, and its characters are interchangeable in many ways. However, it’s a prime example of a movie where the filmmakers know to keep the focus on outrageous mayhem, and this is what the movie delivers full force. Audiences will be on the edge of their seats from the first storm all the way through the finish. The actors deliver capable performances, but the real stars are Director Stephen Quale and his incredible effects team, as well as the superb musical scoring.

Morally and theologically speaking, the movie scores points for its pro-family message, where two sons reconcile with their distant father. Also during the story, Pete’s greedy nature is overcome by doing the right thing. There are also scenes of people helping other people survive, scenes of self-sacrifice, a scene where the characters find refuge in a Christian church, and a scene where two characters seem to be silently praying to God.

That said, INTO THE STORM has a significant, excessive amount of gratuitous foul language. A couple instances of crude language are a little salacious. Finally, there’s one short scene where two high school couples making out in a car are interrupted by a tornado.

So, INTO THE STORM is extremely exciting and intense, with lots of jeopardy, but the gratuitous foul language is annoying. Extreme caution is therefore advised. Younger, sensitive viewers may also find the movie too intense or scary.