Film Round-Up #34

I suspect there aren't many film fans who don't enjoy seeing a good natural disaster unfold on the big screen. Well, maybe those snobby elitist film 'buffs' who sit around stroking their moustaches while musing over art-house film that don't make any sense while looking down on everyone else, but the rest of us? Yes please! They may not have multiple delicately interwoven plots, they may not (always) be scientifically accurate, sometimes they are total nonsense, but by jove they're good fun! Well, good ones can be. Here's a look at a few I watched recently:

Twister (1996)

There was a lot of hype around this one when it first came out and, like most, I duly watched it, but that was the only time I'd seen it until this feature, so it was like watching a new film. I thought it might've dated really badly if I'm honest, but it's actually still pretty good. It stars Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton as Jo and Bill, a married (but separated) couple who chase and research tornadoes along with their team (which includes a young Philip Seymour Hoffman). Naturally there are lots of tornadoes in the rural Oklahoma area in which the team (and an 'evil' rival team, obviously) have gathered and they plan to deploy a new gadget which will help them forecast future tornadoes. This of course involves lots of destruction and close-calls, and that in turn makes for an entertaining, action-packed film as you might imagine. Story and character-development are unsurprisingly light on the ground, but the extensive special effects still look good and the two leads are pretty convincing in their roles. Good fun in a switch-your-brain-off kind of way... 7/10

Dante's Peak (1997)

The first of the two volcano films that appeared in 1997 was this one which, oddly, I never watched at the time, or indeed any other time until for this feature. It stars a post-Goldeneye Pierce Brosnan as volcanologist Dr. Harry Dalton who is sent to investigate activity near the titular town which is located close to a dormant volcano. Harry soon becomes certain that it is set to erupt and tells his boss to order the evacuation of the town but, naturally, he doesn't believe him. Then, shockingly, the volcano erupts sending the still-present townsfolk into panic including the mayor Rachel (Linda Hamilton) whose children are with their granny who lives... in a cabin on the side of the volcano! It's all pretty predictable stuff but thanks to a decent build-up, likeable performances from Brosnan and Hamilton, and a suitably fiery and explodey second half, it's a pretty entertaining 100-odd minutes. It wasn't well received on its release, particularly the first half, but watching it for the first time now, it's hard to see why. Not a classic but I did enjoy it... 7/10

Volcano (1997)

The second of the two volcano films that appeared in 1997 was this one which, not oddly, I did watch at the time! I didn't recall too much about it after all these years though, so I have duly watched it again. The main stars are Tommy Lee Jones as Mike Roark, director of LA's Office of Emergency Management, and Anne Heche as Amy Barnes, a geologist who begins to suspect a volcano might be forming beneath Los Angeles - egads! Without direct evidence she can't act but soon the evidence she needs starts exploding all around LA. The subsequent carnage was conveyed well at the time and, while the effects may have obviously aged a bit now, they still look reasonably convincing for the most part. Aside from Don Cheadle in one of his earlier roles, Tommy Lee Jones is the only actor who stands out really, mainly because he is very Tommy Lee Jones-ish as the only man who can save the day. Much of it is rather silly though, with some cringey dialogue and (what I assume are) unintentionally amusing moments, and it's far less plausible than its rival too... 5/10

Into the Storm (2014)

The main thought going through my mind part-way into this film was that it looked like it was made by someone who grew up watching Twister and thought "I'm going to make one of those when I grow up!". That might be a bit unfair but they are pretty similar films. The main difference here is that the storm-chaser in question, Pete (Matt Walsh), is merely looking to film tornadoes rather than study them. A less noble goal perhaps, but he is determined nonetheless, and well-equipped too. Sarah Wayne Callies also stars as a member of Pete's team, as well as Richard Armitage as a school vice principal trying to keep his two sons safe during what turns into an apparent tornado orgy which is ravaging the small town in which he resides. The special effects are obviously more impressive here, and there's a lot of them too, but that's the only aspect of the film that surpasses Twister which was itself viewed as little more than a special effects-fest in its day. It's not a terrible film but having something at stake other than just the lives of random uninteresting characters in some random small town would've made it much better... 4/10

Contagion (2011)

Given the events of the last year, I imagine many have revisited this 'global virus pandemic' film, and it makes for oddly familiar viewing despite the fact that it was made a good few years before our recent real-life troubles. Without much background info, a virus emerges in Hong Kong which is spread to multiple locations around the world before anyone even knows that something is going on. Before long, scientists realise there's a pandemic taking hold and the virus here has a much higher mortality rate than the one we have been dealing with. The advance of the virus and the efforts to contain/cure it are very well portrayed here, and although the ensemble cast - including Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, and Marion Cotillard - is too large to go into individually here, they are all excellent. It does feel a bit weird watching it now, a little uncomfortable even, and it does seem oddly prophetic at times, but it was and remains a good movie - smart, tense, well-paced, and more than a little scary since, as we've now seen, if a more deadly virus did come along, our species is too stupid to survive it... 8/10