I found Into the Storm extremely disappointing even in comparison to television disaster movies despite its pristine special effects. First, the genre is supposed to be found footage, but some of the shots could not be from a bystander’s camera, even though a professional weather chaser tv production crew is among the cast of characters. Second, I challenge anyone to remember the names of the characters in this film a half hour after you’re done watching it. I thought there was a character named Chaz, but imdb says no. Third, I challenge you to remember what any character was doing before the storm hit. Fourth, most disaster films’ narrative goal is to reunite a separated family literally and spiritually. Richard Armitage, best known as the hot dwarf substitute for Aragorn, i.e. Viggo Mortensen, and Sarah Wayne Callies from The Walking Dead and Prison Break come to work, do their thing then leave without making much of a lasting impression. Will their characters’ fractured families come together? Into the Storm is one of the rare disaster films that does not even make a stab at creating a family.
Into The Storm has no character and no plot, not even a cliched one. I watch plenty of found footage films, and the best ones usually at least succeed in one to two of these three areas. I probably have to give an award to Veep’s Matt Walsh because he was the only character that I cared about. If you must watch Into the Storm, prepare to multitask.