Storm War (2011)

Posted by anythinghorror on 2011-11-25 · 5 Comments 

Just when you think the weather has been tapped out as a destructive force in TV movies, along comes STORM WAR, the lastest SyFy Saturday Original airing on November 26, 2011.  We’ve had ice twisters, tornados, brutal hurricanes, and killer waves.  But what would happen, someone over at SyFy dared to ask, if one crazy bastard were able to control all the various killer weather conditions and be able to use them as a weapon?  If this thought also crossed your mind, then you’ve come to the right place!!

Stacy Keach plays Marcus Grange, a brilliant scientist (“you name it, he’s got a degree in it”) who is more than a little off his rocker.  When an eager young politician, Senator Aldrich (Lance E. Nichols) cuts Marcus’ funding, well the guy goes completely off his nut.  Marcus was promising that he could manipulate the weather and use it as a weapon against the country’s enemies.  Aldrich thought it was a waste to pump millions of dollars into the research and cut him off.  Marcus vowed revenge and now he’s back to make good on his promise (apparently Marcus didn’t really need all those millions of dollars.  He seemed to create his weather devise with an iPod and a few transistors!!).  So who can stop such a madman?

Stacy Keach as the bat-shit mad scientist, Marcus Grange

Enter Marcus’ two estranged sons David (Jason London) and Jacob (Wes Brown).  David is a D.C. cop despite his brilliant, scientific mind, and Jacob seems to be an underachiever despite having just as brilliant a mind.  Jacob visits David with the news that daddy dearest is back in town controlling the weather and killing those who’ve wronged him in the past.  At first David doesn’t believe him (of course), but after Samantha (Erin Cahill), Marcus’ ex-research assistant, joins up with them, the gang Scooby-Doo’s their way into the heart of the mystery.

The first thing you’ll note is that the typical SyFy formula isn’t being utilized 100% here.  There’s no ex-special forces guy who’s ex-wife is the lead scientist.  We get the same categories of characters, but writer Paul A. Birkett (writer of HELLHOUNDS, ICE TWISTER, and the truly crappy ALTITUDE) makes just enough changes to make it feel different (well different for a SyFy Original, anyway).  And director Todor Chapkanov keeps things moving along nicely, although you’ll be left wanting to see more weather-based destruction … a lot more destruction.  But Chapkanov has more than a little experience with SyFy Originals.  He’s also directed 2009’s HAMMER OF THE GODS and GHOST TOWN; 2010’s MONSTERWOLF, and the upcoming MIAMI MAGMA.  He truly is the Orson Welles of our times!!  But the crew that got the most work was the Second Unit crew.  The movie was filmed in Louisiana, but there’s more shots in and around Washington, DC that the Second Unit got just as much footage on screen as Chapkanov did!!

The Hardy Boys? Nope; just David & Jacob Grange

But besides seeing Stacy Keach doing his best Gary Busey impression, there’s not much else going on here to grab you.  The acting is competent enough, but there’s not nearly enough scenes of weather-related destruction and images of Washington, DC landmarks getting destroyed.  Some of the dialogue is also pretty damn funny.  After the Pentagon gets hit with a series of lightening strikes, a reporter calls the lightening, “One of the most devastating catastrophes this country’s ever seen.”  Really?  What about 9/11?  And near the end when the brothers are counter-striking their father’s most recent weather attack, Aldrich asks out loud what they’re doing, and Colonet Neilson (Gary Grubbs) responds, “We just declared a weather war.”  Shoot me.

This isn’t the worst SyFy Original I’ve seen (far from it), and there were times the film grabbed me, but overall you’ll feel a little let down after it’s all over.  Check it out if you’re staying in after a long Saturday of shopping or if you’re a SyFy Original completist like myself.

If Erin Cahill dressed liked this in the film, it might just be the highest rated SyFy Original ever!!

My Summary:

Director:  Todor Chapkanov

Plot:  2.5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  0 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Filed under Movie Reviews, New Posting, SyFy Corner, Upcoming Releases · Tagged with Erin Cahill, Jason London, Stacy Keach, Storm War, Todor Chapkanov, Weather War, Wes Brown