In 1996, Warner Bros had the second highest grossing film of the year with Jan De Bont's Twister. For audiences in 1996, that film had it all: a roguishly handsome Bill Paxton, the charming sweetheart from television that was Helen Hunt, and the lovable goofball that was Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Of course, some could chalk a big portion of the film's success to a script co-written by Michael Crichton and De Bont's stylish form of directing, which are exactly the two elements missing from what looks like Warner Bros' unofficial Twister reboot, Into The Storm.
Provided by Warner Bros' official YouTube channel we see that Into The Storm has Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, and Matt Walsh each filling one of those respective niches in the film's cast. However, instead of telling the film through a straightforward cinematic narrative, we're treated to another far-fetched found footage festival of fun! Seriously, take a look at one of the money shots, clocking in at 01:44 in the trailer.
Unless Dorothy Gale's house has a Steadicam mounted on a windowsill, there's no way you're getting that shot with a handheld camera. And as for that title card, it's just a bit redundant. It already told us to, "Prepare To Go Into The Storm" once in this trailer. They should have timed that reveal just a little bit better, so that it doesn't sound like we're preparing to go, "Into The Storm Into The Storm." This isn't a musical, folks.
As much as I've bagged on this trailer, I do hold out hope that our main cast can turn Into The Storm into a movie that's actually entertaining to watch. From the small amount of actual character work we actually get to see in the trailer, Richard Armitage looks convincing as a commanding lead/dad who just wants to get his kid back, Sarah Wayne Callies pulls off sounding scientific without falling into any Denise Richards-esque traps, and Matt Walsh... isn't in this trailer enough. Seriously, the man is comedy gold and if he's used correctly he could be as memorable as Phillip Seymour Hoffman was in Twister. So chances are, he's the one we're going to remember the most from this film 18 years down the road, and one of his pieces of dialogue will inspire a future Cinema Blend writer to recall it. Much like this memorable bit of Twister has inspired me:
Into The Storm unleashes the fury of the gods against the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on August 8th, in regular and IMAX theaters.
