Metal Tornado (2011)

Lately I notice a trend in IMDb.Folks either rate a movie 7 and above,or 1.There is nothing in between.The phrase 'the worst movie I have ever seen" comes up more and more often.Although I admit this movie is not good it's not the worst movie I have ever seen.If you want to see a movie that has the production values and quality of Shawshank Redemption for example this is not the movie for you.So it happened that I was in mood and at a time that I wanted to see something "lighter", and this movie was it.It's a low budget flick that it doesn't pretend for a moment to be a blockbuster.It has decent acting,good continuity,and a sub par script.And what is it with the sci-fi criticism anyway?.All of a sudden people are bothered terribly by the "downloading of energy"but not bothered that the crue of Enterprise usually travels at 7-9 times the speed of light.You know there is a reason why these movies are called science FICTION.Having also seen the atrocious Super Cyclone I am not ready to jump the bandwagon and call this movie the worst i have ever seen.

Then you have to throw all logic right out the window and that's exactly what they did with this movie.I get annoyed when people make films that are based around science but then get the science wrong. In this film, there are some blatant mistakes like the dome part of a silo on a farm that gets ripped off by the 'magnetic tornado' yet that would not happen in 'reality' because the domes on silos are made of aluminum which is not magnetic.Also, you can't 'download' energy from anywhere and quickly 'store' it, at least not currently and this movie is filmed in the here and now so the entire basis is impossible.Now for the 'evil entrepreneur' who runs this fictitious power company in the film called 'Helios'. I guess since the film company that made this is based in Ottawa, this shows what part-time government employees who have little film production companies think 'entrepreneurs' are all about, evil men that will do anything, even kill employees who find design flaws in their systems.Most of the acting was quite good, Lou Diamond Phillips and Kate Drummond were stand outs. I can't understand why they chose Nicole de Boer for the main role when they could have used Kate Drummond -- it makes no sense but then neither does a tornado made out of metal... or sharks etc. The small part by Camille Solari was humorous.They should have just pulled out all the cheese and gone all in and made the chainsaw that gets magnetized at the start of the film and seems to develop a mind of it's own, go a frigging killing rampage. Why not -- the whole thing was so unbelievable that they could have just done anything with it at that point. Most of these films would make far better comedies than sci-fies if they would just take them in that direction.

Obvious plot. Ham acting. Terrible special effects. Awful one liners. 'What happens in this office stays in this office'. 'The Vortex has been destroyed... but it was too late for Paris'. And the Pièce de résistance..... Old computer graphics to notify you which part of the world the Metal Tornado is currently trashing.What is there not to like? This is an excellent Sci Fi film with all the ingredients of a great B movie. The only issue I have is that the director may not know of his genius and some of the direction was not meant to bring out the best wooden acting I've seen for a while. Days of our lives type pauses...... And then cut to the Helios World Office in France for an update on the current situation there..... Oh no not the Eiffel Tower! Independence Day bonus points for that.Nicole de Boer and LDP may need a new agent. Totally out of place in this film.

"Just plain awful" - everything about this movie is bad, bad, bad. Why bother making or watching this film? Another terrible movie from Canada - and I'm Canadian!! I watched this because it was filmed in and around the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where I live. They used the empty Nortel office complex site for their filming and a few other locations around Ottawa. Of course, they had to make it look like an American setting - a small town outside Philadelphia. The acting is horrible, the script just abysmal and the whole premise pure nonsense. There were a few not too bad special effects - but even they were rare. The whole salvation of the world is placed in the hands of a hick southern Sheriff and Lou Diamond Phillips. And in the end, the Americans prevail saving Philadelphia but Paris is destroyed - ugh!! The characters actually smugly hug, smile and congratulate themselves on saving the USA in the film's closing scene - gut wrenching to say the least. The makers of this film couldn't have picked a more appropriate tag line to promote their film - "Nothing Can Prepare You For This" - how very, very true!!