NYC Tornado Terror

A few years ago the SyFy channel programming executives noticed that all the major networks abandoned Saturday night. Realizing that whatever they put in that time slot it would only be up against reruns. This sparked the commission of science fiction and fantasy flick that could be made for about $5r million and shot in a matter of a month or so. As a draw the cast typically contained one or two alumni from well know series of the genre, just to give the resultant flick some modicum of credibility with the comic con community; the unofficial target demographic. Many variations of this type of movie have made their way to this grouping of flicks but arguably one of the most popular variations is the venerable disaster movie. while it is certain that known of them come close to the classic Irwin Allen movies many do manage to rise to the level of a reasonably good afternoon of fun. It has to be kept in mind that these movies are pretty much place fillers, put in a time slot that offers little or no challenge. They were devised as pop corn flicks and to that end they generally succeed. Of course with any collection of movies some will exceed expectations while others will fall short. In the case of the flick under contemplation here, ‘NYC: Tornado Terror’ we hit pretty much in the center of the bell curve. It’s harmless enough to make it eligible for family viewing. There is a story that is fairly cohesive as long as you forget any science class you took after the second grade. Remember this is not the science fact channel. Any similarities between the theories presented in this story and actual scientific reality is unintentional and purely coincidental. So this is not going to be recognized with any awards or notoriety but it will pass the time on a rainy afternoon when nothing is on cable.

One reason the story holds together better than most of these Saturday night specials is the teleplay came from an author with experience more diversified than usual for films of this series. T.S. Cook has been providing film scripts for mainstream movies and notable teleplays for a respectable length of time. Among his efforts for television he worked on episodes for ‘The Paper Chase’, ‘Beretta’ and ‘Airwolf’. He also penned scripts for ‘The Tuskegee Airmen’ and ‘The China Syndrome’. This is an author with a flair for script writing particularly for telling a story with a science fiction inclination. This is evident in how Cook manages to infuse the necessary backgrounds for the characters to permit some emotional investment on the part of the viewers. This is, of course, important in a disaster flick to generate the empathy for the characters in dire distress. Adding significantly to the audiences’ ability to have fun with this movie is the background of the director, Tibor Takács. If you are a fan of these flicks from SyFy there is an excellent chance you are familiar with his work if not his name. He has become one of the channel’s go to directors with such titles as ‘Mega Snake’, ‘Ice Spiders’ and ‘Mansquito to his credit. You might notice a trend in his choice of projects; many involve some form of nature gone horribly awry, usually with mankind as at least one source of instigation. Making a reasonably solid movie quickly and well within a miniscule budget is just about a genre of its own. Many people overly criticize this series of movies as being the shallow end of the cinematic pool. While not up to the standards set by extravagant, special effects driven films they were never intended to be in that class. A lot of these films, this one included, remind me of the ‘B’ horror movies that we would watch as kids in a local matinee. They were corny, predicable but a lot of fun.

Following the standard story track the looming disaster begins in a small, innocuous way. Deputy Mayor and former fire fighter Jim Lawrence (Sebastian Spence) and his meteorologist wife Cassie (Nicole de Boer) are relaxing with a picnic in Central Park. Along with the happy couple is Cassie’s nice from the mid-west, Lori (Tegan Moss) in town to look for colleges. She is anxious to bail and explore the city on her own receiving the opportunity when brand new fireman, Brian (Colby Johannson, offers to take her on a tour to Liberty Island. No sooner than they depart than out of the blue, literally, tiny white whirlwinds start popping up. It’s all fun and games, children playfully chasing the phenomenon that is until they begin to coalesce into a fair size tornado sucking a bystander in to his death. Cassie remains behind to investigate while Jim takes off to his job as other reports begin to come in. soon the city is all but shut down as more and more of this tiny twister appear growing to full size causing damage throughout the city. Of course one happens to occur on Liberty Island trapping Lori and Jim in the tunnels under the statue as the arm is ripped off falling on the only exit afforded to young couple. This is actually a very efficient use of a plot device. It places the young couple in jeopardy bringing them closer romantically and it provided the means to do something mandatory in this kind of movie, destroying an extremely well known national monument. The beloved Statue of Liberty standing in the harbor her arm brutally ripped off. Since this is only a ninety minute movie the usual multiple groups of characters are reduced to the two couples but that works in this instance. Nicole de Boer provides the genre personality needed for the format. She is recognizable as Dax during the later seasons of ‘Deep Space Nine’ from the Star Trek franchise. Like the rest of the cast she plays her part seriously not giving in to the temptation of going camp. In all you can have some fun with this.

Posted 02/21/11