An Exercise In Nonsense

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

While this movie isn't as hot as your average summer blockbuster, it doesn't suck as much as some of the other wanna-be disaster movies out there either. You can judge how good or bad the effects are by the look of the fire. It doesn't interact enough with the characters, that's a big negative, but it doesn't look like a cartoon either. The practical effects worked pretty well here too...the really bad movies can't pull that off either. Some of the plot is actually funny and well written. I kind-of missed all the puns and obviously lame jokes that some of those other tornado movies throw out there, but this movie tried to walk that fine line between ridiculous and fun and exciting, and I thought it did pretty good. When you watch a lot of bad movies for fun it's easier to see how they stand out or fail in their own way. If you watch this movie just don't expect a well funded flick. Expect a goofy knock-off and you'll see it's good enough to hold your attention through to the end.

Someone said, "I can create a CG fire twister, let's make a film about it." Not as good as the shark idea, but it has Casper Van Dien, who hasn't saved the planet in a "B" movie in nearly a month. A fire twister is let loose on LA (the facts aren't important) and Scott (Van Dien) is the only man who can stop it...and that scientist guy (Jeff Clarke). Scott has a crew of Warm Earthers with him as they drive around in a bullet resistant Ford (The Unstoppable) with the gang that couldn't shoot straight on their tail. Scott is a former LA fireman which means he is part Navy Seal and part chemical engineer.This film had one of the worst escape scenes I have seen in a long time.The film is described as "When a mysterious orb of light strikes a deep water oil rig, the massive explosion erupts into a ball of flames creating a swirling mass of clouds and fire."That is not this film.The kids might like it, or hate you for making them watch it. Made for US TV.

I came across this Casper van Dien motion picture at Wal-Mart with the intent to find a really crappy disaster to watch & it pretty much was what I expected it to be. As a fan of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," this was pretty much not unlike the cinema the show has screened, & I'm pretty sure the observatory was also the same one in the comedy's "Teen-Age Crime Wave" episode. Van Dien was just one of two actors I recognized; the man playing the corrupt executive of whoever made the super-fuel or something was Joe Regalbuto, & has seriously aged since doing "Murphy Brown" 2 decades since. The SFX made me laugh each time I saw it; the good guys basically unleash what really should be just a mere blaze but turns out to be a 21st century version of the spinning inferno from "The Ten Commandments" that just moves about wreaking fiery havoc on Los Angeles. I was hoping the DVD had Spanish subtitles as I prefer not following the story listening to the dialogue to a movie I superficially watch. Nope, the DVD only had a trailer & I watched it on muting but I didn't miss much. Again, it's a ragtag bunch of misfits battling a monster fire & the villains who made it led by Van Dien, whose hair still looks great amidst hot temperatures. That's probably the advantage of the low humidity in California; no blow- dryer needed. Also the violence is surprisingly limited as nobody's flailing about in flames. I guess w/ this low-budget film they not only couldn't afford makeup & prosthetics to depict badly burned victims but couldn't even get a stuntman to cover himself in flammable jelly. In conclusion, "Fire Twister" is a typical DVD-only disaster film w/ an unfamiliar cast & a very familiar story-line per disaster films.

First off, I normally don't post reviews, but this film compelled me to.It's a Saturday morning, and I ended up watching this TV movie. Please save your self 90 mins (because you'll never get them back) and don't watch this. From the poor CGI, cardboard acting and terrible story line this film watches like a turd covered in puke, gently heated would smell like...absolutely terrible!The flaming twister is some shots is no wider than a street so all it needs is a hose down from a fire engine and it would be out....but noooooo, not in this film.