The Final Storm (2010)

Pretty Good

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

THE FINAL STORM is a cheap, end of the world thriller from German director Uwe Boll. This one was made in Canada and features a fiery DVD cover promising all sorts of apocalyptic action. Unsurprisingly, it never delivers on that promise.Instead, this turns out to be a straightforward (read: predictable) three hander about a married couple and their kid holed up in their dingy farmhouse. One day a mysterious stranger comes along and proceeds to turn their lives upside down. What follows is completely without merit; this kind of cheap situation has been done to death in the past and Boll offers absolutely nothing new to the scenario. A film set in a single location with few actors needs really good writing and direction to make it work, and you just don't get it here.Instead what we do get are a bunch of has-been actors going through the motions. Former pretty boy Luke Perry plays the mysterious stranger and does a frankly poor job of it. Lauren Holly's appearances in mainstream Hollywood films are long in the past. And main actor Steve Bacic is one of those 'never was' guys, devoid of charisma to boot. In all, THE FINAL STORM is a waste of time.

I admit that I was never a big Uwe Boll fan, but his newer stuff is starting to grow on me and this movie really isn't that bad. Its pretty good actually. And in his last few films his style has matured abit so it appears that Uwe Boll is finally growing as a writer/director. The film has a nice amateur feel to it and it sticks to what it is, filming most of the conteOK, the movie. A mysterious, but hospitable stranger looking for a little "Shelter from the storm" is taken in by a family. The hospitable charismatic stranger starts make the family a little unnerved with his pushy belief system. The movie starts off a slow burn, but builds. You don't have to agree with anyone's view points in the movie. If you ignore the message you feel the film is giving you can really enjoy it. I never hated a movie over subliminal film messages be it, political , religious or whatever. I just let myself be entertained because after all, "Its just a movie". ATHIEST ALERT:If your a crabby athiest who looks down on and can't live with the fact that there are other people with other belief systems you probably won't like this because it requires you to turn your beliefs off for an hour and half and have an open mind. I am an athiest, but tolerant of these kind of movies because there almost like Sci-Fi to me(I love Sci-Fi) Oh, that and the fact that its a movie only not a political/religious ideology. I gave it 6/10 and it deserves it. I wouldn't run out and buy it for $15, but if you catch it on cable late one night, or in the $3.99 or under bargain bin give it a shot. It would definitely be nice on a dark rainy night :)

I saw this movie last night on cable TV (FIOS, actually) and only kept watching it because I recognized a few of the actors. After reading the other reviews and thinking it through myself, I can offer you a synthesized explanation for the plot elements and storyline: 1) Almost everybody disappears from the local community - but not a few ruffians in town.2) There is evidence they disappeared left quickly (half-eaten cookie & coffee in the police station at the dispatcher's seat) 3) It happened during a big storm - which adds to the mystery. Family dog disappeared (doesn't come back) during storm. Power is out, house is cold. After several days, food is low forcing trip to (semi) deserted local town for food - allowing for evidence of disappearance to be seen and for ruffians to attack. Storyline family and Luke Perry flee town after Luke helps defend husband from ruffians.4) Luke Perry originally showed up at (the storyline family's) farm during the storm and gets invited (mostly by wife) to stay with our storyline family after it's over.5) The husband of the family, Steve Bacic, may or may not be the best husband (some rude drinking).7) Lauren Holly (the wife) may or may not be a semi-bored, randy farm wife who's flattered by the attention from Luke at more than one point.8) In the TV version I saw, we get to see some cleavage and she's in her panties in the bathroom with Luke at one point. And while refilling the tub for Luke, his junk may have been visible to her, but she's not shy about staying there to talk.9) If you search online, you'll find out that a side-view of her breast was in the DVD version (while Lauren and hubby were doing it) in one scene.10) Luke has a Bible verse tattoo on his arm and mumbles Bible talk from time to time.11) Later on, we find out that Luke killed people at that farmhouse 20 years before (his father being one) - at the time, it was his family's house.12) We get a few clues during the movie that this might be the end of the world.13) Luke desires Holly and makes a violent play for her - just as the husband comes back from a trip to town (injured and in a weakened state).14) Family son rescues father from Luke's attempted hanging, which sets in motion final battle scene where Luke is killed.15) Stars vanish from night sky - world ends.OK, here's my synthesized storyline for you: Luke is The Prodigal Son who comes home. The family is his symbolic family and he's got Oedipal lust for the wife. The wife is sort of randy and might be unfaithful in her heart (just like mankind is unfaithful in our hearts to God, so too might she be to her husband).So then, Luke is the sin of man, let loose in real form to illustrate that at the end of the world, only those whose hearts are right with God get raptured.The Rapture is why most people disappeared, leaving ruffians in town and a sin-tinged farm family for the plot.The husband has sin because of booze and attitude, the kid because he's a mouth-off, the wife because she accepts intimate flattery from Luke.Luke is sin personified and when the family overcomes him (by resisting and fighting back), the world ends for them because they too are raptured.The movie is better than sleeping pills because it's non-chemical. But the effect is the same: you sleep well afterward.There are no hidden plot messages or twists to think about after it's over, so your mind switches right to sleep mode and you get a nice rest.For late night TV fare, I'd give it a 5 (of 10)

While this movie will not win any academy awards, it was certainly much better produced and acted then 99% of the Syfy produced movies scifi fans such as myself typically end up enduring, etc. I would give it a 5-6 as a vote. The plot summary appearing on IMDb is not at all accurate (the son never disappears amongst other things, but Luke Perry does play a mysterious stranger with a hidden and menacing past which threatens the family amidst the turmoil of the general disaster).The actors all give reasonable performances, they are not wooden or overacting in the manner typical of smaller budget productions. All three principals - Lauren Holly (very attractive), Steve Bacic and Luke Perry were decent.However, one should be aware that this is not a slam bang action flick with all sorts of special effects, battles, etc. There is none of that in this movie. The movie is about a small family living in a rural area against the backdrop of something cataclysmic having occurred, but the hows and whats of that are never really delved into - rather the focal point of the story is how they are coping, the mysteries surrounding a stranger who has wandered onto their property, etc.I would deem the movie to be more of a suspense/thriller against a quasi sci-fi backdrop.On a plus note, it did keep our attention start to finish, and we were not hooting and hollering at grade F special effects and cheesy acting.On a negative note, the ending was somewhat of a mystery to us. We have some theories, but you are better off to watch the movie and come up with your own.I think overall this is the sort of movie actors do to keep paying the bills, but at least they gave it a decent go, and made the 90 minutes of the movie respectable rather then terrible.