Storm Catcher (1999)

Director:

Anthony Hickox

Writers:

Bill Gucwa (writer)
Ed Masterson (writer)

Release Date:

28 October 1999 (Malaysia)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

To fight the winds of war... he must enter the eye of the storm.

Plot:

A renegade general (Robert Miano) plots to bomb Washington using a new top secret jet called the Storm Catcher...

Plot Keywords:

General | Conspiracy | Pilot | Frame Up | Fighter Pilot

Cast

Dolph Lundgren	...	Major Jack Holloway
Mystro Clark	...	Captain 'Sparks' Johnson
Jon Pennell	...	Captain Lucas (as John Pennell)
Robert Miano	...	General William Jacobs
Yvonne Zima	...	Nicole Holloway
Kylie Bax	...	Jessica Holloway
Jody Jones	...	Sergeant McGarry
Robert Glen Keith	...	Sergeant Stanley
Anthony Hickox	...	Agent Load (as Tony Hickox)
Kimberley Davies	...	Agent Lock
Rudy Mettia	...	Commando
Burt Goodman	...	Old Guy
Andreea Radutoiu	...	Havens
Phil Culotta	...	Commando #1
Mark Delasandro	...	Commando #2

MPAA:

Rated R for strong, graphic violence and for language.

Runtime:

95 min | Germany:89 min (25 fps) (cut version) | Germany:91 min (25 fps) (uncut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Malaysia:18SG | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:18 | Germany:16 (cut) | Germany:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Franchise Pictures

Trivia:

Filmed in 18 days.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Major Jack Holloway's wife gets stabbed, she lies on the floor looking upwards you see blood from her mouth running down the right side of her face, on the next scene it shows that she no longer has blood in the right side of her face.

Quotes:

Major Jack Holloway: Storm Catcher to base, storm catcher to base, control this is storm catcher do you read me. Sparks are you there.
Captain 'Sparks' Johnson: Hello, no one is home right now, please leave a message after the beep.
Major Jack Holloway: Yes this is Jack Holloway how the hell do i stop this thing damm it.
Captain 'Sparks' Johnson: I thought I gave you the instruction book.
Captain Lucas: Hey, will you two stop with the phone sex, we got a plane to test.
Major Jack Holloway: You know Sparks you make my co-pilot jealous.
Captain 'Sparks' Johnson: Awww, I didn't even know he cared. Prick.
Captain Lucas: Yeah, I'll show you how much I care when I get to the ground.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Edited into Agent Red (2000)

Stylish and entertaining, but definitely not without noticeable flaws

When you hear the name Dolph Lundgren, you rarely think of quality films. I can't off the top of my head name one single good film I've seen him in. However, you can usually count on him being a good lead in the typical more-Braun-than-brain action-flick. This film is a tad bit uneven, but it doesn't deserve its low rating and bad rep. The plot is not original, but the twists are fairly good(I didn't see them coming, at least) and the pacing is above par for the genre. The acting is a bit below average in some scenes, but it's mostly satisfactory. The characters are pretty much one-note and underdeveloped. The cinematography is stylish, but there are times when it's a bit overdone(you know how, sometimes when you watch a film, you're wondering if the cameraman has fallen asleep? There were times during this where I wondered if the cameraman was sober). The director uses slow-motion a bit too often, particularly during action scenes. To counter that, however, there's some very good camera-movement in some of the action scenes as well. The one-liners get to be a bit over the top in some parts of the film. The action is usually intense, but a bit too often it's unrealistic, to the point where it becomes completely unbelievable(a goon's gun running out of ammo in a half a second burst, for example). The film managed to do something quite unusual for the genre, namely surprise me several times. I thought on more than one occasion that I had figured out exactly what was going to happen next, but the film surprised me. Something that bothered me(being a weapons enthusiast) was the amateurish way the guns were handled. Many silenced weapons made the sounds of non-silenced guns of a completely different type. Of course, that probably won't impact the viewing experience for anyone who isn't interested in weapons. All in all, good for a single viewing, if you can catch it for free. I recommend it to fans of the typical action-flick and/or Dolph Lundgren. Not particularly good, but you could do a lot worse. 5/10