The Hurricane Heist

Starring: Maggie Grace, Toby Kebbell, Ryan Kwanten, Ralph Ineson, Melissa Bolona, Ben Cross, Jamie Andrew Cutler
Directed by: Rob Cohen
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Thriller
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Thieves attempt to steal from the U.S. Treasury as a massive hurricane descends upon a small town.

Review:

Tim: The Hurricane Heist is definitely a throwback to the weather-themed action movies of the 1990s. It reminded me of movies like Hard Rain and to a lesser extent, Twister. That's really the big appeal of this film- tapping into the nostalgia factor. Unfortunately, there's a reason we don't see many of those movies and the obvious flaws throughout this movie are an indicator why.

This film can never shake the feeling that it should have been a direct-to-DVD release. Sure, the budget is a little bigger than most of those, and they got at least some decent talent involved. Unfortunately, everything about this movie feels generic and low quality. The whole idea of a heist during a hurricane feels obvious and unnecessary. This is a silly movie, that's for sure.

Now, I might have liked the movie slightly more than usual- for a few reasons. I admit I loved some of those 90s weather movies, so there was some part of me that derived some pleasure from the throwback. In addition, I like Maggie Grace (sporting an Ohio State cap, which scores the movie bonus points). Grace isn't a great actress, but I enjoyed her roles on "Lost" and "Californication", so it was somewhat entertaining to see her here. It's not a good indicator for your career when you're making movies like this, but Grace is at least decent in the role. This part took some strength and determination and she brings that to the film. I was slightly surprised to see Toby Kebbell here. It's felt like he has had some quite visible roles in recent years. I'm not a big Kebbell fan, so this movie felt like a better match for his talent level. It'll be interesting to see if this was just a misstep for him, or if it's a sign of his future career. I was slightly surprised to see Rob Cohen as the director here. Cohen has typically been pretty consistent throughout his career. He's made a couple of really good movies and his worst movies are always at least decent. Unfortunately, out of the 8 movies I've seen of his, The Hurricane Heist represents a low point.

The visual effects weren't terrible, but they are obviously no where near the big budget effects we see these days. They didn't greatly detract from the film, but they didn't do it any favors. The script was pretty much a mess. There's a lot of plot holes throughout the film. The characters are one-dimensional and played out. The whole movie is predictable. The dialogue is basic and uninspired. Everything about this movie just reeks of substandard effort. Nothing is truly terrible, it's just all below where it needed to be.

Despite a few decent moments here and there, The Hurricane Heist is a movie that simply doesn't work. It's too stupid, too full of cliches. Cohen isn't a bad director, so I'm really not sure what happened here. He was saddled with a weak script, C-level talent, and too small a budget, but this movie still could have been better than it was.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Twister, Hard Rain, The Day After Tomorrow, The Perfect Storm, Snake Eyes