Storm (2005)

Directed by: Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein | 110 minutes | thriller, fantasy | Actors: Sasha Becker, Lina Englund, Peter Engman, Eric Ericson, Christian Hollbrink, Jonas Karlsson, Carl-Johan Kihlbom, Joel Kinnaman, Karl Norrhäll, Matias Padin, Per Ragnar, Jacqueline Ramel, Eva Röse, Victor Ström

‘Storm’ is also billed as the Swedish answer to ‘The Matrix’. But when you watch ‘Storm’, you quickly notice that ‘Storm’ is above all a very surreal film. Don’t expect an easy pre-cut plot like with ‘The Matrix’. Instead, the film combines strong action with a very intriguing psychological story.

It is clear that ‘Storm’ borrowed from ‘The Matrix’, some scenes, such as the chase of the heroine, look familiar and the film primarily uses the same type of characters. Only later does the film begin to break free from its bigger Hollywood brother and ‘Storm’ manages to create its own remarkable identity.

This is mainly due to the characters and the well-placed humor. Although the villain comes across as very cliché and the idea of ​​an action-packed heroine dragging the main character along has been used many times before, there’s something unique about the characters of ‘Storm’. Especially the main character Donny is well thought out and developed. Although Donny turns out to be a lot less likeable than you expected, he remains interesting and you are actually curious about how he will handle it and how he will do.

The minor characters are also well thought out and well portrayed and are often a preparation for another part of the plot. For example, that Donny’s brother brought up an important part of the story between comments was done unexpectedly and subtly.

The aforementioned humor also makes the film very worthwhile. The humor is difficult to describe, but is mainly based on self-mockery and unexpectedly bizarre situations. Remarkably, the film continues to have something special anyway and the humor seems to be an essential part of the film rather than a few well-directed one-liners that you often have to deal with.

A plot is woven around all this that you say ‘you’ to. The surrealism in the film is also more of the fantastic kind than sheer vagueness and you soon notice that the plot actually leads somewhere else than you might expect. Perhaps the only downside to the film is that the plot seems a little too far-fetched at times, but at the same time, this also makes this a film that you will think about for a long time.

In addition, it is a relief that people hardly use computer-generated special effects. Everything is a combination of well-chosen locations and interesting battle scenes. The actors seem to be looking forward to it, and the music is pleasantly rousing and well placed.

‘Storm’ is a good combination of action, humor and surrealism. It is therefore no wonder that this film was awarded the Zilveren Méliès for the best European fantastic film by the jury of the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival 2006. A must for the science fiction fan!