"Oil Storm" is the latest made-for-TV movie to use what is rapidly becoming a tiresome technique: a faux-documentary retrospective that details the events that led up to a disaster.
The story opens in the near future, Labor Day weekend of this year, and describes a chain reaction that leads to global economic turmoil. Drawing from a collection of worst-case scenarios, the film portrays an America in chaos after the oil supply chain is disrupted. Political efforts to alleviate the problems caused by the oil shortfall predictably fail, and the result is a crisis that makes Americans (at least the ones portrayed in the film) question their reliance on oil.
While some may portray the film as anti-Bush, it feels more anti-oil, anti-conspicuous consumption. Political actions in the movie are framed within the context of the current behavior of many of the major global political players - US, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia - and generally might not be too far off the mark.
The contingency planning and consideration of viable alternatives is simplistic, but thankfully, the writers at least avoid the "Mexico closes the border" cliché. In short, the film is about as interesting as watching a tanker spill cleanup.
