Tornado Alley (2011) User Reviews

I expected a little more for the price of admission!

[SDAim · 5/10 · 20 May 2011]

On an unusually rainy May day here in San Diego, we recently took some friends visiting from Pennsylvania to the impressive Reuben H. Fleet Space Center's domed IMAX theater to see Tornado Alley. The admission was a steep $14.95 per person, but included all of the exhibits in the museum -- which, frankly, I could have done without. The museum is definitely of interest to school kids, or parents with kids -- all fine, of course, but it would have been nice if there were a "film only" price for those of us only interested in seeing the movie.

Once we waited for what seemed an incredibly long time for them to empty the theater from the previous showing (although the place was not crowded), we finally got seated. While I found the film interesting, and appreciated the "behind the scenes" look at what the tornado chasers do, I have to say that the overall impression was that the end credits started rolling just when the action seemed to get going. I realize this is a documentary and not Hollywood's version of tornado chasing, but for all the build-up, there were just a few seconds of actually being surrounded and inside a tornado, and then boom -- film over.

Don't get me wrong -- if you are a science lover, or have kids and love those kind of exhibits and museums, this is a great thing to do. But for four adults, I'd have to say we felt a little short-changed.

Best Film that's need to be released again and on dvd

[HyundaiYang1987_YT · 10/10 · 1 February 2021]

I saw this as a kid and loved it, unfortunately there is no dvd version, this needs to be shown to the world again because this is one Chase you don't want to miss

Where Were the Tornadoes?

[Cepheid_Soul · 3/10 · 19 May 2011]

I was looking forward to seeing Tornado Alley for quite some time. During the course of the Discovery Channel Series, it was made clear that Casey was filming for another movie that was going to take the footage we typically see on Discover to the next level by throwing it up on IMAX. Chasers was essentially a "Behind the Scenes" of Casey's film. Using a revolutionary Tornado-Proof Car, Casey promises unprecedented Tornado footage.

But the so called Tornado documentary wasn't really a documentary about Tornadoes at all. Instead, the documentary is really about Casey and spends a majority of the film showing his vehicle, its construction and his efforts to get the golden shot of the interior of a tornado. Given that the resources of the car and his camera equipment were put into capturing tornadoes, I was surprised how little tornado footage is actually in the film. And for a vehicle that is supposed to be able to go where no car can go, I wondered how there were so many exterior shots of the car chasing down funnel clouds. Are they being followed by a second tank? In the end, Casey gets his shot. It is the interior of a relatively small tornado by comparison of some other funnels we've seen on Chasers and lasts a brief few seconds...it is hard to even tell that the vehicle has passed into the threshold of the funnel cloud itself. The audience member beside me echoed my sentiment when she whispered "that's it?" when the climax of the film had passed. I would have been more satisfied with a typical Storm Chasers episode just put up on IMAX.

I think my frustration stems from feeling misled. If I knew the film was about Casey chasing the perfect shot, I wouldn't have felt that I spent way too much money for this 45 minute film that I thought was going to depict tornadoes in the glory of IMAX, not scenes of the back end of a (albeit cool looking) chase vehicle for 30 minutes.

Bill Paxton couldn't narrate excitement reading an enema manual

[f-korambayil · 1/10 · 19 May 2011]

Just saw this movie at the San Diego Science center IMAX dome and boy was I disappointed. Instead of seeing massive twisters and fully utilizing the giant dome of the theater, it was like watching an episode of storm chasers on a large screen. Mind-grindingly boring. 99% of the film is watching cars being driven from A to B and hearing stupid radio transmissions using storm-chaser lingo. Paxton should patent his voice as a sleeping aid. I was so disappointed that I asked for my money back.

This movie should not be put on the large screen and tickets should not be $16. It is as dry as sawdust.

Amazing film and the work he put into it moves you

[jmwhims · 10/10 · 14 September 2023]

The film was incredible and you can't disregard the passion and the hard work and the sweat and tears he worked so hard to make on this film he spent his life doing this and wanted everything to be perfect for us you have to admire and respect the hard work he put into this if you watch storm chasers you'd understand so put that in consideration. I loved the film it had great shots of the most awesome weather conditions you can get it on Amazon just search tornado alley imax and it's a three movie/show thing and his movie is in it. So please consider giving him a higher review because not only was this movie inspiring to me and wanted me to get back in the field of meteorology it had the most awesome shots of weather and made me love Sean even more.

Total Letdown

[meregold · 1/10 · 12 September 2018]

I've been trying to watch this movie since it was released. 7 years later after missing it at the imax, purchasing a 4K DVD that I couldn't play, I finally rented it from the library. Very little storm footage and the eye of the tornado shot was a joke. Such a disappointment...

Meh. OK.

[krowe33 · 4/10 · 25 June 2023]

I'm a big fan of the Storm Chasers series. And I watched Sean struggle through the series trying to chase down his perfect shots for this documentary. What Sean should have done is handed that fancy camera to Reed Timmons and let Reed get the footage for him.

Sean has one of those irritatingly annoying personalities that just makes you want to duct tape his mouth shut, so it just makes it hard to watch this. I kept finding myself hoping a tornado would turn the TIV into an ugly metal taco. Watch episode 2 of season 3 of Storm Chasers and you will see what I mean.

Still, it is some good storm footage. It just could have been so much better if Sean directed and let Reed take the lead for him hunting down the storms. This could have been so much better. Shows like this I can watch multiple times, but not this one.

Less actual content than a single episode of Storm Chasers

[Pizzaowner · 2/10 · 4 September 2021]

Despite the massive hype for the 'PERFECT SHOT' of the inside of a a tornado, this 40 minute episode is really nothing more than a dull and lacklustre collection of stock cloud, storm and wrecked trailer parks and towns.

It shows NO IMAGINATION of depth and is so mundane that I watched an infomercial to wake myself up.

Sean's ego and his IMAX dreams don't come close to a single episode of Storm Chasers.

This should be called Tornado Dreams. Because that's mostly what it consists of.

Interspersed with snippets of his person life, Sean uses this fake-umentary to make himself look more human and compassionate than Storm Chasers does.

It does NOT succeed in erasing the mouth-taste that he left with Storm Chaser fans.

Do's bother with this thing and watch a re-run of Storm Chasers.