ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Platypuschow Lightning: Fire from the Sky is the first of two Lightning themed movies that will have inevitably have been making the rounds on the Scyfy channel.It stars Dukes Of Hazard/Smallville alumni John Schneider, industry veteran Stacy Keach and hollywood star Jesse Eisenberg.It tells the story of a young man with a fascination for lightning (How convenient) who begins to see evidence that a 100yr storm is on its way to his town. But who can he convince and what can he do to combat it?It's all your usual cliched all the way to hell, predictible, naff looking and all by the numbers stuff but to be fair I've seen a lot worse.What makes this rise above mediocrity is the cast, those three and the supporting faces do a decent enough job that manages to mask some the movies obvious flaws.Generic stuff, but passable in its own way.The Good:Cast do a good jobSome really good writing in placesThe Bad:Cliched to hellEnding is really dumbThings I Learnt From This Movie:Eisenberg truly did find greatness, from small beginnings

Dominic Wade I am always intrigued by made for TV movies and although I enjoyed watching this there is one serious problem, the bad science used to push the story forward.Acting - Very average characters portrayed with no depth to them, they lacked emotion; they are simply there to move the story on. The acting was almost contrived in parts, especially the mayor.Story - The idea of two storms merging due to them being attracted to an area made of iron is in itself very bad science. Thunderstorms are controlled by atmospheric conditions including updrafts, downdrafts and upper-level winds, etc. Thunderstorms that do merge can become larger more intense storms until they dissipate. A thunderstorm will not last in the same area forever.The lightning effects are good, although I wish movie makers would get it right in regard to lightning flashing before hearing the thunder. Not all lightning creates instant thunder; lightning flashes at various distances from the observer and therefore the speed the thunder travels will also vary. They did get it right in that lightning can travel through phone lines, plumbing, etc. Although the movie takes this to the extreme with having things blow up. As for the ending, what on Earth is going on there? Absolute rubbish science to say the least.

Pro Jury The "Little Wesley" character from Star Trek is renamed and played by a new actor in LIGHTNING: FIRE FROM THE SKY -- a 2001 made-for-TV movie.Here, Little Wesley has superior knowledge about weather patterns and dangerous thunder clouds. LIGHTNING burdens our boy genius with an assortment of ignorant adults who will forever fail to grasp the fact that Wesley is always right.The lead victims of LIGHTNING are veteran actors John Schneider and Stacy Keach who both deserve better treatment.With camera point-of-view and editing, the director attempted to give the thunder clouds a "personality" (for lack of a better word). It is a stretch and ended up being a distraction to the viewer.This made-for-TV movie has little going for it and is best avoided.

colcam And Family Friendly wins. There are times some things have to become compromises when you make a movie, and sometimes you have to compromise on the theme to fit a market.But unless you are setting up a pure fantasy you should not have to compromise on believability. In this feature, in an attempt pump up the dramatic side at the same time they tried to remain family friendly, lighting was made to "jump through hoops" (sorry about the pun) and things were happening that simply do not happen in the real world. This story had promise, this movie had potential. The direction was fitting, the photography was acceptable, the editing, acting, sound-- all made the grade. Unfortunately, like a wonderful house built on an inadequate foundation, it cracks and falls apart as it ages.So much potential.