Very well executed

Truly Dreadful Film

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The original title was "When the Sky Falls." Nothing to see here.This film follows the standard Asylum formula for disaster films. Create a disaster, divide a family, re-unit the family and only dad can save the world. In this case the disaster is ball lightning taking place in Minnesota, or "northwest of Wisconsin" as they say in the film. The cause is "compromise in the flow of protons from the sun" whatever that is. The family consists of the moody teen, redhead mom, dad's mousey girlfriend, frustrated dad with a bad walking stick, and a son stuck in the 80's.On the plus side I did learn that the rubber tires are of no use during a lightning storm, but the car acts as a Faraday Cage, diverting lightning away from the occupants providing they are not touching anything metal...and the windows are up.The film used unconvincing actors with boring dialogue.Made for TV.Note to self: During a lightning storm avoid metal junk yards to prevent getting a Darwin Award.

I have just turned this movie off with five minutes still to go, because I really had had more than enough!Truly this movie is awful and as the tension is supposed to rise, the glazed boredom just gets more pronounced. I was astonished to find it was made in 2016, the special effects (so few as there were) were awful. There wasn't a single heart-stopping moment and the endless driving around in various cars on completely empty roads was pathetic!Maybe I should have looked at IMDb before I watched it, I mean it was being shown this morning on Freeview television in England so that gives you some idea of how awful it is. The script is so mind- bogglingly bad, I almost felt sorry for the actors having to speak it - but the actors themselves were generally so dull and disinterested that you felt they knew what a clanger the finished article was going to be.And I thought film making had improved over the years - not if this is anything to go by!

I had no idea that DEADLY VOLTAGE was a brand new movie when I watched it on TV yesterday. You don't expect to see a film showing on TV in January in the year of its release, but maybe that gives you some idea of just how poor this one is. I fully expected it to have been released around 2002 or 2003, given how tired, dated, and cheap-looking it all is.Basically, the plot is about a typical family who go on a hiking expedition to do some bonding. You know the types: the females are always fighting and bitchy, the husband is a bore, the kids are irritating. They get caught up in a lightning storm, and that's all that happens. The special effects scenes are few and far between, and very poorly done. There's barely any action or incident, just dull emoting by the characters, and overall the whole thing of a mess. I don't mind disaster movies being cheesy a la The Asylum's output, but I can never forgive them for being dull.

The plot concerns a family going hiking when there is a danger about, and forgetting to take their phones with them so they can't be warned. In this case the danger is a particularly vicious form of lightning, but the plot would work just as well if the danger was an escaped convict, paedophile, poisonous spider, chemical leak, earthquake or nuclear attack. I suspect that the lightning strikes attracted the filmmakers because of the ease of portraying them with special effects. A meteorologist predicts the lightning, but an unnecessary coincidence is introduced into the plot, in that the meteorologist and the father leading his family into the danger are one and the same. It is therefore unconvincing that he didn't make much use of his skills and specialised knowledge to recognise or respond to the storm conditions. And surely a meteorologist would check the forecast before heading out!The film concentrated on the human dynamics arising from the recent marital breakup within the family, and how the relationships between the father's former and new partner develop as a result of them confronting adversity. This is an intriguing storyline, but it is rather undermined by the coincidence of his being the meteorologist.This movie lacks sufficient spectacle to be an action movie. There are many shots of grey skies, housing estates, countryside, modern office buildings and cars being driven around in a safe manner which though laudable, does not contribute to an air of suspense. The preamble where the meteorologist presents his predictions to his boss and is rebuffed creates little drama as he does not suffer for long, but quickly decides to put rejection to good use and go on vacation. And he doesn't really gain the sympathies of the viewer as his office conditions appear to be very plush and uncluttered, suggesting no one in the organisation is putting too much effort or concern into their research.While watching the movie the scientific basis for the super- lightning seemed unconvincing, but I was surprised when a brief search on the topic revealed that the "positive lightning" referred to does exist.Overall, this isn't too exciting a movie, but I didn't see anything in it that would be beyond the scope of amateur movie makers, and shows just what could be done with the most limited of resources.