Best movie of this year hands down!

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The movie has nice special effects (especially when considering that a lot was computer generated, even rain..., and that in a TV movie), decent acting, nice sets and OK camera-work, soundtrack etc. But then the script... How could they? I could live with the clichés, but the love story was terrible. Bollywood can do it more believable. And the people who had to die... why? Overall I would say that you can actually watch the movie if you have nothing else to do, but just don't expect too much (but who would anyway when watching a RTL TV production?). It seems to me that the producers wanted something serious, if you consider the effort, the details they cared about. Something like Titanic (historical event + love story) but in failed. 5 out of 10, for the effort and the missing urge to switch off.

I am watching the second part at this very moment and I have to agree with lars. However, I am not that put off by the love story - movies about disasters usually contain that. I am rather put off by the lack in accuracy: 1. Dining scene: the storm hit Hamburg in February but the trees had leafs on - unless climatic conditions in northern Germany were different in the sixties, there trees usually don't have leafs in February. 2. First oil platform scenes: they announce that wind speeds are at about 5 - 6 beaufort, but the waves look rather like 12 beaufort (hurricane strength) + the special effects suck!! 3. Dogs are already howling at the upcoming storm but not even a single hair moves when people are outside. 4. People are looking up at the sky as if they know that something is coming - this is a little ridiculous since we (I am from Bremerhaven which is also near the north sea) are quite used to such wind speeds - no one here cares about wind speeds of 10 or even 12 beaufort !However, the second part - when special effects and the weather circumstances are not that important anymore and the actors can concentrate on acting - it is improving quite a lot.

First: It's known that animals do sense drastic changes and danger from weather. So where's the problem with that?Second, we get so see all kinds of rubbush from Hollywood. Whatz wrong with this one?It's an action-drama, not a documentary.And for a based-on-true-events movie it sticks pretty close to reality (compared to Hollywood).I think it had all I expect from a movie of that kind. It's a nice popcorn-and-beer movie for boring days and for a German TV-flick the CGI was extremely good.So ppl, stop complaining. It's not that bad at all.Have a look at the DU BIST DEUTSCHLAND campaign again and try to understand what it means. Germans just love to complain. It's a pain in the ass.

After having watched the first hour of this "completely underdeveloped script turned into a movie"-experience I can warn anyone against waisting time for such a cliché-ridden trip. Well, how do you set up your average "if mother nature unleashes her forces of destruction-epic? - You take a tragic love story; - the dog (or any other animal) that gets terribly nervous in face of the upcoming mayhem and ... - The persons that fail to realize and act upon the danger.Some humour added, and you would have the perfect PERFECT STORM / Armageddon / DANTES PEAK / VOLCANO - spoof...Avoid it whenever you can!