Jet Stream (2013) Reviews

• Only really has the scenery and to a lesser extent the music going for it

  TheLittleSongbird2013-08-20

  There are worse SyFy original movies than Jet Stream, though that is very little consolation as from this viewer's perspective it wasn't a good movie at all. It's not entirely without redeeming qualities, the best aspect is the scenery which is really quite lovely and eye-catching. And actually the music also has its moments, not a great score with not much that is unique about it but less generic and sluggish-in-tempo than other SyFy movies of its type and any other genre. They're all that Jet Stream has going for it. Regardless of whether it shows an inaccurate representation of the military, from memory the military have been represented far worse than here(from a movie seen in the past three months or so Sea Viper comes to mind), or not, that was among the least of Jet Stream's problems if so. Jet Stream is badly hindered by budget, the movie just looks drab with editing that suggests either somebody with little experience or one with little interest for the movie and special effects that are at best slapdash and rushed through. The script is riddled with tired clichés, the cheese factor and parts that will leave people confused as to whether it makes sense or not. Another one of those movies that could have done with a proper read-through. The characters are cardboard stereotypes with personalities that are not interesting or engaging in the slightest, while there is a sense that the actors were not connecting with their characters or material at all. Few of them seemed to be even aware of the situation their characters were in and there is a lot of phoning-in and embarrassed-looking body language going on. But the aspect that came off worst of all was the story. Some may find spotting the many scientific errors fun to spot, others will be too infuriated to be entertained. Either way, with errors this many and so confused in nature it gets increasingly difficult to take things seriously. There are some decent enough ideas on display, the problem is- and sorry to anybody who considers this a tired criticism- Jet Stream either under-develops these ideas or doesn't do anything with them. Not just that but it tries to incorporate several plot elements and neither come off successfully. The disaster elements lack excitement and is too ridiculous to properly swallow with the cheapest of the production values. The conspiracy thriller elements feature Jet Stream's most stock characters and most unfocused dialogue and just don't thrill or engage, instead any scenes involving this are dull. The satire lacks bite, sharpness or acerbic wit and while the media can exaggerate or twist things at times the satire here can border on heavy-handed and preachy and almost too much of an attack. And the romantic elements descends into mawkishness and overwrought melodrama, and has the movie's most toe-curlingly clichéd dialogue. In conclusion, there is worse out there than Jet Stream but there are no thrills or sense of fun, and the cheap production values, bad dialogue and acting and a story that does very little with any potential it had sees to that. The scenery and to a lesser extent the music are the best things about it, everything else is a failure, by all means if you like it go ahead but if anyone does dislike it it is very easy to see why. 3/10 Bethany Cox

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• A Film That Will Blow Away No One

  Theo Robertson2013-06-28

  A fundamental problem with making a film that will appeal to everyone is the danger that it will appeal to absolutely no one . This low budget production entitled JET STREAM and filmed in Bulgaria is a case in point . It tries to mesh in several genres such as disaster epic , conspiracy thriller , satire on the media and a bit of romance . It does nothing well and quickly becomes tiresome JET STREAM sets out its stall how bad it is going to be right from the opening scene where an American airforce Major is in contact with an US military plane conducting an experiment . What will strike you about this airforce Major isthree things 1 ) He is somewhat overweight 2 ) He doesn't have a US military regulation hairstyle 3 ) He obviously hasn't shaved for several days When a director gets little things like this wrong in the opening scene what hope for the rest of the film ? No hope at all as the film lurches from one underdeveloped theme and scene to another . You might have some fun pointing out the ridiculous scientific mistakes in this film but that's probably the only fun you'll get from JET STREAM

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• Godawful

  Leofwine_draca2015-06-05

  Even by the extremely low standards of SyFy Channel disaster movies, JET STREAM is a particularly poor movie, excruciating in fact. It's the usual CGI-fuelled disaster nonsense, yes, but the problem here is that the lead is this ultra-annoying TV weatherman who ends up advising scientists and military personnel who can't work stuff out for themselves. The weatherman is introduced in the most excruciating 'comedy' scene ever via a series of bloopers at his workplace. I'm not sure what's worse, the cringe-worthy acting or the scriptwriter's ill-advised attempts at 'humour'. Needless to say that none of this is funny, even remotely funny, while the disaster shenanigans are low rent and annoying. The SyFy Channel will have to do very badly indeed to make a worse film than this one.

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• Incompetence at 500MPH

  VeraWade2014-06-01

  It's movies like Jet Stream that make you wonder how Syfy manages to spend hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars on each of their movies, and still get phenomenally bad results. Jet Stream suffers from very bad writing, leading to cringe-worthy dialog in a lot of the film. For some reason there's quite a lot of painfully bad jokes too, and it seems they couldn't have been times worse. Add on to that the wooden acting by an extensive part of the cast. The CGI is just not convincing at all, everything looks very poorly and amateurishly done. The sequences that are meant to thrill the audience just look ridiculous, laughably bad at times. I also counted a couple of completely unnecessary close-ups. This is one of the many movies in which Syfy tried to disguise Eastern Europe like the USA, and here they did pretty much the worst job of all their movies I've seen so far. Not to mention that there are countless shots in this, which Syfy has recycled and used for multiple movies. Really, the only positive thing there is to say is that this movie may make you laugh at how bad it is.

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• Sponsership?

  theenglishmaster2015-09-25

  The other reviewers have got so much of the more abysmal moments in this really momentous movie, (sticks fingers down throat), that I didn't think there was much more I could add, but surprisingly before I got totally bored with it and flipped to ST the original series, there was a classic scene, where a soldier was electrocuted and the "hero" TV weatherman dived in to check his pulse at the speed of light, before promptly going into CPR, which he patently knew nothing about as he replied, "I got this man, I saw it on Baywatch", well that was the second thing that had me rofl today and I was the first thing. It probably didn't help the poor guy, flashing his brilliant white teeth and clean cut jaw, lying, to explain where he really was to the blond bimbo he was dating, sorry feminists, but she really was and probably still is and since she is Barbie the airhead he most definitely is Ken. I finally gave up when the Major re-appeared again, out of sync, the continuity was as abysmal as his haircut and thought enough is enough, I can stand no more, my brain will become as jellified as the crew. 45 minutes of STOS I can cope with, but the studios are going to have to up their game, to impress me and maintain my attention these days. I will attend the formal burial ceremony, if I can join the celebrations at the wake afterwards. :) R.I.P.

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