GamerTab
That was an excellent one.
StunnaKrypto
Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.
Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
TheExpatriate700
Cyclone is basically a mash up of two previous Rene Cardona Jr. movies, Survive and Tintorera. It takes Survive's cannibalistic struggle for survival and throws in the occasional shark attack in a vain attempt to liven things up. The plot traces a group of people who become stranded on a tourist boat after a hurricane.This film has so many problems it is difficult to know where to begin. First of all, the hurricane in the film literally appears out of nowhere, catching the authorities and boats at sea off guard. Don't storms like that usually take days to form? Furthermore, shots of a plane crashing during the storm are unconvincing, as they were clearly taken during clear weather.The film suffers from a serious lack of dramatic tension, as much of the film consists of people sitting around the boat and complaining. Their actions are largely reactive, giving us little investment in the characters. Even the scenes where they resort to cannibalism fall flat.The sharks only turn up in the last ten minutes of the movie, with shark attacks just as laughable as their counterparts in Tintorera. The sharks are clearly mauling ragged clothing with some meat wrapped in it to get them to bite it.Simply put, don't waste your time.
The_Void
René Cardona Jr made the overlong, boring and trashy shark flick Tintorerra a year before he went to make this overlong, boring and trashy disaster/survival flick with sharks thrown in. I can only imagine that the director was a real big fan of Steven Spielberg's Jaws as this is his second shark flick where sharks are not the main focus, and by rights don't actual have a real part to play in the story. I am thankful to say that he has ditched the soap opera elements of Tintorerra in favour of some more exploitative survival style elements, and it's slightly more interesting; although really the film is a mess and far to boring to entertain. The plot focuses on an airplane full of people that crashes during a storm. The survivors get themselves onto a small boat and are swept out to sea, but it's not long before hunger starts setting in, and this in turn sets off arguments between the survivors as they realise that they have to eat...something. However, their hunger isn't the only thing they are under threat from, as there's sharks in the vicinity too.The plot actually sounded like it might lead to something decent, and I dare say it would have done in the hands of a decent director. However, René Cardona Jr is obviously not one of those and he manages to turn the whole thing on its head and ensures that nothing about the film is likable. The idea of people being forced into cannibalism is interesting; but the characters are boring and the overall atmosphere is far too impressive for the film to be enjoyable at the same time. There are some real unpleasant scenes in the film, and while this might have pleased some people; they are not done very well at all and a scene that sees a man kill a dog, for example, looks incredibly fake and stupid. The location used is just about the only successful element; as we see the people baking in the hot sun and this helps to get their desperate situation across. Anyone going into this film is liable to be extremely disappointed as there are no sharks at all for most of the film (excluding some stock footage) and they don't appear until the last ten minutes. By then, it would have taken something really special to create some excitement, but predictably; we are only served more disappointment.
JasparLamarCrabb
Rene Cardon's grim, but not entirely terrible rip-off of JAWS, HURRICANE, AIRPORT, etc. A plane crashes and the survivors are rescued by a pleasure boat. There's too many people on board, so...it's gross and very silly. Nevermind the fact that the production values stink, it's actually kind of bizarre wondering why the great Arthur Kennedy is in this thing. Is this the same multi-Oscar nominated actor from SOME CAME RUNNING, TRIAL and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA?!? Carroll Baker appears as well(and is way too old at this point to be seen in a bathing suit). Clearly these faded stars needed a paycheck. The best that can be said is that it's better than Cardon's SURVIVE! Lionel Stander is in it too.
bensonmum2
Cyclone's plot features a group of people stranded at sea after a cyclone rolls through leaving them with little water or food. The movie examines the lengths these people will go through to survive. I have now seen three films directed by Rene Cardona, Jr. and Cyclone is easily my least favorite. While it has its moments of weirdness, overall it is neither as sleazy as Tintorera nor as bizarre as The Treasure of the Amazon. For the most part, it's just plain dull and nowhere near as fun as the other two Cardona movies I mentioned. Add to that some bad acting, bad special effects, bad gore, and a bad script and you've got the makings for a bad movie.Animal lovers beware. Cyclone features one scene in particular that is as cruel a scene as I've ever seen. I realize that the animal probably wasn't hurt, but I found it repulsive nonetheless.