Storm Catcher

Plot

Flanked by buddy Sparks Johnson (Mystro Clark) on the ground, and co-pilot Lucas (John Pennell) in the air, Major Jack Holloway (Dolph Lundgren) flies America's top secret "Phoenix" stealth-capable fighter jet. While Holloway's mentor, General William Jacobs (Robert Miano), keeps FBI agents Lock (Tony Hickox) and Load (Kimberly Davies) from snooping into his pet project, Holloway and Sparks enjoy some R&R with Holloway's wife Jessica (Kylie Bax) and daughter Nicole (Yvonne Zima).

It turns out Lucas is an operative for the "Serpent Killers", an intra-military right-wing group, and temporarily assuming Holloway's identity, he steals the Phoenix. Holloway is accused of the murders of the guards that protect the aircraft, Branded a pariah, Holloway not only gets court martialed but he is also nearly obliterated when his prison transport is ambushed and blown up.

Determined to clear his name, Holloway escapes. After he touches base with his family, extremist soldiers shoot Jessica and later kidnap Nicole. No sooner does Sparks convince Lock and Load of Holloway's innocence than Lucas guns them down and kidnaps Sparks. However, Jacobs tells Holloway that if he ever wants to see Nicole alive again, Holloway must bomb the White House.

Production

Storm Catcher is set and filmed primarily in Los Angeles, California with B-roll footage in Washington, D.C., taking place in 18 days from October 19 to November 6, 1998. The Phoenix aircraft used for filming, relying mostly on stock shots, was the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter aircraft. The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle pictured on the film's movie poster (designed for pre-sales and financing before being produced or having a finished script) was never seen in the film. The other main aerial adversary in the film was the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

Reception

Storm Catcher premiered on HBO before landing on VHS and DVD. Although not critically reviewed in major media outlets, the film did garner some attention from other film reviewers. David Parkinson of Radio Times rated Storm Catcher, 1/5 stars and wrote, "Faced with a minuscule budget, a few feet of stock aerial footage and a script with dialogue that amounts to an aural assault, director Anthony Hickox has done well to produce a film that's only as bad as this one."

Robert Pardi of TV Guide rated it 2/5 stars and wrote, "As action fodder goes, this Lundgren vehicle benefits from solid wild blue yonder photography and enthusiastically executed assault sequences. As the bombs fall on familiar terrain and the fists smash into standard-issue bad guys, however, the landscape fills with deja-vu."