Well, I have to admit that I wasn't exactly expecting a whole lot from this 2014 TV movie titled "Category 5", as I sat down to watch it for the very first time here in 2023. But still, I opted to give the movie a fair chance, since I had never seen or heard about it before.
Writer E. M. McCoy delivered a very generic plot, even for a natural disaster movie. Sure, "Category 5" was watchable for what it turned out to be, but man, this was as predictable as they come. And E. M. McCoy played it safe and essentially followed every single trope there was to the genre. If you have seen any of the countless similar natural disaster movies out there, then you know what you're in for should you decide to sit down and watch "Category 5".
The movie had Burt Reynolds and C. Thomas Howell on the cast list, so at least there were some familiar faces. The acting by the cast in "Category 5" was okay, though I have to say that it was somewhat strained to watch a very tired Burt Reynolds on the screen here.
Visually then "Category 5" was actually better than I had anticipated. Sure, this wasn't top notch special effects, but it worked out well enough as intended. Take heed though, that director Rob King makes use of a lot of stock footage of storms, which sort of gives the movie a very amateurish and low budget feel.
While "Category 5" was watchable for what it was, then this is hardly a movie that I will recommend for fans of the natural disaster genre. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.
My rating of "Category 5" lands on a four out of ten stars.
