‘Into the Storm’ Trailer: ‘Twister’ Gets an Upgrade

Okay, so ... how does the camera not get whisked away by high (really high) winds along with the planes and trucks and high school kids?

While the 'found footage' gimmick seems highly dubious (even by preposterous 'found footage' standards), there's no denying that the stormy spectacle on display in the "Into the Storm" teaser is rather impressive ... and more than a little terrifying.

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Special effects technology has improved (and then some) since the days of "Twister" (1996), which now comes across as a chronicle of a very mild rain shower in comparison to the mass destruction caused by the triple twister in one of this summer's disaster extravaganzas.

In one "Into the Storm" scene, the classic excuse of "The dog ate my homework" is replaced with "A tornado took my homework" as papers (and a few students) go flying through a school hallway, an image supposedly captured by someone on the floor holding onto a locker with one hand and a video camera with the other.

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It's also not going to be a good summer for aircraft. In the "Godzilla" trailer, we see military jets being swatted into the ocean like mere houseflies by the giant angry lizard. In "Into the Storm," there's no less than three commercial airplanes being tossed around by Mother Nature, along with a semi truck that doesn't have the advantage of being able to turn into Optimus Prime.

"Into the Storm" (originally titled the less poetic-sounding "Black Sky") stars Richard Armitage of "The Hobbit," but you wouldn't know it from the trailer: It's all about the bad, bad weather and the epic mess it leaves in its wake.

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The film was directed by Steven Quale, who last showcased the destruction of another unstoppable force: death itself in "Final Destination 5" (2011).

"Into the Storm" will hit theaters on Aug. 8.