TheLittleSongbird I don't think Lightning Strikes is as bad as some of the other reviewers say, but I do think it is a movie with a lot of problems. Having seen almost all so far of SyFy's work over the past two years or so Lightning Strikes is nowhere near their worst nor is it an irredeemable movie. If anything, despite being very problematic, it is actually one of their more watchable efforts. There are good things at least. The music is decent, not mind-blowingly good but at least it fits the atmosphere of the movie. The finale is exciting and by far the highlight of the film, there is at least some suspense and the pace really picks up here. The creature does look good, much more serviceable than the ridiculous-looking ones that SyFy usually churn out. The human characters, with one exception, are clichéd and not developed so well, but at least have some likability, have an awareness of their predicament and show some decent chemistry. And the acting especially from Kevin Sorbo and David Schofield(who has the best line of Lightning Strikes, see in my review title) is above average. I was mixed on the technical side, the editing was at least comprehensible and the lighting had some atmosphere but the settings, reminiscent of someone's basement shows a serious hindrance in budget and apart from the finale the special effects are not great(though not as bad as those of most other SyFys). On the other hand, there are a number of bad things. First and foremost, the character of the mayor, he is incredibly irritating by how much of a stupid sissy he is and he is very overacted by Todd Jenson as well. I wish we learnt more about the creature as well, there was a really intriguing idea but the movie just doesn't do very much with it. Apart from one good line, I generally did the dialogue much too talky and very clunky in tone, while the story generally is slow and predictable with too much of an emphasis on the disaster movie genre rather than doing anything to develop the creature. The killings were rather weak too, lacking in any surprises or shock value and some of them are too brief as well. So all in all, a mediocre movie that still is above most of SyFy's movies. 5/10 Bethany Cox

another_fake_shemp I found this film was like a roller coaster of emotions. Will lightning strike? Will it be blue lightning? Is it going to split a car in two. Is it going to kill that boy? Will a generator with a lot of negativity allow the rod to conduct electricity? Is it really an alien living in "lightning space" who comes down in bolts and murders hapless people? All these questions were answered perfectly well in this straight to TV movie, and these are questions that I have often asked myself in my 34 years of life.Unfortunately, the question "why this town" was never answered, but thankfully, we are left open for a sequel whereby Donovan fights the alien dude in the lightning realm.

mirjam_1234 I would like to add a few more goofs to the ones already listed: Isn't it illegal to park in front of a fire-station?The sheriff's house is so far from town that you need a car to get anywhere (son is complaining that he can't go anywhere because his car still isn't fixed), but close enough that a half-dead woman from the hospital can reach it on foot in 5 minutes.If they are going to ride a van into a lightning storm, shouldn't they have tested it first?Why are they using a voltmeter? It is emphasized several times that it is extremely important to start the anti-lightning machine at the right "amperage": 1000 Amp's. And the machine is indeed started up at 1000 Volts.I have given it a 2 out of 10 because it was so funny.

splunkett2 The first 5 minutes of this movie caught my attention. It was downhill after that. Hunky Kevin Sorbo played the sad-eyed sheriff of a cardboard one-intersection town with an idiot mayor who sported cheesy bleached hair. Awful production values throughout. The townspeople strolled casually through the streets, ignoring the sidewalks, and even the annual Pumpkin Festival was held in the same intersection. The storm-chasing scientist and his two grad student assistants were morons. ****Spoiler**** The monster had potential, but there wasn't even the usual low-budget explanation for his existence. The crusty monster-hunter was interesting but underused. I stuck around for the well-telegraphed climax--waste of time.