Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

If you have ever been in or through Arkansas, you will identify with this documentary immediately. The people I ran into while there were just like these white trash semi literate criminals portrayed in the film. The Veronica lady was a disgusting mess of a mother, the children of Veronica are disgusting messes of humans. As you watch the film, try to look around at the absolute mess of a house or trailer each of them live in. No one has cleaned these places in years, they are all too busy shooting the meth into their veins. They constantly cry about having no jobs but I don't see any of them looking for work either. I had to laugh at the scene were the old hag was searching on her phone for the law enforcements 'Operation Ice Storm' and she had the audacity to call them idiots (as she licks her lips for the thousandth time and slurs her words and her son Danny tells her to shut up). Let's play a game here - 'Spot The Idiot In This Film'. What I learned from this docu was STAY OUT OF ARKANSAS AT ALL COSTS !!!So no one actually ends up feeling sorry for these horrible people, and watching them waste away with meth is not making me teary eyed. These jerks got what they wanted when they started doing meth in the first place.2 stars for the docu because it was about totally senseless inbred idiots walking around acting all smart about one thing - meth. Filming was good, editing was OK, how the director and crew could stand to be around these people is beyond me, I could actually smell the stink from these trailers through my TV.

Hard hitting documentary exposing a lifestyle some of us are lucky enough to have avoided. The timeline of the documentary would have been easier to follow had dates been shown when scenes changed. It appear to have been filmed over at least a year but could have been more and some of the characters were never identified or explained. I am guessing the man who dies was Veronica's second husband and I had to watch it again to link the sickly man at the end was the same man shown looking much better earlier in the film. There is also a blond girl that shot up with Danial that was never identified and another girl, this time a young brunette, who was not identified. The documentary would be significantly better with just some dates and relationships of the characters were identified on screen. The documentary portrays the hopelessness of these people who live on welfare and food stamps and spend their time selling meth brought up from Mexico by the cartels to support their own habit. It also shows the DEA fighting a loosing battle to stop it.

"Meth Storm" (2017 release; 95 min.) is a documentary about the devastating effects of cheap and potent meth coming in from Mexico to overwhelm rural America. As the movie opens, we are reminded that meth production in the US has all but shut down, and that Mexican cartels were all too happy to fill in the gap. We then are in the midst of a high-speed car chase, as Arkansas DEA agents are on the heels of a drug dealer. Then we get to know a family in Van Buren County, AR, led by Veronica, now 43 and a meth addict. We witness her shooting up and it's not long before we get to know her two sons who are also addicts. Finally, we are introduced to Johnny, a local DEA guy who is part of Operation ICE Storm, a large effort to combat drug dealers. At this point we're 10 min, into the documentary.Couple of comments: this is the latest from documentarians Brent and Craig Renaud, who have tackled similar issues before ("Dope Sick Love", "Little Rock High: 50 Years Later"). The documentary picks up in 2014, when Operation ICE Storm develops, and covers the next 18-24 months. What we witness is hard to grasp and at times even hard to watch. Entire communities (mostly consisting of what one might call "white trash") seem engulfed in the meth storm. At one point Veronica's 26 yr. old son Teddy is released from yet another drug related stint in jail. They hug, drive home and immediately proceed to shooting up together, YES, right after his release! It blows the mind, and it made me cringe on more than one occasion. When Johnny (the DEA guy) reviews the list of people who are arrested at one point during Operation ICE Storm, he knows most of them personally, as he laments that he cannot stop the meth wave. At one point we get to know Teddy's 2 young daughters, I'm guessing 6 or 7 years old, and you can't help but feel very sorry for them. I just shook my head..."Meth Storm" premiered recently as part of HBO's documentary series, and I caught it the other day at HBO on Demand. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but as this played out, I couldn't help but feel strangely removed from all this. I mean, is this really part of America? I don't pretend to know how to solve this issue (or, say, the opioid crisis that is so widespread), and I fear it will only gets worse before it gets better. Meanwhile, "Meth Storm" is a brutally honest documentary that is at times hard to watch but a eye-opener on so many levels.

This gritty doc takes an unflinching view of the Meth addiction in central Arkansas. The opening scene of a violent car chase between an obvious addict and law enforcement officials is a good metaphor for the remainder of the movie: this is a horrific train wreck and try as you might, it's hard to look away. There are no winners here, no happy ending. But the film accurately portrays the problem from all sides. Users seem powerless to stop themselves or keep future generations from falling victim to the same evils. And drug enforcement agents have the best of intentions but are battling a ruthless enemy with limitless resources. I was confused by who's who in this film and could have used a few more titles along the way (e.g. "Teddy's third wife, Maria" or "2 months later...") And some of the editing erred on the slow side. But those are small potatoes next to the unfettered look inside the heart of a heart-breaking problem.