Twister [1996]

Director Jan de Bont was making his second film after the smash hit "Speed," so basically he needed some action. But the script by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin decides to overload the script with melodramatic elements. Helen Hunt plays Dr. JoAnne "Jo" Thorton-Harding, who has been chasing tornadoes ever since the night one of them took her daddy away. Her scientific purpose is to study them so that meterologists can make more accurate predictions and warn people in time to save lives, but obviously she has deep psychological demons driving her as well. This is one of the reasons that her husband, William Harding (Bill Paxton) is trying to get her to sign divorce papers. He is hoping to build a new life with Dr. Melissa Reeves (Jamie Gertz), but being able to study tornadoes in peace without Jo going crazy would be nice too. But if Helen Hunt wants to see what the inside of a tornado looks like, then that is what she should get to do. Besides, even Melissa knows that Jo and Bill still love each other.

If this was not enough to give a whole new dimension to what is already an exciting proposition (these people want to chase tornadoes; what more do you need to get excited about in a movie?), the script sets up the "good" tornado chasers, including Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dustin Davis and Alan Ruck as Robert "Rabbit" Nurick, and the "bad" tornado chasers, led by Dr. Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes), who is more interested in corporate sponsorship and television specials than in the holy grail of pure scientific research. The "bad" guys even drive black vehicles in precision formations, while the "good" guys drive vehicles that each have to have at least 100,000 miles on them.

Consequently we have personal and professional circumstances that drive these people to put themselves in the path of oncoming hurricanes, which is, ultimately, the whole point of the movie. "Twister" is not about a single hurricane, but several, all apparently different, with the biggest and baddest of them all, the Level 5 "Finger of God," coming at the end. You have to be impressed that not only our hero and heroine survive these tornadoes, but that the script manages to make it reasonable that their lives are imperiled repeatedly in this film. That is what makes this a fun film, because even if the plot is on the level of a theme park ride, the special effects come fast and furious. Just think Tornadoes 5 (three levels of meaning there, people), Plot 3, and "Twister" grades out at a 4.

Final Note: At some point in the past the ratings board decided that saying a movie was PG-13 was not enough information for warning parents. The PG-13 rating for "Twister" is "for intense depiction of very bad weather." I leave you to ponder what a film would have to show in terms of bad weather to warrant an R rating (or higher).


Awsome   September 18, 2003
Mrs Davina Byrne (Thirsk, North Yorkshire United Kingdom)
8 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is one of my all time great movies, the action is real with excellent scenes of on of the most devastating forces of nature. Twister is an action, adventure with romantic twist. All the actors portray there parts very well. One film I would watch over and over.


Really good viewing!   December 3, 2002
Diane Parsons (Essex, England)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

My kids first told me about this film, they loved it - I watched it and agreed with them. It's all go in this film, the tornado scenes are awesome and you find yourself getting frustrated along with the characters in the film as they try to set up "Dorothy" to monitor the tornados. Fascinating and exciting, I could watch this again anytime.


"We have touchdown. Touchdown. Tornado is on the ground"   June 20, 2002
Jennifer Litchfield (Auckland, New Zealand)
4 out of 10 found this review helpful

Twister has a worthy premise, some thrilling action sequences, and a great deal of potential, yet disappointingly is a film that adds up to less than the sum of its parts. Tornadoes cut swathes of devastation through mid-USA every year and television audiences the world over are shocked and yet strangely titillated by the resulting newsreel footage. So as a film following a group of (fictional) storm chasers as they attempt to scientifically measure a tornado from the inside (with a view to improving the warning systems), Twister has all the ingredients of an extraordinary viewing experience. It is certainly fast-paced and exciting, but also regrettably formulaic.
Cliches abound - cute dogs saved from imminent peril; a stereotypical chaser crew of weirdoes and science nerds; someone rescued from a destroyed house seconds before it collapses; some unexorcised trauma about a father's death-by-tornado; Leading Lady and Leading Man cheating death innumerable times, even as the bad guys (rival tornado chasers) succumb. . . . . . . . . .
The special effects are what save this film from mediocrity. The tornadoes are frighteningly real and the debris showers (including a cow and a petrol tanker) will have audiences ducking for cover. And unlike many disaster films that seem to drag as they build to a climax, the tornadoes in Twister appear right from the word go. Bizarrely the soundtrack to the tornadoes was made by dubbing a camel's groan and slowing it down - resulting in some rather odd sounding twisters. By the time the camel is finally silenced and the story reaches its predictable conclusion, the cliches and improbabilities threaten to overwhelm, and the film ultimately fails to completely satisfy.


Never complain about the weather again!   October 18, 2000
mr.james@tinyworld.co.uk (UK)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

If you think a film about the weather couldn't be exciting, think again! a team of Meteorologists, headed by Jo (Helen Hunt - Academy Award winner - As Good As It Gets), who is soon joined by ex-husband Bill (Bill Paxton - Apollo 13, Aliens), are studying the patterns of tornados, to determine how they really work, so people in the path of detruction can get a bit of warning to get out of the way before they get an unexpected ariel view of what used to be their home! This is an excellent DVD. Paxton and Hunt have a great on-screen chemistry, there is just the right amount of comedy, thrills and suspense to keep you enthralled from start to finsh. The special effects, as you would expect from the team behind it, - executive producer, Steven Spielberg, written by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) and directed by Jan De Bont (Speed) are exceptional, the tornados are a truly believable spectacle, as are the scenes of destruction as they rip through anything and everything that get in their way. Picture quality is superb as you would hope from a DVD, the 1:2.35 widescreen format gives it a cinematic feel, but the aspect that really did it for me was the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, which has to be heard to be believed, one of the best I have ever come across, surround sound does not get much better. Overall a very enjoyable film which is more than worth a look. 5 stars!