Twister (1996) Warner Bros./Action RT: 113 minutes Rated PG-13 (intense depiction of very bad weather, language) Director: Jan de Bont Screenplay: Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin Music: Mark Mancina Cinematography: Jack N. Green Release date: May 10, 1996 (US) Cast: Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lois Smith, Alan Ruck, Sean Whalen, Scott Thomson, Todd Field, Joey Slotnick, Wendle Josepher, Jeremy Davies, Zach Grenier, Gregory Sporleder, Patrick Fischler, Nicholas Sadler, Ben Weber, Anthony Rapp, Eric LaRay Harvey, Abraham Benrubi, Jake Busey, Richard Lineback, Rusty Schwimmer, Alexa Vega. Box Office: $241.7M (US)/$494.5M (World)
Rating: ***
Disaster movies made something of a comeback in 1996 with star-studded movies like Independence Day and Daylight. I’m not sure if I’d call Twister a disaster movie, but it comes darn close. It has tornadoes, a lot of them. They do a lot of damage to property, vehicles and livestock. In between storms, some personal drama plays out, none of it as interesting as the twisters sweeping across Oklahoma weaving a path of destruction in their wake. It sure sounds like a disaster movie though, doesn’t it?
In his sophomore directorial endeavor, Jan de Bont (Speed) follows a group of storm chasers looking to test a new device that, if successful, could serve as an earlier early warning system for tornadoes. It’s called Dorothy (as in The Wizard of Oz) and it’s a receptacle containing small weather sensors. It’ll revolutionize tornado research. In order for it to work, it must be deployed dangerously close to a twister.
The ragtag team is led by Jo (Hunt, As Good as It Gets), a meteorologist with a grudge against tornadoes. As a little girl, she saw her father killed by an F5 twister (that’s the biggest kind!). For her, it’s personal. She’s joined on her mission by soon-to-be ex-husband Bill (Paxton, Aliens) and his fiancee Melissa (Gertz, The Lost Boys), a sex therapist and colossal pain in the ass. He just wants Jo to sign the divorce papers so he can start his new life as a TV weatherman. She’s too preoccupied with her work to pay him much mind. Predictably, he’s drawn back into his old life as a chaser with the arrival of the first of several storms. Just as predictable, he and Jo discover they might still have feelings for each other.
Jo’s team faces competition from Jonas (Elwes, Robin Hood: Men in Tights), a former team member-turned-rival. Thanks to corporate funding, he stole Bill’s idea (i.e. Dorothy) and made his own device, the Dot3. He plans to be the first to deploy it. It’s a race to see who get it in the air first.
As you can see, Twister has the thinnest of plots. It’s basically about a group of gung ho weather cowboys chasing tornadoes and escaping death time and time again. I’d be surprised if the script, written by author Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) and former actress Anne-Marie Martin (one of the victims in the 1980 slasher Prom Night), even comes close to the recommended minimum length of 90 pages. Twister is less about story than it is pure spectacle. On that level, it’s really quite impressive. De Bont uses a combination of practical and visual effects to create realistic storm scenes. His team worked with meteorologists and storm experts to make Twister look and feel authentic. They crushed it!
The acting, on the other hand, is pretty bad. Gertz gets top dishonors as Melissa who does little more than get in everybody’s way. She’s saddled with loads of bad dialogue. After a particularly harrowing experience, she says to Bill, “When you used to tell me that you chase tornadoes, deep down I always just thought it was a metaphor.” Spoken like a true psych professional. My favorite though is when she’s talking to a patient on the phone and has to excuse herself. She tells the caller, “I gotta go. We got cows.” Those would be the bovine caught in the twister in front of the vehicle she’s in. If I’m being honest, her character is pretty annoying.
There are some fun supporting characters along for the ride. My personal favorite is Dusty, a good-natured chaser played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (Boogie Nights). He’s such a likable goof. The supporting cast also includes Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Sean Whalen (The People Under the Stairs), Todd Field (Eyes Wide Shut), Jeremy Davies (Spanking the Monkey) and Lois Smith (Falling Down) as Jo’s Aunt Meg (can I call her Auntie M?). You should see the meal she feeds the hungry team.
In the end, Twister is a decent summer movie, fun as it is dumb. It has amazing FX and plenty of tornado action. It stumbles around in the dark when it comes to the personal drama. It’s handled clumsily. But who cares? None of that even matters. It’s just filler for the down time between twisters. Twister delivers where and when it matters. That’s the most important thing.
