Twister: Review By Dan

Oh man, this was easily one of my favorite 90's blockbusters. With an excellent cast, being Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Cary Elwes, and a young Philip Seymour Hoffman, Twister was one of those movies you could watch again and again. While director Jan de Bont didn't do much after this one or Speed that I really liked, he kicked ass with all the elements in this (probably doesn't hurt that he was working with a script from Michael Crichton, and one of the executive producers was Steven Spielberg, who is a master at blockbusters)..

The story is simple enough; in the beginning we see little Jo (later to be Helen Hunt as an adult) and her big Bertha mother and farmer father try to take shelter from a particularly nasty storm, but her father is taken by a tornado that passes over their shelter as he tries to hold the shelter door shut. We then skip a few decades forward to when Jo is an adult, and she has become obsessed with trying to figure out a way to track and determine where future tornadoes will go, so that other families don't experience the loss her's did with poor, late warning. Enter Bill Paxton's character, who happens to also be named Bill, who is a former storm chaser and soon to be ex-husband to Jo once she signs the paper work. But as he tries to get her to sign it, with his new soon to be wife in tow (Jami Gertz, from Still Standing, who easily has the funniest one liners in the movie...'She didn't marry your penis... Okay, she didn't only marry your penis' lol), they are interrupted by a massive storm with the possibilities of tornadoes (of which they are trying to get close to, to use a device they name Dorothy, that releases these little machines that fly around inside the funnel of the tornado, giving them data back as to what is going on inside the twister). From that point on, it was like a nonstop thrill ride, helped by a fun and likable cast (the gang that chases the tornadoes is hilarious and has good dynamics, particularly my favorite, being Dusty (Philip Seymour Hoffman..... "the suck zone" lol).

And while Cary Elwes is without a doubt 'a' villain of the movie, make no mistake, the weather is the true villain here. The score by Mark Mancina is ominous and perfect, making you feel the dangerous and threatening nature of the storms and tornadoes. Part of why I find the movie endlessly re-watchable is because I get into the music of the movie, it makes me laugh with its dark, rolling scores as we watch the weather in the movie, and of course it's always great to hear Bill Paxton say "son of a bitch!", as nobody says that insult as great as he does. The twisters are smartly shown as Mother Nature's mean as a cold bitch monsters they are, and make for a great adversary against the great Paxton and a surprisingly good Hunt (whom I'm not a fan of, besides this and 'As Good As It Gets').

For a summer blockbuster, Twister also featured pretty good acting, all things considered. Hoffman, Gertz, and Paxton had me constantly laughing, and as I mentioned before, the group dynamic with the team of storm chasers was fun to watch and gets you into the mood of their mission. I found the complicated relationship between Paxton and Hunt's characters to be believable enough, and liked the arc their characters had by the end of the film. It never hurts to include Cary Elwes, either, as he always brings that charm of his he's had since 'The Princess Bride', nor Lois Smith, as Jo's aunt, who is always hilariously blunt with her thoughts, both here and in the first season of HBO's "True Blood". You really couldn't ask for a better cast for a summer popcorn flick.

As for the visuals, they were top notch for a 90's movie, and still hold up great 14 years later. The tornadoes are fun to watch, and only get better as the movie progresses, culminating in a humongous mile wide F5 beast of a tornado for the climax, with Paxton and Hunt dodging 'debris' as big as houses hurtling at them, trying to get another Dorothy into the twister. While I already felt the movie was good as it was, this final battle against Mother Nature put the movie over the top into greatness for me, as it was about as intense as you could possibly choreograph brutal weather (with smile inducing moments, such as when they try to hide in a shack filled with butchering knives and other sharp tools, or literally drive their truck through a tumbling house on the road). This is how you do a finale, people, as it was a very satisfying ending to an already fun movie.

With a homage to "The Shining" in one scene ('Heeeerrrrre's Johnny!") and "The Wizard of Oz" (the Toto dog in the beginning, and their device being named Dorothy after Dorothy Gale), a fun cast, terrific visuals, and a smooth, fast pace, Twister was a blast and success in my eyes. If you've held out on seeing this one for whatever reason, rent it, or just buy it, put it in, and crank up the surround sound if available (this one is meant for that, big time), and get ready to hear Paxton say "son of a bitch!" multiple times :P.... Oh, and who can forget the flying cows :)

Hope you enjoyed my review! (All words, ideas are mine. Any similarities to other reviews is complete coincidence).