Review: Twister

The Amblin Entertainment film, Twister, opened on this date in 1996. The disaster film was directed by Jan de Bont. It starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt.

Synopsis:

Two storm chasers, that are preparing to divorce each other, have just created an advanced weather alert system. This system will give people a bigger window of warning for when a tornado is about to hit. The duo has to put themselves in the middle of extremely violent tornadoes to see if the new piece of technology will work.

Positives:

• The effects in Twister are well done. It mixes CGI with practical effects expertly.

• The performances in the film are engaging, but Helen Hunt is the standout. She does an excellent job of bringing emotional depth to her character.

• The action sequences are well staged and executed.

• Negatives:

  • The action scenes are well done, but very repetitive. The film gives you exactly what you would expect: tornadoes destroying things. There isn’t a lot of variety when it comes to the disaster.

   

  • There isn’t much of a story. The whole film is basically designed to just get us to the next disaster scene. A little more character development and story might have helped the action scenes not feel so repetitive.

  In Closing:

  Twister is kind of a relic of the 1990s and the disaster films that it helped to make popular. Besides Helen Hunt, there isn’t much to get excited about outside of the spectacle of the film. Twister is light on story, but it makes up for it with thrilling moments and effects.

  Rating: B+