"Twister" is a surprisingly entertaining blockbuster, with terrific special effects (e.g. tornados), a frantic plot, and a love triangle. It is also unintentionally a comedy, adding another dimension to the sometimes overdone dialogue and action scenes.
Bill Paxton tracks down estranged wife Helen Hunt to get her to sign divorce papers, so he can marry sex therapist Jami Gertz. Hunt does not want the divorce, and manipulates Paxton into chasing tornados with her. They soon encounter one tornado after another, risking their lives under the pretense of gaining scientific knowledge.
It is almost too easy to poke holes in "Twister".
So many tornados, so many close calls, with
Paxton always knowing where to head the car so
that their lives can be risked again. Tornados
hit them while they watch a drive-in movie, then
wreck their beloved Aunt's house. Fortunately,
the only casualties from all these funnels are
the plagiarizing, richly financed rival storm
chasing team. When Paxton and Hunt are chased by
the final, most menacing twister, it never seems
to gain on them, just like a proverbial train
approaching a beautiful woman tied to the
railroad tracks.
Gertz is present to add urgency to Hunt's
machinations, and to ask layman questions so that
the storm team's actions can be cogently
explained to the audience. Paxton and Hunt
overact (Paxton gets physically angry when teased
about his weatherman stint). None of these
"flaws" keep the film from being good, however.
Something else is going on, and that is the film
may actually be a comedy, an unintentional but
thankful result of energetic director Jan de Bont.
The storm chasing team is similar to a wolfpack.
Paxton is the alpha male, Hunt the alpha female.
Gertz becomes the beta female, and quits because
she "can't compete." They roam the countryside
looking for a kill (a tornado) and celebrate
afterwards.
"Twister" can be viewed at many levels: as an
entertaining spectacle, as a formula for a
blockbuster, and as a latent comedy. However you
choose to accept it, it is worth seeing. (69/100)
In this action-packed disaster film set in America's heartland an ex-husband-and-wife team of storm chasers rushes to be the first to study the dynami...More at Family Video
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