Twister

Twister (1996)

Runtime: 113 minutes

Directed by: Jan De Bont

Starring: Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman

From: Warner Brothers/Universal

For the first time in maybe as long as 19 years I saw this movie. I did watch it on the big screen with the family but that may have been the only time. I talk about it in my Letterboxd review below and I'll return tomorrow night.

A few years ago the MPAA started to add more information to the ratings they give films. I am fine with that as it helps those wanting further information on what is in a movie. Sometimes it can be oddly descriptive, and doing it for older films can be pretty funny too. For example, they say that this film is PG-13 for “Intense Depiction of Very Bad Weather”. While there's also foul language, this motion picture is indeed about very bad weather.

I do know I saw this on the big screen; the entire family went and saw it back in '96. It turns out I didn't remember too much about it. I have no recollection of watching it on VHS after the fact so it may have been 19 years since I saw it last. Now, I do think it's cool that a big budget blockbuster starred Bill Paxton and it was the first time I ever saw Philip Seymour Hoffman. I was hoping to enjoy this after not seeing it for so long.

Well, while some of the special effects look dated I won't do too much complaining about the destruction you saw on screen, the awe-inspiring force of nature that can cause so much damage. Unfortunately... maybe I am just cynical but the story, the characters and some of the dialogue... oh Lord.

I mean, Bill Paxton is pretty much a tornado whisperer! “He's like a human barometer”, to quote the film. He argues with his soon to be ex-wife, he already has a new girl (who is shoehorned in as the “fish out of water” character), most of the tornado chasers (some of them are “that guy” actors) are bro surfer dude types, there's a group of rivals who use fancy technology to track storms and their leader is a dick... I know you have to be a little odd to do such a job but these characters were annoying too often. I know blockbusters are pretty silly in general but this-especially the ending-was just preposterous. Flying cows is one thing but how the main characters survive at the end, fantastical.

It was nice to see this again after so long but I can't rate it as any higher than average. It's preferable to dreck like the Transformers travesties, although you hope for more with some of the people involved also giving us Jurassic Park just a few years earlier. At least I now have the desire to see The Shining and Psycho as a double-bill at a drive-in. If only that could happen.