Twister

Plot
Bill Harding is a retired storm chaser, who heads back to his old haunting ground to get the divorce papers from soon to be ex Jo a still acting chaser.

While there, a monster storm front is heading through, which brings about chaos from dozens of tornadoes. Jo, is desperate to get her latest invention up and running which will help extend the warnings of upcoming tornadoes.

Direction

Jan de Bont does some terrific moments of direction – from just the aerial shots within between the action and dialogue.

The action sequences are pretty incredible too, with one of the best moments of the film coming when a drive-in cinema gets demolished while the film is playing.

There is some quite impressive graphics at times, and at others pretty obviously CGI.

Cast/Characters

Helen Hunt who was in the prime of her fame (starring in televisions Mad About You) at the time is solid as Jo – she portrays both the confidence and maturity that is needed for what the character needed.

The late great Bill Paxton plays the lead as Bill – and he exudes charisma.

Cary Elwes plays what is the human antagonist in the film – I don’t really think the film needed his character, and probably would have had the same beginning, middle and end if he wasn’t in it.

Some notable secondary characters are Melissa, Bill’s new fiancé (played by Jamie Gertz), Aunt Meg (played by Lois Smith) and Dusty (played by the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman). Some decent character actors play tertiary characters (Sean Whalen, Alan Ruck, Jeremy Davis, Zach Grenier).

Screenplay/Setting/Themes

While the disaster element is front and centre, the relationship between Jo and Bill is the main theme of the film. The film begins with their pending divorce, and Bill’s upcoming marriage to Melissa. Why they split is never really touched on, rather hinted they fight a lot. The entire film does have a will they/wont they to it.

It also has more heart to it than that of the 2024 version, with the audiences invested in this relationship.

Score/Soundtrack

De Bont’s frequent collaborator Mark Mancina has a great lively score – and it has almost ‘Speed’ vibes which was the film they made in 1994.

Overall

Re-watching in 2024 gave me a sense of such nostalgia, and especially after the recent release (and review) of this years Twisters – how much this film is superior to that. One minor issue I had in regards to this year’s film was the amount of plot armour characters had – considering this year’s Twisters killed off three people in the first 10 minutes, and there are only (spoiler) three deaths in this film. Despite the few flaws, this was a big recommend from me.

4/5