With the new movie Twisters now available for streaming, it seemed like a good time to go back and see where it all began in Twister. Would that original film be good enough to warrant a sequel/reboot so many years later, or had the winds changed for this action pic?
Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton lead the cast in Twister. Helen Hunt, known to viewers back then as being a co-star in the hit show Mad About You (TV) makes the leap to the big screen with ease. As Jo, the tornado-obsessed storm chaser, she conveys an obsession with these windy beasts that comes across easily to viewers – and she works well with Bill Paxton, delivering the right amount of awkwardness and feeling that fits perfectly with the storyline. Paxton’s attraction to her is equally easy to see, and the two work really well together on-screen, making the viewer wish they had done more movies together.
The rest of the cast has a few familiar faces mixed in with the bunch, including Cary Elwes (Saw), Alan Ruck (Cameron in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Mission: Impossible III) among them. They work well, providing the background for Hunt and Paxton to shine. Jami Gertz is a bit ill-used, but her character manages to provide a bit of a quandary for the viewer to keep them interested in the story, and not just the special effects.
That’s probably the best part about Twister. Despite being filled with massive special effects (more on those later), the film manages to keep the human element front and center anyway. There’s a decent enough general plot to keep the viewer interested, and most of the characters provide moments of entertainment to keep the viewer smiling. There are even a roadblock or two along the way to create some extra tension in the human element of the film, keeping the viewer’s interest after the big effects sequences have come and gone. Unfortunately, the writers seemed to have tossed all this together before quite figuring out how to resolve some of these roadblocks, and that becomes noticeable later on in the film.
And boy are there are some iconic special effects sequence in Twister. The scene of a cow floating by in the wind, or the one where they crash through a house that has just rolled into their way, there are some sequences in here that are just as iconic as the rippling effect a dinosaur’s steps make on a cup of water in Jurassic Park. Even the craziest scenes, like the one where they are strapped to a pipe as an F5 hurricane passes directly over them, still maintain their excitement level, with time having done nothing to lessen their effect.
So, with a strong cast backing up the two likeable leads and their seemingly natural chemistry together, a solid storyline that keeps the human element from getting lost, and special effects sequences that are just as iconic today as ever, Twister has a lot going for it. Sure, getting that close to tornadoes is not really believable without death or really anything much more than very minor scuffs and bruises (for the most part), but the film manages to place the viewer into the action with such joy it’s easy to look past that.
