THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
For some reason, I expect something that come off as entertaining when I hear the word ‘Disaster’ and ironically. I got just that with Twister.
PLOT
The 1996 film follows Jo Harding, who became an obsessive meteorologist after he father died in the result of a tornado when she was a child. As an adult, her husband Bill Harding, whose abandoned storm chasing to become a weatherman, wants to divorce her and marry his new love, therapist Melissa Reeves, but still needs her signature. The day he plans to get it however, he realizes she has spent the last of her grant money to create four capsule devices named ‘Dorothy’, filled with dozens of sensors that gotta be deployed close to a tornado in order to give an earlier warning system, as well as revolutionize the research of tornadoes as a whole. Having no choice, Bill & Melissa tag along with Jo and her storm chasing team to ensure getting her signature. Jo’s team includes: navigator Robert ‘Rabbit’ Nurck (Alan Ruck), photographer Lawrence (Jeremy Davies), Joey (Joey Slotnick) who does wind measurements, Alan Sanders (Sean Whalen) & Tim ‘Beltzer’ Lewis (Todd Field) who are personal drivers, Haynes (Wendle Josepher) who mostly rides with Beltzer, the religious member Jason ‘Preacher’ Rowe (Scott Thompson) and wisecracker Dusty Davis. During the first set of chases, they encounter rivaled chaser Jonas Miller, who was a colleague to them before gaining corporate funding for his own Dorothy he’d rename to ‘Dot3’. Livid of being copied, Bill decides to accompany Jo until at least one Dorothy is successfully launched. As they keep going, they do run into a ditch before Bill starts noticing an F2 tornado changing its path. The team would be unscathed upon encounter but Melissa would be traumatized of the whole ordeal. The group then takes a break and has lunch with Jo’s aunt Meg. It is during this time where Melissa learns F5s are the worst of tornadoes and was the exact one that killed Jo’s dad. When moving on, the crew encounters a violent F3 which destroys Dorothy II. Bill convinces the others to retreat, but Jo angrily prefers to keep going, breaking down in the process of this setback. Bill is able to help her come to her senses by admitting he still cares about her, but assures her putting herself at risk won’t change what happened to her dad. When recuperating near a drive by theater, an F4 attacks and causes its damage upon impact before redirecting to Wakita before Aunt Meg resides. Before taking, Melissa chooses to end her relationship with Bill as she doesn’t find herself cut for his past lifestyle the way Jo is, encouraging him to get back with her. At Wakita, Meg’s house is flattened but she is able to survive the ordeal. As they keep going, Bill gets inspired by her wind vane sculptures to add aluminum wings for the Dorothy sensors. With the NSSL reporting an upcoming F5, the crew again goes forward in pursuing it. Bill tries warning Jonas of the tornado changing direction, but his decision to ignore it gets him killed as well as his own crew when it sweeps them away. With only one prototype left, Bill & Jo alone drive toward the tornado with Dorothy IV to successfully release the sensors into the air and collect immediate scientific data. Without a car, Bill & Jo hide in a pump house and strap themselves to drain pipes to survive the tornado’s outcome which works. They get to witness the tornado’s core as it passes over and eventually dissipates. The film ends with Bill & Jo reconciling and celebrating their success with the team.
THOUGHTS
It’s hard to be in awe of disaster flicks because everything to put it together has to make all the right sense. It doesn’t have to be perfect the way people describe 1974’s Earthquake or 1936’s San Francisco, but it has to be close enough where you can say this can happen I’m glad it hasn’t yet. A lot of disaster flicks from the 21st century fail to bring that quality because the creativity is taken too far and they don’t feel too grounded of an adventure. This is exactly what Director Jan de Bont captured here and he makes the right pacing for us to be invested. It was one thing to make a dark joke when showing a cow to be swept up, but it’s seeing all the tornadoes that make up for it. The visual effects and production design done to make such a common disaster come to life was arguably surreal. Just because you don’t live in an area where disasters like tornadoes can occur, does not mean you’re guaranteed to live a safe life because disasters can take more than shape of form. Besides this, I think this one has quite an effect on the sub genre compared to later films is because it stands out as a tale of adversity. In life, you have the choice to either let things go as is or adapt to your surroundings to make the changes you desire. If you go on to do the latter, you can inspire future generations to do the same. This is captured through a great duo of characters who want nothing more than enough adversity that can make a big difference in society as a whole. Helen Hunt & Bill Paxton really do a great job playing off each other as Jo & Bill respectively because they have the most selfless motive you can ever ask for that is giving an advantage to those in need. Hunt puts a lot of emphasis on the passion Jo is all about because her trauma is her motivation to help others the way she wasn't able to in her childhood. She doesn't want people to suffer like she did and that's pretty noble. The problem however is that she ignores the fact she's human and she puts herself at risk every time. Now when you look back at the crew and have a smile at Philip Seymour Hoffman making Dusty the most laid back one for explaining the suck zone without being filtered, you know they're all about having a good time. But when they're not, they take their passions serious and still have their own limits to deal with. That is where Bill comes in because he is the only one willing to tell her to take a step back. For years, she didn't listen to his advice and he had his breaking point that led to Melissa. There was nothing wrong wanting to move on with someone else because Jami Gertz doesn't throw a trait that makes her hateful. She's an average city girl that never intended to walk into danger the way Bill did and would do again. She tried tagging along to make him happy and found out the hard way it wasn't for her. She ain't even mad about it because at least she tried. If she couldn't hang, it can be seen as destiny that Bill & Jo were meant to be. They're a good pair deep down because the passion is there on career goals and will do what they can to spread the importance of what they do. If they can survive levels of tornadoes together all the way to an F5, nothing was gonna tear them apart by then. If you really want to point fingers at who was the story's villain besides nature itself, it doesn't sound wrong to say it was Jonas. Cary Elwes nailed it making him a stingy guy who had zero passion as a meteorologist compared to the protagonists. And it was totally on him to ignore Bill & Jo when his life depended on it. Had he not made it about himself for once, he would've got to have another day. Having said what I said that sums up why I enjoy this film, there are some things I feel like gotta be pointed out because I’d be lying if I say it’s all perfect. For instance, why has Bill reached out to Jo sooner if he knows how fast she’ll distract herself with work? I mean he could’ve checked the weather in advance and get the papers signed without any other obstacle. And why did he have a CB in his truck if he never intended to return to tornado chasing? That was the biggest convenience of all compared to all the tornadoes they overcame. And if I’m gonna keep talking about continuity errors, that includes refusing the believe one of Jonas’ vans getting behind Bill for a second only for it to be next to him on the take. I’m sorry but there’s no way it had the time and space to catch up like that. Moving on, how was Bill and the crew surprised of talking about F-5 tornadoes when it came to Melissa asking about it? It’s one thing to talk about it in front of Jo, but that’s gotta be a top question when talking about tornadoes. And when the Dorothy collapsed, why didn’t the sensors get picked up after scattering? I feel like Jo could’ve gotten a paid off if she wasn’t in distraught. Other than that, I’m still amused of the whole ordeal. In short, Twister is the elite of disaster films for being loose enough of a concept and follow through without looking ridiculous. If you are intrigued with the idea of seeing disasters, check this out.
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