Twister (2 Disc Special Edition)

Review By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

In the 1990’s, thrill-ride films like Jurassic Park, Speed, and Independence Day ruled the box office. However, many of these films, while skillfully directed, often lacked in the way of intriguing characters or story. None is more indicative of this than the hit Twister, now available on DVD in an all-new 2 Disc Special Edition.

After a tragic incident involving her father as a little girl, Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) has dedicated her life to chasing tornadoes. She and her husband Bill (Bill Paxton) has invented a gadget known as “Dorothy”, which has the power to track tornadoes through sensors.

Jo and her group continues to attempt to test out “Dorothy” in the midst of a wild tornado while racing against a corporate group led by Dr. Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes) who has invented a similar device. However, Bill has moved on to become a weatherman and is preparing to marry fiancée Melissa (Jami Gertz). He tracks Jo down in order to get her to agree to a divorce, but soon rekindles their relationship as they attempt to chase down the wild twister together and implement “Dorothy” before their rivals do.

Twister has undoubtedly become, if nothing else, the bar set for great special effects and thrills over substance. While the film has incredible special effects and intense direction from Jan De Bont and definitely benefits from a great cast, the character and story ultimately is hollow and paper-thin, even more so than writer Michael Crichton’s strongly similar Jurassic Park.

The DVD’s picture quality is in the 2:35:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio, with the sound quality in Dolby Digital Surround 5.1. This all new two-disc special edition comes packed with plenty of special features.

Disc one comes with, as in the original release, audio commentary from director Jan De Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefan Fangheimer, which proves to be decently informative, if nothing else. Disc two begins with an all-new featurette “Chasing The Storm: Twister Revisted”, which features interviews with Bill Paxton, and much of the crew.

Also included is the HBO “First Look” featurette “The Making Of Twister”, as well as the featurette “Anatomy Of A Twister”. Also added for good measure is the music video for Van Halen’s “Humans Being” and the rather fascinating History Channel TV documentary “Nature Tech: Tornadoes”.

All in all, the two-disc special edition of Twister is great enough for fans of the movie and people interested in the subject of tornadoes. However, despite the cast and Jan De Bont’s skilled direction, the movie itself, without the more intriguing plot, groundbreaking special effects, and extraordinary ebullience of Steven Spielberg found in Jurassic Park, is as extraordinarily shallow as any thrilling movie can possibly get.

Movie Grade: B-
DVD Features Grade: A-
Overall Grade: B