They remind me of surfers, these people who chase the tornadoes in TWISTER. Gunning ramshackle trucks full of weather equipment down Oklahoma highways, they ride straight toward the big ones from which everyone else flees. While their mission is to collect data, their motivation is euphoria - the thrill of the hunt and the rush of imminent danger. They are addicts; this is what they do, they know nothing else.

Bill Paxton plays Billy - one addict who has kicked the habit. He's on his way to see his tornado-junkie wife, Jo (played by Helen Hunt), so she will finally sign the divorce papers and free him to marry his therapist girlfriend, Melissa (Jami Gertz). Billy meets Jo and her research team in the field, and guess what happens? He gets sucked into riding with them as they chase down a twister.

Before seeing TWISTER, I had wondered why anyone would make a movie about tornadoes. When I caught the scenario of these half-mad, thrill-chasing scientists, I thought, "It has to be the lives these people lead. That's what will make this an interesting movie." I was wrong. The characterizations were ridiculously simple, and the dialogue lame. The only lines that seemed realistic were the ones full of meteorological technospeak.

So I thought it might be something special about the plot. Wrong again. It is so predictable, it ended up being surprising. I couldn't believe that every set-up was knocked over exactly in the expected manner. We progress from one storm to the next, each one more powerful and dangerous than the last. Each attempt at launching an experimental piece of weather equipment must be frustrated until the biggest twister hits. And, of course, Billy must discard his new woman and rekindle his flame with Jo.

I was left at pains to understand why the dialogue was so bad and the plot so pedestrian, until my partner, Greg Murray, said, "This should have been a monster movie." Then I realized. TWISTER is a monster movie. Just substitute the tornadoes for a 500'-tall lizard and Oklahoma for Yokohama and you're there. Once you understand the kind of movie you're dealing with, you can throw a lot of things - plot, characterization, properly synchronized dubbing - to the wind. The focus is on the carnage.

And, boy, was there carnage in this film. Digital visual effects courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic made it happen, though they started off weak. The first barn to blow apart in TWISTER was clearly built out of texture-mapped polygons. But the last barn to go was realistic down to the splinters. Apparently, the animators got better as they went along, just as they did in JURASSIC PARK. You may have noticed that the dinosaurs in JURASSIC PARK became more realistic over the course of the movie. This was because the software had improved over the course of production. (By the way, TWISTER was produced by the same folks who did JURASSIC PARK and both films were written by Michael Crichton.)

I should make a couple notes about the actors in this film, even though acting is not what this film is about. It was nice to see Helen Hunt in such an active role. I can't imagine her character on "Mad About You" putting out the same kind of physical effort for anything. Jami Gertz who plays Billy's girlfriend may be best known as the female vampire in THE LOST BOYS or the queen of the preppies in "Square Pegs," the short-lived 80s sitcom where Sarah Jessica Parker got her start. She is just awful in an awful part. Cary Elwes (Wesley in THE PRINCESS BRIDE) plays the head of a rival, corporately-sponsored tornado-chasing team. His role is abominably annoying and his Southern accent does not hold. There are several familiar actors in this flick whose names I can't recall. The guy who played Ferris Bueller's best friend in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF is here, as is the big bear of a guy who played Kubiek in the TV show "Parker Lewis Can't Lose." And then there's that funny looking fellow who's the best friend on "The Single Guy." None of this means anything, of course, but it did make me think, "What an odd cast!"

Look, if TWISTER interests you, you'd better see it on the big screen. Insist on a theater with digital sound. You may want to bring earplugs along because TWISTER is loud. The voices are loud, the music is loud, the tornadoes are deafening. Much of the groaning from the audience was buried by the noise.

While TWISTER will not engage your emotions, it will engage your gut. There's no doubt that a day full of tornadoes takes it toll. You see it in the devastation of the towns and the increasingly tattered spirits of the characters. You go from the elation of the chase to a nagging case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. To be honest, I was just a touch reluctant to step into the revolving doors when leaving the theater. Still, I'd rather experience TWISTER as a ride at Universal Studios, Florida, than as a movie.

previous | subscribe | movies | next

Mike's Midnight Movie Reviews
© copyright 1995-1998 Michael J. Doyle