‘Twister’ Winds Up For Whirlwind Of Action Realistic Special Effects Add To Film’s Believability
Remember how after “Jaws,” people were scared to go into the water? Well, the fabulously terrifying “Twister” is not going to do much for Oklahoma tourism or the trailer park biz.
“Twister” will be a major windfall at the box office, though, surely the first megahit of the summer. It’s a nearly perfect summer action movie, with great special effects, high-adrenalin action sequences, and nothing like complex characterization, subtle story lines or nuanced performances to complicate things and keep us from being thrilled to the tips of our nail-bitten fingers.
“Twister” follows a day in the life of a funky crew of university researchers who chase tornadoes for a living. Meteorologist Bill Harding (Bill Paxton), who left the team when he broke up with his colleague and wife Jo (Helen Hunt), returns with his new fiancee Melissa (Jami Gertz) in tow. He just wants to get Jo to sign the papers so their divorce can go through.
But fate intervenes. This day is Oklahoma’s worst weather day in 30 years, and before Jo can put her John Hancock on the documents, word comes that a tornado has been sighted nearby. Bill, an old cyclone hand, can’t stand to be away from the action, so off they go.
The crew has extremely close and harrowing encounters with several twisters, each bigger and nastier than the previous one. The first ones look like swaying cobras tumbling out of an upended snake charmer’s basket, but the final one, a mile-wide column of black fury, looks like something a cheesed-off Yahweh would send to smite the Egyptians. The ragtag Bill-and-Jo group competes against a soulless, arrogant, high-tech team, both aiming to get close enough to the funnel clouds to launch their scientific probes without getting sucked into the deadly vortex themselves.
There’s a love story here, as a day of close calls with killer cyclones allows Bill and Jo to get in touch with their true feelings, but that’s just window dressing.
The human drama here is secondary to those wicked, “Poltergeist”-y tornadoes, which in one spectacularly clever shot are compared visually to the lunatic, demon-possessed Jack Nicholson character stalking the hotel halls in “The Shining.” And that’s quite all right. To heck with true love and serving humanity through more precise weather forecasting: Bring on the wind machines and let’s see some farm animals fly!
“Twister’s” special effects are so intense and realistic - the airborne milk cows! the flying gasoline tanker truck! - that you feel sorry Irwin Allen, the late 1970s disaster-movie impresario, didn’t live to buy a ticket. But, hey - why no Sensurround?
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “Twister” Locations: East Sprague, Newport and Coeur d’Alene Cinemas. Credits: starring Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt and Jami Gertz Running time: 1:45 Rating: PG-13