TWISTER
A film review by John Robertson
Copyright 1996 John Robertson
Starring: Helen Hunt, Bill Pullman, Cary Elwes, Jamie Gertz
Perfect Person Rating*: The Perfect Person for this film is a fan of action, a fan of Helen Hunt or Bill Paxton, and above all, a fan of jaw dropping special effects. The Perfect Person for this film would probably give it a 8 out of 10.
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Twister tries to be Speed meets Jurassic Park. I could just be saying that because it's directed by Jan de Bont (Speed) and written by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park), but it's not just that. Twister is a film that uses arguably the most amazing special effects of any film to try and put the viewer on a roller coaster that won't let them off - sound like a melding of the two films? Well, Twister works well on one of the two levels it attempts, and fails on the other.
There is no denying the power of the visual and audio effects in Twister. There were times that even though I'd seen the previews, and prepared myself for what the movie would throw at me, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. The film's use of computer generated effects, particularly the way they can take a broad landscape shot and insert a tornado and the carnage it creates was very impressive.
The other thing that the film tried to accomplish, namely putting the viewer on a non-stop roller coaster, just wasn't accomplished. When there were tornados on the screen, the action was the best around. When the tornados were sleeping, so was the audience. Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt turn in fine performances (better than I expected, to be honest), but the plot strung around the tornados, particularly the human plot, the characterizations, was very weak.
Helen Hunt is a tornado chaser, a scientist dedicated to understanding twisters, so families won't be destroyed by the sudden funnel of death that drops without warning and without reason. Bill Paxton is her estranged husband, who used to work at her side, but left for some reason to become a weather man. His return to obtain the divorce papers sets the plot in motion, as Helen Hunt's character is about to attempt to launch an experimental device into the next twister that will let scientists learn more about tornados than they ever have before.
As tornado after tornado appears around the characters, scene after scene of energizing action occurs. But when the tornados leave, we're left with Paxton and Hunt attempting to fill in the scientists personal motives, and the horrible acting of Elwes (the evil CORPORATE scientist) and Gertz (Paxton's new fiancee).
One thing that was amusing but puzzling was the array of NBC actors who had small roles. Some, but not all, were the big guy from E.R, Cameron from Ferris Beuhler's Day Off (now on Mad About You), and Sam from The Single Guy. Although none of these people put in a bad performance, you had to wonder why they were there at all, their roles were so small.
One last piece of advice, if you're going to see this movie (and I do recommend it if you fit the Perfect Person description at all), is to see it in the theater, where the sounds and sights will hit you with the force they were intended to hit with.
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Copyright 1996 by John Robertson. Retransmit freely if unedited. My opinions are solely my own, and in no way reflect those of my employer.
* Perfect Person Rating: The Perfect Person Rating is an attempt to give the reader a new way of understanding my rating. Rather than give a film a score, either overall, or on several attributes, the Perfect Person Rating tries to identify the type of person would enjoy this movie the most. Since a reviewer is by nature someone with a great deal of experience in what they are reviewing, their experience may not be the same as someone who is less informed, less jaded, or more attuned to the subject. Hopefully the Perfect Person Rating will go further toward eliminating reviewer bias than a simple rating scale. Comments are appreciated.
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