TWISTER
A film review by Allan Toombs
Copyright 1996 Allan Toombs
A Woman's Story
What puts Twister ahead of this year's crop of big action movie's is the joie de vivre it brings to you. I found it emotionally compelling not just because of the awesome forces our heroes face but because of the sheer delight in normality we share with the stormchasers. The stormchasing phenomena is very recent; made possible by affordable mobile communications, modern weather prediction and a certain fin de ciecle craziness. A cast of (for me) unknowns realisticly portray the kind of motley crew that are probably out there in Tornado Alley right now. You quickly start to care for every one of them. Rebels with a meteorological cause they are united by the need to share information in order to witness storms, in particular tornadoes. Against this band of semi-academic nomads is a corporate sponsored fleet with the same goal but superior technology. This is, as yet, an invention, as far as I know. Stormchasing is usually composed of long boring waits, grinding driving and a few brief moments of adrenaline. Too unpredictable for anyone other than mavericks and fanatics. However this strand of rivalry is peripheral and the downtime is there as the team stop over at Bill's beautifully eccentric Aunt and a drive in that chose a bad night to show THE SHINING. These two sojourns denote the breaks in a classic three act Hollywood structure. Beyond the mechanics of our audience response there is an inner journey to this movie and despite an excellent performance from Bill Paxton it belongs to Helen Hunt's character Jo. Her look is right, you can believe this woman would camp out in a field with weather obsessed geeks, her acting talent tells you how much she still loves Bill. Against this she is demonised by a childhood trauma that motivates her need to research whirlwinds. If the chases will have you whooping like an adolescent then the love triangle at the films heart is soberly adult and should have you guessing if Jami Getz or Helen Hunt will retain Paxton's affections. Ms.Getz is another new name to me and conveyed a sophisticate terrified by and relishing the storm chase. I wondered if her city girl would embrace the stormchaser's stripped-down lifestyle as an alternative to Jo's self-destructive energy; that's how much the film involved me. There's nothing too fanciful about the plot, the people are drawn from life, the tornadoes don't need to be made larger than life and Bill's dilemma is all too typical. The soundtrack is superlative with great use of pop music, a classical score that doesn't intrude and a scorching end credits piece by the Van Halens. This film could make weather following alot more converts but the winds have always been there, a natural destructive force that appears amidst the flat boredom of the Mid-West landscape. The makers have shown us our world in an exciting new light, which is one of the best things that can happen at the cinema. See it on the big screen while you can!
Directed by Jan De Bont, produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Ian Bryce and Michael Crichton. Executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Gerald Molen. Written by Michael Crichton & Anne-Marie Martin.
"A lie is halfway round the world before truth gets it's trousers on." mailto:toombs@cityscape.co.uk http://www.cityscape.co.uk/users/bt18/atoombs.html Copyright 1996 Allan Toombs, email me to negotiate permission.
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