# Twister (1996)

### reviewed by
Michael Redman

    Twister
    A Film Review By Michael Redman
    Copyright 1996 Michael Redman

    *** (out of ****)

As in so many other films, dynamic special effects combine with cardboard people to create a movie that is as much fun to watch as a Twinkie is to eat and just as fulfilling.

The all-winners squad of writer Michael Crichton ("Jurassic Park"), director Jan De Bont ("Speed") and godfather Steven Spielberg (most of the big buck films from the past two decades) have come up with a force of nature that is destined to suck money from the pockets of effects addicts. Count me on board.

Bill Paxton and soon-to-be new wife Jami Gertz drop by the tornado chasers to get Helen Hunt, soon-to-be ex-wife and former partner, to sign final divorce papers. In what would be an amazing coincidence if this were not a movie, the mother of all tornadoes is brewing on the horizon. Paxton can't resist one last hunt.

The bad guys here (besides that evil Mother Nature of course) are a team of corporate tornado researchers out to steal Paxton's thunder while traveling around in brand spankin' new black vans. Guess those black helicopters were all being used by the UN. You don't need to pay much attention to these men. They don't exist for any reason in the film.

The supposed human drama is supplied by the triangle between man, wife and girlfriend.

The tornadoes from Industrial Light and Magic are overwhelming. Most of the storms and debris look real, with the exception of a goofy cow that goes flying by one of the trucks a couple of times. Scary and remarkably forceful stuff. That yellow and green sky that we've all seen around here will never look the same to you.

As with "Jurassic Park", the last blockbuster from Spielberg and Crichton, the monsters are amazing, but the people barely exist. The redeeming factor is that the action scenes are grand and the talking scenes mercifully short.

Hunt does have some type of odd screen appeal, but appears to have been chosen for the part because she wears white t-shirts well. Paxton is well-casted as the obsessive everyman. There is a bit of chemistry between them, but the script doesn't take it anywhere. Gertz disappears into the background.

The only acting stand-outs are Lois Smith as eccentric Aunt Meg and Philip Hoffman as one of the wacky storm-chasing team. There are a couple of good moments with each of them, but only a couple and only moments.

If you're going to see this, make sure you _don't_ wait for the video. On a small screen there will be nothing there.

[This appeared in the 5/16/96 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at redman@bvoice.com]

-- mailto:redman@bvoice.com This week's film review at http://www.bvoice.com/ Film reviews archive at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Michael%20Redman

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