Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
An unprecedented series of violent tornadoes is sweeping across Oklahoma. Tornado chasers, headed by Dr. Jo Harding, attempt to release a groundbreaking device that will allow them to track them and create a more advanced warning system. They are joined by Jo's soon to be ex-husband Bill, a former tornado chaser himself, and his girlfriend Melissa.
Twister is a quintessential 90s summer blockbuster built almost entirely around spectacular practical and early CGI tornado effects. The plot is paper-thin — a thin love triangle wrapped around a series of escalating set pieces — and the character motivations and dialogue are largely formulaic. The ensemble cast (Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Philip Seymour Hoffman) do solid work within the constraints of the script, elevating what could have been lifeless. Cinematography captures the chaos and scale of the storms effectively with some memorable wide-angle Oklahoma plains imagery. Novelty is modest but real — at the time, tornado disaster films of this scale were rare and the film has a distinctive kinetic energy and practical-effects-forward approach that gave it a singular identity in its era. The ending resolves predictably and somewhat abruptly, with the romantic reunion feeling unearned given the thin dramatic groundwork.