Available from Warner Home Entertainment.
Director Jan De Bont is one of the last remaining blockbuster directors that delivered a one two punch of big movies in the 1990’s. After his big debut with the thriller “Speed,” De Bont followed it up with a classic disaster film in the tradition of Irwin Allen. The climate was just right as disaster pictures had experienced a big resurgence and “Twister” hit all the right chords. While it might not be the most complex of disaster pictures, it has a great time staging huge scenes of weather wreaking havoc on land.
We’re also given a wonderful, colorful ensemble of performers that headlined. Of course, with Jan De Bont, the star of “Twister” are the tornadoes as they’re not only the obstacles but also poses them as somewhat sentient beings that are smack dab in the middle of a turf war between two squads of tornado chasers.
During the approach of the most powerful storm in decades, university professor Dr. Jo Harding and an underfunded team of students prepare the prototype for Dorothy, a ground-breaking tornado data-gathering device conceived by her estranged husband, Bill. When Harding tells Bill that Dorothy is ready for testing — and that their privately funded rival Dr. Jonas Miller has stolen the idea and built his own — Bill rejoins the team for one last mission.
“Twister” garners a great cast that includes the late great Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, along with Cary Elwes, respectively. It takes a lot to upstage a cast of that caliber, but “Twister” knows exactly what kind of movie it is from the outset. De Bont and the writers not only set the stage for a personal vendetta between the film’s heroine and tornadoes, but also makes Paxton’s tornado chaser Bill someone that can sense them. Because, why not? It at least garners a still pretty impressive scene involving a tornado carrying a large cow through the air.
If you were around in 1996, all we ever saw during the promotion for “Twister” was the scene of the cow in the tornado replayed ad nauseum. While it’s always been deemed as something of a goofy guilty pleasure, “Twister” is good old fashioned movie junk food. It’s packed with a slick sense of humor, great scenes of destruction, and a decidedly adventurous take on a horrifying weather event. It tries very hard to be the “Jaws” of tornado movies, and in many ways, it accomplishes the task.
The 4K from Warner includes an audio commentary with de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier, which first appeared on the film’s 2000 Special Edition DVD release. Ironically “Twister” is the first ever domestic DVD ever released. Newly-produced is The Legacy of Twister: Taken by the Wind, which features the director looking back. He specifically addresses the new 4K presentation, which he believes is better than the original theatrical release. The remaining features are carry overs from previous releases: a behind-the-scenes featurette added, the original DVD’s HBO First Look special and Anatomy of a Twister EPK. And there is Van Halen’s music video for Humans Being. Finally, there’s the Digital Code for Digital Collectors.