Customer Reviews

Twister [VHS]

5 star:		(183)
4 star:		(104)
3 star:		(43)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

This is the best sounding 5.1 channel DVD that I have heard so far! The thunderstorms sound like the real thing and the dialog is always crisp and clear. This disc includes both widescreen and full screen versions of the movie. Unfortunately, there aren't any good special features on this disc (thats why only 4 stars instead of 5). I would have liked to have seen some behind the scenes info. This film has stunning visual effects and it would be nice to watch the computer art gurus in action! Even without special features, this disc is worth the money. It will squeeze every drop of performance out of your home theater!

If ever a film was made to perpetuate the stereotype of Oklahoma as a state mercilessly and relentlessly ravaged by tornadoes, TWISTER is it. As a resident of Oklahoma, I can assure the readers of this review of two things: 1) tornadoes do on occasion occur here; and 2) tornadoes do not come in endless waves, one after another, like some sort of demented assembly line.

Having said this, TWISTER is a remarkably entertaining film. It's a fasten-your-seatbelt, get-ready-to-duck, leave-both-hands-inside-the-car rollercoaster ride, complete with eye-popping, hair-raising special effects. This movie is a vivid feast for the eyes: menacing, swirling tornadoes of various shapes and sizes; flying cows; and an endless assortment of storm debris to block the path of our protagonists, from tractors to tanker trucks--even houses.

The plot plays second fiddle to the action and special effects. Thank goodness: if the plot had to carry this film, the movie would have collapsed into a sappy and contrived love story. From the very beginning of the film, when meteorologist Bill Harding (Bill Paxton) locates his estranged stormchasing wife Dr. JoAnne Thornton-Harding (Helen Hunt) out on the northern Oklahoma plains and asks her to sign divorce papers, the viewer instantly realizes: the couple, eventually, will get back together. Thankfully, Mother Nature takes over and the film takes off. Paxton and Hunt are solid in their performances, yet Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the show, as techno-goofy, slightly off-center Dusty Davis, a member of JoAnne's stormchasing team. If anyone can have a good time in the face of oncoming disaster, it's Dusty (who refers to a tornado's swath of destruction as "the suck zone").

Director Jan de Bont delivers nonstop action like a swirling wall cloud; TWISTER is nervous energy unleashed, a cacophony of sights and sounds that keeps the adrenaline flowing.

Probably the best disaster movie made about tornadoes/twisters. The special effects were really exciting if you can overlook the inaccurate scenes enhanced for dramatic effect. It was a good balance between the story and the action. Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton were really good - actually the whole cast was wonderful.

This a review of the DVD, not the movie. There are as many opinions of the movie as there are people to watch it.
The newest DVD is a vast improvement over the first two releases. The image is cleaner with stronger colors, better matched to the theatrical print. It also has few in any visible mpeg artifacts. The sound is essentially a match to the second DVD release, without the DTS track. The big improvement in sound is on the commentary track. In the previous release, the movie's audio wasn't reduced enough in volume and would often overwhelm the commentators, to the point that one couldn't understand a word they were saying. This is corrected in the new version.
The second DVD in the set is largely made up of previously released material. But there are two documentaries added that make it worthwhile. "Twister Revisted" is an interesting anecdotal look back on the production. Also included is a History Channel documentary that gives viewers a look at the reality of tornado research.
For those of you with whom this is a guilty pleasure, it's defintiely worth the investment.

I have this in regular DVD as well as Blu-Ray. It is one of the movies that is light and lively and enjoyable to watch from time to time. I looked forward to the production in Blu-Ray but was disappointed. The Blu-Ray product was not much better than the regular DVD when played in my Blu-Ray player which like other Blu-Ray players has the upconvert feature. While I enjoy the superior quality of most of the Blu-Ray movies that I have bought, this movie, while good, did not make the leap in superior picture quality that it could have when being converted to Blu-Ray.

Was this a 5 star movie, all in all? Some think not, but the worthy parts are extremely worthy, and bear watching over and over again -- one of my top criteria for a 5-star flick.

The acting is good, and occasionally excellent. I have to say that while Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton are good, the most memorable characters in the show are members of Hunt's support team. You may be wondering, do people like them actually exist in the world? You bet they do!

I spent long enough in graduate school to know that individuals like those portrayed in Twister do exist -- maybe not exactly like the ones in the movie, but the American graduate student crowd includes extremely intelligent, creative, driven, talented, and sometimes eccentric individuals.

The story line was not totally original, but it is timely, especially if you happen to live in the tornado belt (I grew up in Kansas and now live in Indiana -- both prime tornado habitats). While the basic storyline may have left something to be desired, the character development was great (again, especially among the supporting cast).

Finally, the special effects are awesome! The FX gurus who worked this film did a super job of recreating tornados. Just watch this movie and see for yourselves.

I have watched this video several times, and I know that I will come back to it again and again.

5 stars in my book -- for fun, FX, and interesting characters.

Alan Holyoak

I remember seeing this film in the theater when it first came out, and I was totally blown away. Twister ranks among the best of the disaster films that I have ever seen. Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt turn in stellar performances as Jo and Bill, an estranged couple who are in the process of a divorce when they are suddenly thrown back together in pursuit of the most violent series of tornadoes to hit mid-America in 50 years. In working together both are forced to confront some of their own inner demons, especially the ones that drove them apart in the first place.

Of course, no movie is any good without a strong supporting cast, and Twister has that in spades. From Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dusty on down to Lois Smith as Jo's Aunt Meg, these actors do a heck of a lot more than serve as backdrop to Jo and Bill. They help to enhance the story, each in their own way.

What I liked best about Twister was the fact that I found it to be a very intellectual film, much like The Day After. Although to some it may seem to be mostly a Jo and Bill story on the surface, I found myself doing a lot of "what if" thinking in regards to any disaster, natural OR manmade, after seeing it. I couldn't help but ask myself just how I'd react in the face of oncoming disaster, what steps I'd take to avoid getting myself or others hurt or killed, things like that. This, I believe, is a key ingredient in any successful disaster film--the ability to make you think about how'd you react under the very same circumstances.

All in all, I consider Twister to be among the most superior disaster films ever made. Loaded with awesome acting, superb special effects, and a great story, this is a film that is definitely worth owning!

This is the first disc I bought since I got the home theater set up and this one you won't believe! Ok, I'll admit the story here is a little weak, but this isn't supposed to be a "Raging Bull" type of character study. This is a very entertaining, state of the arts effects, fun film. The sound from this DTS version is extraordinary. The separation of the 5.1 is incredible. The twister sequences will blow you away. You feel the sound and the fury! The only other disc that compares is the Saving Private Ryan one. For you home theater fanatics, this is your film.. you'll see it, hear it, and feel it. This disc also has some great extras like director commentary and a cool documentary of how it was made. All in all, it's not one of the finest 100 or 200 movies ever made, but you may find yourself watching it over and over for the experience of it! You'll love it! The movie itself is about a 3, but the DVD DTS is about a 5!

I enjoyed this movie even more on Blu-ray than I ever did on standard DVD. The picture quality was at least 10 times better than standard DVD. If you own a Blu-ray player and loved or at least really liked this movie, like I did, then I recommend buying it on Blu-ray.

This film is not high cinematic art. It was intended to be a summer blockbuster "put your brain on hold" action film when it was released in 1996, and that is what it was and still is. Its competition at the time was "Independence Day", which is an unwatchably hokey movie, and this movie is better than that film in that it is a watchably hokey movie. Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton play recently divorced storm chasers Jo and Bill Harding whose relationship was pulled apart by Jo's obsession with chasing tornadoes to the exclusion of wanting any kind of "normal family life" by Bill's definition. Bill has moved on and found a more conventional girl that he plans to marry (Jami Gertz). However, before he can move on, Bill needs Jo to sign some papers. He meets her "in the field" as she and her team from the university plan a day of chasing tornadoes through Oklahoma. Before they can conclude their business a storm calls the team to the chase, and Bill is drawn into the chase by necessity but kept there by his latent passion - for storm-chasing and maybe even for the marriage he left behind. The film features some great special effects, fast-paced action, and cringingly obvious dialogue with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. However if you're just in the mood for an action-packed film with a feel-good after effect, this movie fits the bill.

A popular internet film database ranks this film as 5.9 out of 10. That is probably correct if you are comparing it with Casablanca. If you judge it as an action film against other action films, I'd say it's probably more of a 7 out of 10. The following are the special features:

Disc 1
* Commentary by Jan DeBont and Stefan Fangmeier
* Theatrical Trailers

Disc 2
* Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited
* The Making of Twister [HBO First Look Special]
* Anatomy of a Twister
* Nature Tech: Tornadoes [2003 History Channel special]
* Van Halen Humans Being Music Video