Twister (1996)

For reasons I won't explain, I have travelled up from London to my hometown of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. My parents wanted to see me before I turned 24 on Friday and how do I repay them? By forcing them to sit down and watch this with me. It could have been much worse, you know. It could have been some dreadful "real life" telemovie on Living TV!

"Twister", in case you couldn't guess, is about a rather large tornado sweeping its way across Oklahoma and the efforts of a team of slightly messed-up storm chasers to launch a probe into the storm. Doesn't sound too gripping, does it? OK, let's say that the two lead storm chasers (Hunt and Paxton) are a couple on the edge of a divorce. And there are a team of evil (read "corporate") storm chasers with their own probe and jet black trucks. And... and there's an old woman and her dog in peril! Truly, every tension-raising trick is employed by this film - something you might not expect from a Michael Crichton script.

The reason this film falls apart (and the reason I'm disappointed, having been under the impression that this was a good movie) is that almost every one of the characters is fundamentally unlikeable. Less than a day later, I can't remember any one of the character's names but I do remember that every one hacked me off in some way. The woman who dedicates her life to chasing storms because her daddy got sucked up in one. Her husband, the ego-driven "extreme" reporter on the verge of a blossoming TV career. His girlfriend, a shrieking therapist who clearly knows nothing about the man she's about to marry. Each one is so preposterous that the entire credibility of the film is in jeopardy, not that credibility was ever going to be a strong point of this film. How a tornado (a word I never heard being used in the film) can pick up vehicles, livestock and buildings but not our two heroes running away from the scene is just one example of many of where little thought has been put into this movie. Back to the script, guys!

Although the makers might take this the wrong way, "Twister" reminded me of another natural disaster movie with a Hollywood spin on it - "Dante's Peak". Both movies are about setting up the scene and then destroying it in a blur of CGI and special effects, characters fleeing for their lives because so much is at stake. Though the tornado does look impressive, the credibility is broken when you see blue sky next to it or nothing blowing in the breeze. Again, this really should have been sorted out by the editors before release. Sadly, the editors can do little with a corny script, cheesy dialogue, laugh-out-loud ridiculous action sequences and plot holes so wide that only a twister could have ripped it apart. But are any natural disaster movies so different from this one? Even the recent "Day After Tomorrow" seemed to follow the same template as this - throw people with emotional problems into a situation where the elements conspire against them. This film could probably have been made back in the Fifties, though clearly without so much reliance on special effects.

I shouldn't have been so disappointed but I was. "Twister" is a middling mess of a movie at best, the tornado itself given all the attention while the characters bicker and argue over who will save the day. It's predictable and riddled with inconsistencies. Perhaps I should take back my earlier comments about Living TV. OK, "Twister" wasn't that bad... I'd rate it slightly above "Dante's Peak" but that ain't a ringing endorsment. "Twister" ruffles your hair, rather than blowing you away but at least it will amuse your parents for a while.