This was a big deal when it came out. We were pumped to see the SFX and the story was great for us kids.
Now it's pretty silly. But, Bill Paxton still delivers a fun performance.
Still a decent film. But nothing special in the grand scheme of things.
shareWatched it again the other day. I don't think I took it seriously the first time, it's just an fun entertaining movie. Still holds up now.
shareI think it helped breakup Van Hagar.
shareIt's 2023 and tonight is my annual spring viewing of Twister. Yes it was a big hit as disaster movies were huge in the 90s. I love it today differently as it's one of the very few Midwest movies.
shareYou bet it was! I was 10 when this came out, and I enjoyed it so much that I watched it to death! I'd already been studying meteorology, so this was right up my alley. I still consider it one of the best disaster films ever made in the 90s.
Just a year or two ago, I had some fun posting an answer to a question on Quora about how scientifically accurate "Twister" was. Strange as it sounds, some of the crazier stuff that happened in this film has been documented happening as a result of tornadoes, and I had fun pointing out which ones, and what wasn't realistic at all.
I was 14 when it came out and my buddies and I really got into storm photography. Not smart considering some of the weather, but a lot of fun. Especially belly crawling across a field to avoid lightning strikes (2 occasions).
This one was taken from the back of a Humvee when we had to seek shelter. The flip phone was surprisingly good.
https://www.deviantart.com/papples1
https://www.deviantart.com/papples1/art/Cam00096-952661581
The one part for me that is inaccurate is the ending as Bill and Jo could not have survived being inside the F5 tornado.
shareI know, that part is so dumb! The horse reigns would have snapped, they'd go flying, and probably end up with broken bones 40 feet away, probably dead as a result.
Now there is a true tornado story that might have inspired this scene :) I read about it in an old 1980s Planet Earth book called "Storm." https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Planet-Earth-B-Whipple/dp/0809443147/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pdt_img_top?ie=UTF8
The story goes that a farmer in Wisconsin was rushing to his storm cellar, when the tornado actually came over on top of him, but it was hovering up in the air, rather than touching the ground. The farmer managed to look up for a moment before closing the cellar door, and he saw what looked like a dark tunnel filled with lightning.
Plus they went through the barn that had all those knives and farming tools in it that got sucked up by the tornado. They could have easily been impailed.
shareOh definitely. Though that scene where the tractors were being dropped left and right on the road looked very contrived, like the F-5 tornado was a living creature with a mind of its own and taunting them. In fact, the least realistic part of the movie was how the tornadoes almost acted like they were alive and deliberately attacking the storm-chasers, which doesn't happen in real life at all.
The part where they went through an upside-down house and came out with the car still intact was pure Hollywood. The Mythbusters proved that you can't even drive your car through a fruit stand without putting it out of commission; so I doubt that truck Bill and Jo were driving through a wall, an upstairs bedroom and bathroom, and out the other wall would have come out intact and the engine still working. Though it was a little funny to see.
I'm adding my voice to the chorus of those praising it, as dumb fun!
Not great cinema, not something you want to watch 100 times to appreciate every detail, but something you can go a decade or two without watching but enjoy when you do. I genuinely appreciate a good dumb-fun movie, and wish the critics did as well.
It's just a great 90's film, there isn't a whole lot to it but fun to watch all the same.
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