Review of Twister

Video

Another very good anamorphic transfer by Warner, images are sharp and with very little grain. The dark scenes have very good contrast, as do the sunny ones. With the film not being that old itself, you really shouldn`t expect any less.

Right, forget about the acting, this is a special effects movie if you didn`t realise already. And the tornados are nothing short of breathtaking. Huge twirling computer generating dust storms hurling trucks, cars and various other debris all over the place. Whether its a daylight or nighttime, the endless onslaught of twisters is incredibly convincing. The only crack in the bubble is some slightly dodgy looking shots where they have coloured a sky way darker and cloudier than it was originally filmed.

The director Jan De Bont is clearly at home with CGI technology and pyrotechnics, his movie making skills certainly don`t lie anywhere else. But in Twister he does stick to what he is best at, and this is shooting action. The camera angles are always showing off the effects to their best, and often its hard to tell where the real tractors and debris falling from the sky end, and the CGI begins.

Audio

This is a recent movie, so no need to do much other than directly transfer the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack from the original cinema release straight to DvD. Yes, you get to recreate that big cinema experience in your own home with this disc in the player, no speaker cone will be left unwaggled. Wind effects mixed in with wierd animal noises help assign an almost character-like quality to each tornado, as they whizz around every speaker in the room. Your rears are definitely going to get a work-out on this one.

Music is very well used too, from grand upbeat big brassy accompaniments on the driving scenes, to sections which sound almost in awe of the visuals they are matched to. Occasionally it is drowned out by the melodic howling of the tornados themselves, but this is allowable since they`re the whole point of the movie to start with.

Features

Extras, extras, read all about it, which is some bizarre way of saying the only extras on there really are some cast bios, oh okay so you do get the trailer but thats it. Still, the trailer is in anamorphic unlike on some other discs, although this still doesn`t make it worth writing home about.

Conclusion

This is typical summer blockbuster fodder, so don`t expect quality acting and a finely tuned script, but it is fun none the less. Bill Paxton of Aliens fame puts in a standable performance here, likewise so does Helen Hunt, but the supporting cast of Jami Gertz as a sex therapist and the miriad of insane storm chasers that they run around with definitely make for some great light entertainment.

If your prepared to put your brain in distilled water for a few hours, then you can safely sit back and enjoy some great special effects. This really is as close as you will get to seeing the real thing whilst staying in the comfort of your own home, unless you live in tornado alley that is.

It`s a shame there are no extras on this disc, but Twister is fun even if extremely mindless at times. Having a fascination for these giant whirlwinds myself, I`ve watched it a few times now. Good but not great fun, worth getting for fans of the film, but the lack of extras is a shame.