Plot: What’s it about?
For those that remember the Summer of 1996 (and I’m guessing that it should be just about everyone) there were a few great movies that really raked in the cash. Starting off the summer movie season was “Twister”, not exactly an event movie but one that made waves at the box office. The real star of the show was the special effects, of course, but leads Bill Paxton and then “future” Oscar-winner Helen Hunt had the human element under control. The other big movie in that summer was, of course, “Independence Day” in which aliens started destroying all of our landmarks (notably The White House, Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty). So a dozen years ago destroying things was en vogue and it seems that not much has changed since then. Even though plenty of time has passed, “Twister” still stands as one of the best examples of audio in a movie (and later, a DVD).
We meet Bill (Bill Paxton) in his childhood as he watches his father killed by a class 5 tornado. Flash forward to the present and now he’s a storm chaser, hard at work on developing an early-warning system for the National Weather Service. Bill’s extranged ex-wife, Jo (Helen Hunt) is hesitating signing the divorce papers and thereby prohibiting him from marrying Melissa Reeves (Jami Gertz). All of this takes a backseat, however, when the storm season gets underway. The three are unwillingly thrown together and must work together to not only get “Dorothy” (the early-warning system) online, but see if Jo and Bill can work out their differences as well. The rag tag crew adds some comic relief to the story and includes Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Alan Ruck. Lest we forget, the “bad guy” is played by Carey Elwes, a man with similar interests like Bill but with corporate funding.
Let’s face it, “Twister” is all about having a good time. I spent several years in Kansas and have actually never seen a tornado, but they’re out there and I can only imagine that, next to being in one, “Twister” is about as real as it gets short of being out there. Audiophiles have long held the movie as one of the crowning achievements in audio with the first issue of the DVD having an explosive 5.1 track. We then got a “Special Edition” DVD with a DTS track and now with its arrival on Blu-ray, well it pretty much blows the roof off the place. Fans will be in heaven with this HD offering and for those that have never seen “Twister”, it’s a rarity a summer movie that’s actually worth seeing (or hearing, rather).
Video: How does it look?
Director Jan de Bont (“Speed”) was a longtime cinematographer and as such, framed “Twister” beautifully in a 2.35:1 VC-1 HD transfer. While a majority of the color palette used contains earthy tones, browns and blacks, the transfer doesn’t suffer in the least. I found the image detail bumped up and even broke out my old DVD for a few side by side comparisons. “Twister” benefits from HD making an already good-looking movie, great.
Audio: How does it sound?
Going over our near 6000 reviews, you’ll most likely see the phrase “…this isn’t Twister’…”, but this one, well, actually is. This is simply the crme de la crme when it comes to audio and Warner has given us their best mix yet. A Dolby TrueHD mix literally makes the room come alive with all sorts of winds and the discrete effects in the surround channels bump it up that much more. Make sure you have your sub turned up as the LFE take front and center here. Dialogue is rich and robust, yet it pales in comparison to the action going on around. This is the reason you bought those speakers and that receiver. This is the reason for 7.1 channels and this is the disc you should whip out to literally wake the neighbors. Quite simply, it doesn’t get any better than this when it comes to sound.
Supplements: What are the extras?
“Twister” on Blu-ray comes equipped with most all the features it did on the Special Edition DVD some seven years ago. We have the same audio commentary with Jan de Bont and Stefan Fangmier as well as the featurettes “Anatomy of a twister” and “The Making of Twister”. We even have Van Halen’s music video Humans Being. What’s new is the inclusion of “Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited” which is a retrospective look back at the film. Let’s face it, on most discs supplements are nice but here, the sound is really what you’re paying for. The wait is over and “Twister” is finally out on Blu-ray.
