TWISTER (1996)
4K Ultra HD + Digital
Label: WBDHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG-13
Duration: 113 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD (2.39:1)
Director: Jan de Bont
Cast: Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz, Lois Smith, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Todd Field, Jeremy Davies
The Jan de Bont (The Haunting) directed disaster blockbuster Twister (1996) is one of those tentpole 90's flicks I never saw, which is odd considering that I grew up on a steady diet of TV reruns of 70's Irwin Allen disaster flicks, and I absolutely loved them. I would attribute that to a huge shake-up in my personal life at that time, and the fact that I was pretty broke as well, though I do recall spending a lot of money on music, comics and beer, so maybe I was just bad with money. Whatever the case, it's just one that evaded me till now with this release on 4K UHD.
The flick starts off with a scene in 1969 where a F5 tornado is tearing through a rural Oklahoma farm, we find a young girl named Jo being rushed to shelter from the monster-sized tornado in a storm cellar alongside her parents and dog, but unfortunately her father dies while trying to secure the door. Twenty-seven years later Jo (Helen Hunt, Trancers) is now the leader of a team of storm chasers, among the rag-tag team we have Rabbit (Alan Ruck, Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Dusty (the Philip Seymour, The Big Lebowski), and Laurence (Jeremy Davies, The Black Phone). They are currently in Oklahoma looking to test out their latest storm chasing creation, "Dorothy", a device containing hundreds of small weather sensors that are meant to be delivered into the path of the storm, the winds carrying the sensors into the heart of the tornado to map it's innerworkings and hopefully lead to a better understanding of tornadoes so that an improved early warning system can be developed. As they are about to chase after a promising storm that brewing Joe's estranged ex, Bill Harding (the late Bill Paxton, Mortuary), an ex-storm chaser turned TV weatherman, who also co-developed the Dorothy system. He has traveled to Oklahoma with his therapist-fiancée, Melissa Reeves (Jami Gertz, The Lost Boys) to get Jo to finalize the divorce papers. Also converging on the developing storm is a team of rival storm chasers lead by Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes, The Princess Bride) a former colleague, who it turns out has stolen Bill's design for a tornado sensor array he calls the Dot3.
Now with the storm approaching and fueled by his resentment for Miller stealing his idea Bill rejoins the team in an effort to see Dorothy in action for the first time, looking to beat Miller to the punch. All of this befuddling his fiance who finds the idea of chasing deadly tornadoes (and the people who do it, including her fiance) to be a bit nuts. Chasing storms together reignites passions from both Bill and Jo, causing friction and hurt feelings between the soon-to-be-married couple.
There's just enough melodramatic tension and drama among the main characters to give us a tinge of human drama, and I did like how Jo's backstory, tragically seeing her father sucked into a tornado, fuels her fascination with tornadoes, so much so she becomes transfixed by the the fury of the encroaching storm, almost offering herself to it at one point. Layered on top of that drama we have what really sold the tickets for this one, the full force fury of nature unleashed, literally a perfect storm, creating the destructive tornadoes that fuel these adrenalized storm chasers.
Now when I think of mid 90's CGI for the most part they have not aged very well, but I have to say that the digital effects here are pretty great, shot on location in tornado alley the locations are where these things actually occur, the CGI created stormy skies and threatening funnel clouds touching ground forming properly scary looking tornadoes is pretty dazzling. I found myself convinced by them and never felt taken out of the by shoddy CGI, for the most part. While I thought the storms and tornadoes looked spiffy that signature flying cow I remember from the trailers looks pretty iffy still, but otherwise the tornadoes and flying debris, destruction and mayhem was pretty fantastic.
The story is what it is, just a serviceable framework for a fun popcorn munching disaster flick with a terrific cast, and the special effects are still impressive, I had a blast with this one. It's a shame I sat on it so long, this must have been a banger at the theater back in 1996, and I would certainly check out a repertory showing at the theater given the chance, but it looks phenomenal on 4K UHD with the HDR and wall-rattling Atmos audio.
Audio/Video: Twister (1996) arrives on 4K Ultra HD from WBDHE in 2160p UHD framed in 2.39:1 widescreen, the new 4K scan overseen by director Jan de Bont. The film looks wonderful, grain is well-managed, there are zero blemishes, and depth and clarity are premium. Fine detail looks terrific with the 4K resolution and the HDR-enhanced colors impress, there area few moments that are a tad soft but I think this probably goes back to the original mid-90's cinematography. According to a new extra on the disc director de Bont talks about going back and re color-timing the "greenage" scene when the sky turns green right before the storm, which he was never happy with during it's theatrical or home video showings, and that scene does look pretty cool, but never having watched the film before I cannot really say how improved it is. Black also look quite nice, night scenes are deep and inky when called upon, and the darkening skies and grayish stormy weather always looked solid, a few scenes look quite dark but have excellent shadow detail.
Audio comes by way of a brand new Dolby Atmos remix that is absolutely ferocious, it's the stellar sound design that brings this one to life, the frightening low-end, the screech of the higher end, it utilizes the heights and surround channels to their fullest potential with the sounds of wind, debris (and a cow) being flung through the air, truly a dazzling Atmos mix. It's not just the storm sequences either, the sound of vehicles speeding off road kicking up dirt and rocks, the roar of the engines, and characters yelling and screaming all comes through with piercing precision.
This edition is well-stocked with extras, which is nice for a change, I feel that Warner Bros. have been pretty disappointing in regard to extras of late. We've been getting some killer A/V presentations but more often than not we've been getting either no extras, or sometime a few archival extras, but releases with missing extras, and usually zero newly produced extras. This time around we get new and archival extras, so that's very cool, but I am still sore about the fact that we do not get a remastered Blu-ray disc with the majority of the WB 4K UHD releases - that just smacks of the studio being cheap, just give it to us, we'll pay a couple of extra bucks, I promise.
Anyway, small rant aside, extras include the brand new The Legacy of Twister – Taken by the Wind, a 15-min chat with de Bont that is pretty great, he talks about the genesis of the film, having to pitch it to producers, the use of digital effects and a lot more. Archival extras come by way of the 29-min Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited; the 9-min Anatomy of a Twister; the 14-min HBO First Look: The Making of Twister; a 3-min Van Halen Music Video – Humans Being; plus the archival Audio Commentary by director Jan de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier.
The single-disc 4K Ultra HD + Digital release arrives in a standard black keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork. The first-pressing at least includes a Slipcover, and inside there's redemption code for a digital HD copy of the film.
Special Features:
- NEW! The Legacy of Twister – Taken by the Wind (15:14)
- Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited (29:00)
- Anatomy of a Twister (8:34)
- HBO First Look: The Making of Twister (14:04)
- Van Halen Music Video – Humans Being (3:34)
- Audio Commentary by director Jan de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier
- NEW! The Legacy of Twister – Taken by the Wind (15:14)
- Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited (29:00)
- Anatomy of a Twister (8:34)
- HBO First Look: The Making of Twister (14:04)
- Van Halen Music Video – Humans Being (3:34)
- Audio Commentary by director Jan de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier
Buy it!
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