Back in the day, I saw this in the cinema and I liked it. I had seen it afterwards on video and DVD, but of course the impact of the first time waned. Now I have revisited the titles because of the sequel and I wanted to see if Twister still holds up.
As an adventure flick, maybe. But as a thriller? Not in a million years. And this is due to the premise. It's about a bunch of storm chasers who want to create and test an advanced weather alert system. They are proactively seeking out storms and the tornadoes to accomplish this. I get it, it's a noble cause, but still it would be entirely different if events didn't go as planned and the tornadoes would act out of the norm. As I understand it, by nature these tornadoes and storm are unpredictable. To then even have the notion you can create a system that can predict it is a fools' errand.
It doesn't help that these storm chasers are really enjoying the chaos and destruction. Only on occasion they didn't since it affected people they knew. I was rooting for them, since you are supposed to. But I don't know, I just wasn't scared for them. I guess I wasn't emotionally invested. In films like this, that should be the case. Especially since a lot of the characters are one note and barely fleshed out. Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt do give events the credibility it deserves. Although I must say that the romantic sub-plot was unnecessary and boring. I knew it was used to create some tension, only it never leads to anything substantial. A similar sub-plot was used in The Abyss. There it did create proper tension and problems for everyone involved.
It's the spectacle that impresses and offers the high entertainment value. And yes, that has not lost its impact. But is that enough? For a one time viewing, maybe. For multiple viewings, this just doesn't have enough meat and substance to it. Even the first time, I found the overall viewing experience to be a little underwhelming. Now, it's even more so.
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