Date: Fri 09-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Quick Words:

Playing-Twister-Hunt-Paxton

Full Text:

(Now Playing on "Twister," 8/9/96)

Now Playing-

Not Exactly Plot-Heavy, "Twister" Is Hair-Raising Fun Nevertheless

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Twister , the first box office smash of this summer, will be blowing into

Newtown this week. Twister has it all - thrills, chills, crowd-pleasing

effects, affable actors, a booming soundtrack... everything but one little

four-letter word: P-L-O-T!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving the movie a thumbs-down. I quite enjoyed

Twister , actually. But to be enjoyed, it requires that the audience shut down

a fair percentage of their mental faculties and just soak in the film's flood

of awe-inspiring visual effects.

Bill Paxton ( Apollo 13 ) and Helen Hunt ("Mad About You") star as ace

research scientists Bill and Jo Harding, whose specialty is chasing tornadoes,

all in the name of meteorology and the advancement of weather people

everywhere. By studying the brutal nature of these cyclones - up close - they

hope to better understand them, which would aid in the development of more

effective and timely warning systems for people in danger from tornadoes.

Director Jan De Bont, coming off his freshman work on the successful Speed ,

avoids the famous sophomore jinx with this film. Twister will only raise the

level of his stock in Hollywood. But where Speed managed to keep us intensely

involved for two hours with a simple gimmick, Twister labors a bit too much to

pad its own thin story. Paxton and Hunt are fine actors, but their rapport

lacks the zip that propelled Sandra Bullock to stardom in Speed . However, the

leads are not the weak links in Twister ; poor storytelling is.

From the opening sequence, a flashback to Jo's childhood when she and her

family were put into mortal danger by a powerful twister, the film's script

seems awfully determined to distract us. Before long it is clear the

screenwriters are trying to give us something to think about so we won't catch

on to the fact Twister is basically just a collection of eye-popping effects

sequences. As exhilarating and convincing as those sequences are, which

effectively convey the destructive might of a tornado, there is little

substance to hold those elements together.

Not for lack of trying. Bill and Jo are separated at the film's onset, he with

his new fiancee (Jami Gertz) and divorce papers in tow. Before Jo signs on the

dotted line, she takes the time to unveil a new meteorological device, Dorothy

(one of many Oz jokes in the film, just one example of the writers' homage to

tornado mythology), a prototype envisioned by the couple during happier days.

Dorothy is designed to release tiny sensors into a tornado, allowing

researchers to better chart the makeup of these forces of nature. Wouldn't you

know it, there are only a few of these devices constructed, thus giving our

heroes and their pals only a few chances to place one of these doo-dads close

enough to a twister to allow the technology to work.

Another obstacle in their way, as if battling the whipping wind weren't

enough, is a self-seeking competitor named Jonas (Cary Elwes), who has stolen

the designs from their prototype and created his own Dorothy. Just in case us

slow moviegoers don't understand that this guy is the villain, the film makers

have given him and his cronies a horde of black vans to drive, and Bill

self-righteously declares him a fiend who "is in it for the money, not the

science!"

In many ways, it is a high complement to the deft work of the effects crew

that such an elementary and predictable plot can even be watchable, let alone

enjoyable, which Twister ultimately is. It would be doing the film an

injustice if I went into detail about its hair-raising (ha ha) effects scenes

- why give away the only good parts of the movie?! - but let's just say many

heavy objects fly through the air with the greatest of ease.

Twister , rated PG-13 for profanity and the intensity of its weather

depictions, is diverting fun that reveals the magical possibilities of today's

movie making. If only someone would merge that prowess with good,

old-fashioned storytelling (haven't they heard of a simple thing called

narrative ?). Oh well, maybe next time.