Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes

The largest storm to hit Oklahoma in more than half a century is brewing, and it promises to drop multiple twisters into Tornado Alley. It's the storm that two rival groups of scientists--Jo Harding a...( read more  read more... )nd her band of brash university students, and corporate-sponsored Dr. Jonas Miller and his sleek, crack cadre with their state-of-the-art research vans--have been waiting for to earn their place in meteorological history. Each team wants to be the first to launch their own equipment pack inside a twister to transmit valuable scientific data about tornado behavior. But to do so, they must put themselves directly in the path of the marauding monster--and stay always just ahead of the swirling twister, anticipating its every move. Adding to the charged atmosphere, Jo's soon-to-be-ex-husband, meteorologist Bill Harding, reluctantly joins Jo and his old crew for this last, epic chase.

Flixster Users

62% liked it

825,568 ratings

Critics

55% liked it

47 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 45 min.

Directed by: Jan de Bont

Release Date: May 10, 1996

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DVD Release Date: June 6, 2000

Stats: 31,181 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (31,181)


  • September 22, 2009
    Not enough people die in this film. Hunt and Paxton are in the lead roles, I'm guessing because you don't want good acting to over shadow the expensive special effects, but isn't that overkill?
  • October 8, 2008
    "The Dark Side of Nature."

    TV weatherman Bill Harding is trying to get his tornado-hunter wife, Jo, to sign divorce papers so he can marry his girlfriend Melissa. But Mother Nature, in the form of a series of intense storms sweeping across Oklahoma, has other plans. Soon ...( read more)the three have joined the team of stormchasers as they attempt to insert a revolutionary measuring device into the very heart of several extremely violent tornados.

    Review
    This movie was made at about the time when CGI was still impressive in and of itself in film-making. When Hollywood could shove at us eye popping visuals while ignoring plot, depth and emotion and we'd "ooh and ahhh".

    And this shows in Twister.

    The movie is rife with sappy clichés, sub-par acting and corny moments. The meat of this film is it's CGI created Tornadoes, which for the most part served their purpose in the context of a film of this nature.

    However even a layman couldn't ignore the ridiculous moments regarding the behavior of the Tornadoes in this film. For example at one point the first tornado the storm chasers encounter gets close enough to them to suck their truck up in the air and the boards above the flimsy shelter they're hiding under, but leaves them miraculously unharmed. Several times tornadoes in the film dissipate at all too convenient moments including the last one, a monster of a tornado that they actually get stuck inside, but survive somehow strapped to drainage pipes despite the tornado being strong enough to pick up an 18 wheeler, roll a house and make huge tractors fly.

    Yet for some reason this film is highly watchable. Twister achieved what it set out to achieve. It's mindless entertainment but it is indeed entertaining.

    It's almost like the really embarrassing moments of this film and there are plenty of those, make the film fun to watch. There's something innocent about this film that excuses all the bad aspects of it.

    Twister has been on cable a lot recently. I recommend watching it if you haven't yet. It's not award winning by any means but then again some films that have won academy awards have sucked so I leave it up to you to decide.
  • June 17, 2008
    I've seen this so many times, but it still freaks me out whenever I watch it!
  • June 2, 2008
    I miss stormy weather! Don't remember much about this film aside from the tornadoes, though.
  • February 28, 2008
    Great effects with an ok storyline.
  • November 18, 2009
    Im a big tornado fan so I was expecting a lot from this movie
  • November 18, 2009
    cool movie.................... i loked it in the movie The largest storm to hit Oklahoma in more than half a century is brewing, and it promises to drop multiple twisters into Tornado Alley. It's the storm that two rival groups of scientists--Jo Harding and her band of brash univ...( read more)ersity students,
  • November 16, 2009
    Great movie. Will always be great
  • November 16, 2009
    I was born in 1995, this movie came out in 1996, now, it is almost 2010, I love wheather,meteorology alot, so, I have actually recorded exactly how many times I watched this awesomely spectacular movie in the last 14-15 years, and it was a total of 192 times in 14 1/2 years. This...( read more) movie will probably never get old for me!
  • November 16, 2009
    I saw it whit norweigan subtitles... but othervise it was great... I'm going to see it again soon... but with swedish subtitles :P

    Saw it again... this time it was better =)

    Now it is one of my favourite movies =)

Critic Reviews


June 18, 2002
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

It looks real, and Director Jan De Bont keeps the action coming so fast there's no time to question it. full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The movie is wall-to-wall with special effects, and they're all convincing, although it's impossible for me to explain how Bill and Jo escape serious injury while staring right up into the Suck Zone o... full review

View more Twister reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • eufouria
    May 3, 2009
    There's really only one thing I can say about this movie aside from the fact that I love it:

    "Cow. 'Nother Cow"
  • daughtrylover101
    March 7, 2008
    i would recomed this movie best movie evar
  • aaroniemcwonley
    February 23, 2008
    Amazing graphics for the F5 tornado. Not bad for a 90s movie. And I think I saw Rob Schneider somewhere in there. Can anyone verify?
  • MelissaAnnLegard
    January 4, 2008
    twister is in my top 5 all time fav movies.
    ive been watching it for years, since it came out when i was 7 years old.
    i watch it all the time.
    i love all the actors in it.
    their all good together.
    near the end of the movie with the F5 is the coolest part in the entire movie.
    the special effects is amazing!
    they did a good job on all the twisters in the movie.
    i love twister♥
  • MrsJackHarkenss
    June 4, 2007
    Very good movie. I first saw it when I was 5 or 6 and it used to scare me something awful but now whenever I watn to watch a movie Twister is the first pick.
  • heidibird
    May 29, 2007
    I've been to the city were it was recorded. :)
  • LucyLips08
    April 8, 2007
    The graphics for the tornadoes were quite good, and there was quite a bit of humour in the film. Especially when the cows were flying in the twister lol!
  • darkstar7890
    November 28, 2006
    this movie was interesting especially the part where the cow is in the tornado lol
  • lientie
    September 28, 2006
    this movie is great! i love the bit where theyre inside the f5 tornado
  • JesusOnlyKnows19
    August 14, 2006
    I love this movie, and even though they to use God's name in this movie and their ain't no acknoledgement of God or Church in this movie, I can see the God in this movie!

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Twister : Watch Free on TV


Twister Trivia


  • In the move twister, What animal flew across the screen?  Answer »
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