Twister Blu-ray offers solid video and superb audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
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 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.
Written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, Jan de Bont's "Twister" (1996) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal-UK. The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary with director Jan de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier; "The Making of Twister"; "Anatomy of a Twister" - on-site footage from the shooting of the film; "Nature Tech: Tornadoes" - a History Channel episode about the progress scientists have made in predicting dangerous storms; Van Halen's "Humans Being"; and the original theatrical trailer for the film. With optional English, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, or Chinese subtitles. Region-Free.
The Big One
Twister is the type of film you want to see at the right time with the right state of mind. To me, this meant being fresh but relaxed as well as willing to forgive the type of flaws summer blockbusters convey. I knew what not to expect from Twister, which certainly helped me appreciate what Jan de Bont had attempted to accomplish with it.
The film follows the story of Jo (Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets) and Bill (Bill Paxton, Near Dark), two twister chasers who have parted ways after years of working together and being in love with each other. Bill has moved to the big city to become a weather man and met Melissa (Jami Gertz, Lip Service), a respected psychologist, who is now his partner in crime. The two have already picked a date for their wedding even though Jo still has not signed the divorce papers Bill has sent her.
Jo lives in the countryside and works with the same crew Bill was once a part of. She is still in love with Bill and has been hoping that he would come back to her, but has finally began realizing that he might have moved on. Jo has also managed to put together Dorothy, a machine for studying twisters, which Bill designed before he left her.
Bill, together with Melissa, heads to the countryside determined to finally get the divorce papers signed by Jo. When he meets Jo, however, she shows him Dorothy and he immediately forgets why he has come to see her. Together with his old pals, he decides to test Dorothy on a giant twister that has made everyone in the area extremely nervous.
While Bill and Jo are chasing the twister, Melissa begins to realize that she might be planning to marry a man who is still very much in love with another woman - which is why she decides to leave Bill and get back to the city. Meanwhile, the twister breaks Dorothy but repairs everything that Bill and Jo couldn't fix while they were together.
There is definitely more style than substance in Twister. Boasting strong special effects, the film takes its audience on a wild ride that impresses a lot. Many of the key scenes in it are quite unbelievable but at the same time truly enjoyable.
The acting is mostly tolerable, even though the technical jargon the actors use throughout the film is not. There are more than a few scenes with Philip Seymour Hoffman, for example, where he attempts to sound like a man who actually knows what he is talking about, that reminded me about Robert Duval's character in Tony Scott's Days of Thunder. Do you remember his awful "Rubbing is racing"?
Good thing Hunt and Paxton are actually quite good in their roles. Sure, it is easy to figure out that they would eventually get back together, but it isn't that easy to guess when they would kiss again – I mean, after the last time they did, which must have been before Bill decided that he wanted to be a weather man.
I would like to quickly mention the film's terrific soundtrack as well, featuring tracks by Tori Amos (a personal favorite of director de Bont), Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Goo Goo Dolls, Soul Asylum, and Van Halen among others. Van Halen's "Humans Being", in particular, became a major hit in Europe.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.42:1, encoded with VC-1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Jan de Bont's Twister arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal-UK.
I have two complaints about this high-definition transfer. The first one has to do with the use of noise reduction, which is quite distracting at times. There are key scene throughout the film where fine object detail and clarity are obviously affected by it. I think that the larger your screen is, the easier it would be for you to notice it (the noise reduction). Second, it is the mild to moderate edge-enhancement. Unlike the noise reduction, the edge-enhancement is actually a lot easier to tolerate, but it is there, and I have no doubts that the more sensitive amongst you would be irritated by its presence. This said, the film's color-scheme is mostly convincing. Reds, blues, greens, yellows, browns and blacks look natural, though not always rich and well saturated. There are no serious stability issues to report. I did not spot any heavy background flickering to report either. Finally, aside from a few minor flecks, the high-definition transfer appears to be in a relatively healthy condition. (This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. Also, please note that the main menu could be set in one of the following languages: English, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, or Chinese).
Note: I was specifically asked to comment on how this UK release of Twister, courtesy of Universal, compares to the North American one, courtesy of Warner. After carefully comparing select scenes from the two, I've come to the conclusion that I prefer the look of the UK release. During many of the close-ups, I felt that detail is slightly better on the UK release; not by much, but there were a number of close-ups with Helen Hunt's face, for example, that were slightly better looking on the UK disc (which is why I have included a capture of her face below).
This Blu-ray disc contains the following audio tracks: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French DTS 5.1, German DTS 5.1, Italian DTS 5.1, Spanish DTS 5.1, and Japanese DTS 5.1. For the record, Universal have provided optional English SDH, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, and Korean subtitles for the main feature.
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (24-bit) sounds good. The low frequencies, in particular, are very effective, I'd even say that they are some of the very best I have encountered since Blu-ray arrived. There are a number of key scenes with the giant twisters that could easily be used to test the muscles of one's audio equipment. The high frequencies, however, probably won't impress serious audiophiles as they fluctuate quite a bit. On the other hand, the dialog is crisp, clean and very easy to follow. I also did not detect any problematic pops, cracks, clicks, or hiss.
Note: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray disc are perfectly playable on North American PS3s and SAs.
The Making of Twister - the standard featurette recaptures the production history of the film. Cast and crew members also discuss their roles and work on the film. In English, with optional Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish. (480/60i, 14 min).
Anatomy of a Twister - on-site footage from the shooting of the film, containing comments from the cast and crew addressing the unpredictable nature of tornadoes. The F5 tornado creation is particularly interesting. In English, with optional Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish.(480/60i, 9 min).
Nature Tech: Tornadoes - a History Channel episode about the progress scientists have made in predicting dangerous storms. In English, with optional Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish. (46 min, 480/60i).
Music Video - Van Halen's "Humans Being". (4 min, 480/60i).
Trailer - the theatrical trailer for Twister. In English, with optional Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish. (3 min, 480/60i).
Commentary - an audio commentary with director Jan de Bont and visual Effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier. This is a very informative, technical commentary in which the two gentlemen explain how many of the most thrilling scenes in Twister were done, the technical and logistic challenges the film crew had to overcome, etc. In English.
If you are a fan of Jan de Bont's Twister and have not yet purchased it on Blu-ray, I would suggest that you opt for the UK release herein reviewed. In my opinion, it offers some marginal improvements over the U.S. release. The disc is Region-Free, and all of the supplemental features on it are perfectly playable on Region-A PS3s and SAs. Recommended.
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