Twister - We'll Miss You, Bill Paxton

We all lost a huge part of our show and entertainment in general in the passing of Bill Paxton. He was a one of a kind type of actor and while that may seem cliche to say in the wake of someone's death in Hollywood, we'll stand by it. Bill had a depth that few possess, taking roles as varied as the pyschotic Severen in Near Dark (and is the only reason to watch the movie) to the silly Matt Owens in (Slipstream) to the model for a douche in Simon from True Lies (and steals the comedic show from Arnold and Arnold) to the warm but frightened Fred Haise in Apollo 13. The guy could play anything. 

So with that in mind, we tackle the 1996 disasterooney of Twister. With all its cliches and tropes that run rampant in the disaster genre, can the immensely popular film stand up to 20 years of time since its release? Who is this Helen Hunt lady? How did Phillip Seymour Hoffman become a thing? Is that a flying cow? All this and more revealed in our podcast episode. Listen to it!

Twister is WOW stupid. It falls into that mold of "these characters should have died in multiple instances but don't thanks to ludicrous writing". And they are all pretty blatant. One does not need to be a forensic scientist to understand that these people died multiple times. Pretty awesome stupid.

The acting...wow. Bill and Helen Hunt do fine with their roles but EVERY single other actor blows at least one line, with Jami Gertz leading the crappy acting battle charge. It's hilarious.

The action is fairly stupid and nonstop. In one sequence, the find themselves being chased down by a 'nado while being stuck in a ditch at 75mph. The chase ends in a head-on collision. Then there's the Dodge Ram. The most invincible vehicle ever built. Crap is flying all over the place at all times, the 'nados are monsters with sentience and a voice, and the heavy amount of 'nados in one day would imply that the Midwest is a desolate wasteland and completely unliveable (oh wait, that's true). 

The science is bad, the physics are bad, the invulnerability of humans and trucks are a staple, plot convenience abounds (where are they getting all these Dorothys?) and it never lets up. Go ahead and take a revisit of Twister and if you haven't seen it, stop what you're doing and check it out.