Nature is simultaneously awe-inspiring and terrifying since we find that it is the root of both some of the most beautiful spectacles and often the source of some of the most devastating disasters in history. The unpredictability of the natural world has been studied for about as long as science has been a legitimate field, and efforts to understand precisely how it works being an entire area of inquiry on its own. The disaster film genre has undergone quite an ebb and flow in popularity, oscillating between exciting and hackneyed depending on a number of variables, the primary one being the extent to which it can capture the audience’s attention through the simplest means possible. In the case of Twister, we find director Jan De Bont – whose body of work as a filmmaker is quite small but includes films like Speed, a contender for the greatest action film of the 1990s – working closely with a group of collaborators to tell a fascinating and captivating story, which centres on the efforts of a team of storm chasers in rapid pursuit of an enormous tornado sweeping across rural Oklahoma, hoping to introduce a device that will assist them in calculating the dimensions of the storm and thus being able to get a more nuanced understanding of this natural phenomenon and the ways in which a more impactful warning system can be implemented. A film that has seemingly left quite a distinct cultural cache despite being quite simple and not all that revolutionary, at least in terms of the ideas that are introduced throughout, it has grown in estimation over the years, being the perfect example of the meat-and-potatoes action film that doesn’t promise to be anything other than thoroughly entertaining, offering very little but delivering on each of its ideas with precision and genuine dedication to the material, which is more than enough to keep us engaged and invested in the ideas that are presented throughout the film.

The appeal of the disaster genre is difficult to pinpoint, but it can be attributed to the same sensation that makes gory horror films and true crime stories so captivating. These films touch a raw nerve and play to our innate fascination with the idea of being in danger – many of us are captivated by the concept of peril, albeit only when it is presented from a distance and I’d argue that it panders to our inherent sense of fight-or-flight, particularly in terms of how we enjoy seeing stories of being cheating death and managing to overcome some extraordinary force of malice, whether natural or otherwise. Twister is certainly far from an overly complex film, and it is clear that the reasons it succeeds so wholeheartedly have to do entirely with how it captures our attention and keeps us engaged since once we are on board with the story, everything else becomes inconsequential. Nature is something that fascinates us, and while it is easy to look at such a film from our proverbial ivory tower, where we delude ourselves into the belief that such events can never happen to us, we all know that nature is unpredictable and we can’t anticipate what is going to happen. This sense of danger is profoundly appealing and one of the many elements that make Twister such a uniquely delightful and off-kilter work of the disaster genre. It doesn’t always know in which direction it wants to move, but it ultimately has the right idea on how to grab our attention, which is through offering very simple ideas and reworking them into something enthralling, which is not difficult to do when the right tone is established, which is ultimately what we find being most enticing about this premise and how De Bont executes its many simple but compelling ideas.

Waxing poetic about the story and themes may be interesting, but it also betrays the fact that Twister is a film that has remained popular not because of the premise or its underlying complexities (of which there are a few, they’re just not entirely prominent), but rather in how it is a superbly-directed film. De Bont is a terrific director, and while his career may be comparatively quite short, and many peddlers of bombastic fare like this can certainly take a cue from him, he was a master of tone and could mount something not only impressive in terms of scope but genuinely compelling and wholeheartedly entertaining. Twister is a massively enjoyable film solely on how it navigates the challenges of creating a palpable sense of danger. We can imagine the pitch for this film was a survival drama in which the villain is not a distinct entity, but rather nature itself (the “man vs. nature” premise has been developed into its sub-genre, which is often referred to as ecological horror, which is a good way to look at such concepts), in the form of the titular tornado that wreaks havoc. Having a natural phenomenon as the antagonist is fascinating because it doesn’t allow the film to veer into trying to justify motivations or make sense of the terror – this is a purely destructive force, and one that is quite simply unstoppable, and any effort to do so will only result in more chaos. On a visual level, Twister is extremely effective – the special effects, particularly in the creation of the tornado, are remarkably impressive. Some of it may seem quite dated, and the technology necessary to make it entirely believable was not available at the time, but it compensates for these shortcomings by making sure that the accompanying story is compelling enough to make it more than just a series of increasingly destructive moments. It succeeds relatively well and proves to be genuinely quite exciting when it is firing on all cylinders.

A film like Twister is always going to be required to have some additional elements to draw viewers in, since the premise itself is not strong enough to pique our curiosity, especially among those of us who are not entirely enamoured with the concept of two hours of destruction. This film famously has one of the best casts of the decade, which is a major point of praise for it, especially since so many of these characters are well-constructed and more than just one-dimensional archetypes. The cast is anchored by Helen Hunt (at the peak of her popularity, with a steadily growing film career and work on the iconic Mad About You making her massively successful as a star during this time) and Bill Paxton, the pair having extraordinary chemistry and playing these roles incredibly successfully. The supporting cast includes the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Todd Field, Lois Smith, Cary Elwes and many other terrific character actors who lend their talents to bringing these characters to life. The appeal of this cast comes from the fact that each one of these people plays a vital role in the story, and it also adheres to the trend of disaster films to make use of ensembles rather than only have one or two central protagonists, since having multiple perspectives allows for a more broad depiction of the crisis and the efforts to overcome what appear to be enormous hurdles. It’s not a film known for its acting, but it certainly does exceptionally well with what it has, and everyone is doing exceptional work, perhaps almost too good to warrant their presence in such a simple film. Nevertheless, it’s a terrific set of performances that ground the film within reality and make it so effortlessly impactful.

Twister is far from a perfect film, and it can sometimes feel like it is prioritizing the spectacle over the storyline, which is arguably the weakest element and the aspect that perhaps weighs the film down the most. Yet, we struggle to find any part of the film that promised to be either definitive or entirely original. If anything, the reason it works is its radical simplicity – there is nothing all that bespoke about it, but it does manage to prove that all it takes to captivate an audience is a story that is told well and which keeps us invested, which is most certainly the case here. It is not a complex film, and even scrounging around for new ideas to discuss is difficult, since it’s not the kind of story that lends itself to much conversation. It introduces a central crisis, makes its main players known and then sets everything in motion, allowing us to be entranced and engaged with the story, which grows into a far more enthralling exploration of the natural world and its tendency to be not only unpredictable but massively destructive in certain instances. The science is questionable and it does tend to be quite dated (hence we have a sequel coming in just a few days that we can assume will bring these ideas to the 21st century), but at its heart, Twister is a terrific film that keeps us entertained and invested. It appeals to the most primordial desire we have to simply see carefully constructed chaos on screen, and while it may not be the most original disaster film, it is still very enjoyable and genuinely moving in certain moments, which is ultimately all we would expect from this material and how it manifests on screen.