‘Twister’ 4K Ultra HD movie review

Director Jan de Bont’s 1997 action thriller Twister (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 113 minutes, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $33.99) debuts in the 4K format and offers a sober reminder of the dangers of extreme weather as well as a nostalgic journey for home entertainment devotees.

The story focuses on the crazed occupation of storm chasers in Oklahoma and, in particular, a bickering couple of nearly divorced researchers — Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill Harding (Bill Paxton) — as they rekindle their love amid a string of treacherous tornadoes.

The plot thickens as a corporate-sponsored team of chasers battles their ragtag team in a race to deploy a high-tech device that gets sucked into a tornado and measures parts of it to understand the structure and help hone warning systems in the future.

The pair eventually find themselves literally in the middle of an F5 tornado (the strongest type recorded), nicknamed the “finger of God” and trying to survive the storm and each other.

The ensemble cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dusty Davis and Alan Ruck as Robert “Rabbit” Nurick, members of the Hardings’ team, and Cary Elwes as Jonas Miller, the leader of the rival storm chasers.

The movie provides not only a thrill ride at many moments (Universal Studios theme parks even had a dark simulation based on the film years ago), but also an opportunity to learn about the elements of tornadic science such as the Fujita scale, which measures a tornado’s intensity.

Better yet, the nostalgia for technophiles is “Twister” was the first movie available in digital video disc format on March 25, 1997, and its release in the ultra-high definition format was long overdue and will dazzle its loyal fans.

4K in action: The emerging stars of the remastered and color-tweaked film are the special effects-fueled tornadoes that roar to life, supplemented by an aural assault from a Dolby Atmos sound mix that will shake a room with rumbling and test nerves through the twisters’ up-close roars and growls.

The 2160 clarity and high dynamic range color enhancements bring to detailed life the tornado’s ground damage cutting through fields and towns. Tightly compacted formations spin and cut a swath shredding a barn and corn silo as well as pulling nails out of bridge planks. Undulating tendrils reach down from the heavens.

Expect lightning that looks like whip strikes, fiery-orange explosions with fierce black clouds behind them and a famed flying cow to closely examine.

Look at the quality image when a twister barreling bearing down on an outdoor movies theater rips through the screen as it plays “The Shining.”

As far as bettering the visuals, in a featurette on the disc, viewers learn that the tinted-green skies that warn of an impending tornado were not as vividly possible on theatrical screens but now, thanks to the latest visual technology and dynamic color grading, it is realized an eerie, foreboding emerald hue.

Best extras: All of the digital goodies are mainly culled from the 2008 Blu-ray release and reside on the single 4K disc release.

First, an important nonstop optional commentary track with special effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier and the director. They offer an overview on story, shot selection, scene deconstruction, weather challenges, and exploring those magnificent tornado effects.

Follow that up with three featurettes offering a 15-minute HBO First Look segment from 1996, an almost 30-minute retrospective from 2008 (with details on the practical, digital and ppp effects) and eight-minutes on Industrial Light and Magic building tornadoes.

Surprisingly, viewer also get a brand new, 15-minute retrospective hosted by the director, first touching on the importance of upgrading the presentation to the 4K format to bring a new appreciation of the visuals.

He also discusses isolating the cast and crew in Oklahoma (shielding pesky Hollywood-based producers from the movie’s creation), the use of practical effects to place the actors into a scene, the cutting-edge special effects, the great cast members and creating tornadoes as characters.