A scrappy group of Oklahoma storm chasers, led by a pair of testy ex-lovers, blows through a crazy twenty-four hours of cataclysmic weather and cutthroat competition. _Twister_ isn't a film that dances around the sizzle, teasing the big spots until the climax: we get tornadoes galore, right from the first half-hour, with such pinpoint dramatic timing that they seem to start and stop on a dime. Naturally, this means that the production is extremely effects-reliant, but much of the CGI hasn't aged well and that hinders the big practical set pieces, rather than enhancing them. Everybody remembers the flying cow, of course, a quaint bit of '90s absurdity, but nowadays it just looks like a relic from the Playstation 2 era. The big storms remain ominous and convincing, the proverbial "Fingers of God," but giant, whirling clouds of black smoke aren't a very tall visual order and it doesn't take an ILM rig to make a pickup truck cabin look scary through menacing lighting effects.

The plot is secondary at best, a rudimentary vehicle to get us from one event to the next, or to introduce a sleepy little town before leveling it in the next scene. Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton's romantic subplot is telegraphed from the first word, ripped verbatim from the big book of Hollywood disaster clichés. At least the cast is a wild ride. In addition to Hunt and Paxton in those active lead roles (read: the individuals most likely to be running away from something), we get Cary Elwes, pompous corporate rival, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a loud-mouthed, long-haired weather geek, plus at least half a dozen "I know that guy" character actors. There's a lot of talent here, and they all seem to be enjoying themselves despite all the silly things they're asked to say and do.