You almost have to admire Twister. It teaches us next to nothing about tornadoes. Apart from a quick reference to the Fujita Scale, which labels them anywhere from F0 to F5 depending on the destruction they cause, the movie offers only dumbed-down mumbo jumbo. The enthusiastic storm chasers in the movie prefer nicknames for tornado types, such as “sisters,” when a tornado breaks into two smaller tornadoes; a “sidewinder,” when a tornado goes in an unexpected direction; or a “jumper,” when a tornado starts to form but then disappears back into the clouds, only to reappear somewhere else. The movie is so busy being a Hollywood thrill ride that it doesn’t have time to break down the digital readouts showing storm formations or examine what about a particular sky suggests a tornado will develop. Instead, Twister resolves to be an escapist action movie. Our heroes navigate all manner of flying objects, dodging or driving through various obstacles dropped or eerily caught in the tornado’s spin, from bad CGI cows to a tanker truck destined to explode. After all, what blockbuster would be complete without a huge fireball? The tornado impales one victim and throws farm equipment in front of others. If we didn’t know any better, we might even think the tornado had an agenda.

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