Overview: Don’t breathe! Don’t look back! Just run for your life when a destructive force of nature comes howling straight toward you, destroying everything in its path – when you’re running from a Twister.

Academy Award-winner Helen Hunt stars as Dr. Jo Thornton-Harding, who as a small girl watched her father sucked to his death from her family’s storm cellar by a massive tornado.

Now a storm chaser, a scientist who risks her life to study the dark side of nature by taking her data-transmitting instruments directly into the path of a deadly storm, Jo chases the largest tornado ever to strike Oklahoma as her marriage implodes and rival scientists will stop at nothing to steal her breakthrough.

4K UHD Blu-ray Verdict: Warner Bros. Entertainment is expanding their 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray catalog offerings this month with the release of the highly-anticipated Twister (4K Ultra HD + Digital) in the expansive 4K Ultra HD video format this July 9th, 2024.

For my money, this Twister (4K Ultra HD + Digital) sharpness takes a fairly large step forward from others in their 4K Ultra HD catalog and even comes with HDR (High Dynamic Range) for the complete 4K Ultra HD experience, of course.

So, what we have is Twister presented to us as a one-disc with a sheet for a Digital HD Copy. Other stand out points you should know are: Codec: HEVC / H.265, Resolution: Native 4K (2160p), HDR: HDR10, Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 and Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1.

Featuring Dolby Vision and HDR10 for brighter, deeper, and way more lifelike colors, as with most all 4K UHDs, everything that we watch features these qualities - but somehow, this film gloriously shines within them all.

Noticeably crisp with the overall clarity receiving an obvious boost here on this release, what is more is that it is enjoyably noticeable. For as well as some new nuances to the somewhat drab palette courtesy of Dolby Vision, we also get to witness sudden bright pops of color, which makes the eyes draw in, for sure.

As for the audio, well we get the choice of: English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit), French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps) and Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kbps).

Overall, this is a very strong 4K HDR Blu-ray presentation, and, for the most part, the audio track remains fairly similar to its DTS-HD counterpart; with much of the action occupying the surrounds with outstanding directionality and placement where effects flawlessly pan between the sides and rears.

As for the film itself, well, when atmospheric conditions are conducive to tornadoes, a weatherman (Paxton) tracks down his separated wife (Hunt) and inadvertently joins their storm-chasing team in the Midwest, because he can’t resist seeing his sensor invention finally put to use. Jami Gertz plays his new love, Cary Elwes a pompous rival and Philip Seymour Hoffman a wild team member.

Twister (1996) could be categorized as a disaster flick, but with the distinction that the protagonists are constantly chasing the potential disaster. The entire film takes place in the prairies or forests of the Midwest with ominous skies and intermittent destructive tornadoes. It’s called Twister after all and, well, that’s what you get!

The writers keep things interesting by adding human interest with the, admittedly contrived, love triangle and the rival storm-chasing team that has corporate sponsors (the horror, the horror). I didn’t mind the love story. When two people belong together, they belong together. Perhaps the fiancé will realize this, perhaps not. You will just have to watch it and see, I guess (if you haven’t already). Speaking of which, I’m glad they didn’t make her (Gertz) out to be an unreasonable biyatch, like in The Parent Trap!

At the end of the day, Twister gives you what you pay for. It’s not rocket science, but it’s hugely entertaining and full of tornado-oriented thrills, which explains why it was a huge hit at the box office (and rightly so).

The Twister 4K UHD Disc includes the following new and previously released special features:

The Legacy of Twister – Taken by the Wind (NEW)
Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited
Anatomy of a Twister
The Making of Twister
Van Halen Music Video – Humans Being
Commentary by director Jan de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier

Twister, action-packed iconic disaster film directed by Jan de Bont (Speed) will be available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital for the first time on July 9th, 2024.