Twister 4K Blu-ray delivers stunning video and reference-quality audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
Two storm chasers on the brink of divorce must join together to create an advanced weather alert system that puts them in the cross-hairs of extremely violent tornadoes.
For more about Twister 4K and the Twister 4K Blu-ray release, see Twister 4K Blu-ray Review published by Randy Miller III on July 3, 2024 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5.
A nostalgic favorite that remains director Jan de Bont's best film (sorry, Speed), the 1996 tornado thriller Twister may not be 30 years old yet but WB gets the
4K party started early in time for the probably disappointing sequel. Sure, it's more than a little corny and unbelievable in spots, but Twister
still packs a visceral punch and is firmly cemented as a big-screen standout from my teenage years so suck it, logic. This UHD's long-overdue
2160p/HDR10 transfer and Dolby Atmos audio fully replace WB's ancient 2008 Blu-ray, not the mention their 1997
DVD that has the distinction of being the very first Hollywood film on a small, shiny disc. Needless to say, a lot has changed in the last
several decades and Twister has been tweaked to take advantage of new technology... but the film's new look and sound are perhaps more
tastefully done than you'd expect for a film that features near-sentient tornadoes and a flying cow.
For a synopsis and similarly warm take on Twister, please see the above-linked Blu-ray review by Martin Liebman.
NOTE: No remastered Blu-ray is offered for Twister, so these screenshots are sourced from the 2008 Blu-ray.
The reports of Twister's demise on 4K via judicious re-coloring have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, I was surprised by just how faithful
this new 2160p/HDR10 transfer was to previous home video presentations... with a few exceptions, of course. For starters: yes, select
portions of this film have been noticeably tweaked as part of WB's long-overdue UHD overhaul, which replaces an ancient 2008 VC-1 encoded Blu-ray
that earned middling marks for video quality even
back then. This process was overseen by director Jan de Bont (who participates in a new retrospective interview that briefly mentions
Twister's new color tweaks) along with Warner Bros.' senior colorist Shari Eisenberg, and really only a handful of scenes are moved beyond
what I would describe as "normal" levels; that is, the wide majority of Twister does indeed sport a slightly cooler overall palette than before.
But this is for good reason: most DVD-era masters favored a slightly yellow or golden tint that has skewed our perception of what most films from
that era actually looked like.
The first (and in my opinion, only) significant color change occurs soon after the 21-minute mark as a major storm approaches; in addition
to a general dimming of the image (which gives off the impression of a day-for-night shot), the sky gradually turns a much more noticeable green
in keeping with the appearance of actual tornado conditions; yours truly hardly grew up in the Midwest, but even I have experienced a "greenout" or
two firsthand and the effect is fairly accurately conveyed. De Bont admits in his retrospective interview that he was never able to get the exact color
he wanted during post-production and seems tremendously happy with what they were able to achieve here. (This may have happened
much earlier in Twister's home video timeline had it not been rushed to Blu-ray and ignored until now.) I'm inclined to agree with his
positive remarks; sure, there are brief moments during this sequence that will require an adjustment period because they obviously look noticeably
different than what's come before... but in my opinion, it's nowhere near what I'd consider blatant (or blanket) revisionism and actually suits the
material like a glove.
And that's it. The storm's basically over, because almost nothing else about Twister's new 2160p/HDR transfer should spark any kind of real
controversy. For the most part, it's a ground-up facelift for a film that's looked scuzzy on home video for so long that it's hard to genuinely compare
with anything else. Before watching this 4K disc for the first time, you can bet that I gave the old Blu-ray a spin and its noisy textures, generally
muddy colors, and noticeably processed appearance hold up as weakly as ever. All that has been largely wiped away to reveal a much more film-like
and stable image, albeit one whose special effects can't help but stick out a little at times due to age and, of course, the fact that we're seeing
everything in high resolution and have a pause button at the ready. Image detail is much improved, black levels are more carefully controlled with
only sporadic hints of crush, and individual colors are much more striking in a natural way. (The only exception I could spot was a brief scene near
the end, the wet post-tornado exchange between Jo and Bill before their team finds them, which has a slightly reddish-purple tint to their skin color
that doesn't look as accurate as earlier presentations.) Textures don't seem to be overly smoothed or "grain managed" to any significant degree, and
as a whole just feels like the ideal presentation we should have gotten a long, long time ago.
Despite this 113-minute film and its extras not earning a 100GB disc, everything played smoothly at a bit rate that typically stayed in the 60-70Mbps
range while occasionally spiking into the 90s during the handful of times I checked. Aside from those very minor instances of black crush mentioned
above, no other encoding issues were detected.
So in closing, only two things are really missing here: optional "theatrical colors" (which really isn't a huge loss, even with my typical purist's
mindset) and a remastered Blu-ray, which should have at least been made available separately. Perhaps the next best companion piece to
this 4K edition, then, would be the German boutique label Turbine Media's 2021 remastered Blu-ray, which advances upon the much older WB Blu-ray's lackluster VC-1 transfer while reportedly retaining
the film's "original" color palette and even has Dolby Atmos audio to boot. Speaking of which....
There's little more so say about the default Dolby Atmos mix except damn nature, you scary. Director Jan de Bont similarly expresses his
overwhelming enthusiasm for this new remix in the accompanying interview (again in very little technical detail, somewhat frustratingly), describing it
as "direct" and once again potentially "better than the theatrical experience." For the second time, I'm in agreement: this is a room-rattling and
dynamic mix that will regularly test the limits of your equipment, with the worst potential outcome being that you may realize how lackluster your
subwoofer actually is at critical moments. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself immensely and, though I might normally dock a half-point or so for the
missing theatrical audio, this is such a well put-together effort that I've no choice but to award it a perfect five stars. Everything operates as
expected: there's plenty of surround and discrete activity, dialogue is crystal clear*, Mark Mancina's original score has a fully dynamic presence (as do
the occasional pop music cues, diegetic or otherwise), low end is tremendous, and the height channels are put to good use exactly
when and where you'd expect. From start to finish, this is a basically flawless remix that ticks all the boxes for pure audio escapism.
* - There is one brief exchange, right around the 1:03:43 mark, where a few lines of post-storm dialogue between Jo and Bill are somewhat muffled
before returning to normal levels. It seems as if the light presence of slightly beefed-up wind competes with their lines here... and although slightly
distracting, I admittedly almost didn't notice it as I was running English (SDH) subtitles at the time. It's certainly not a major issue but worth pointing
out.
This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with fairly goofy new artwork; it's not the worst in recent memory, but still nowhere near as good as the original movie poster. A shiny slipcover and Digital Copy redemption slip are
also included. The bonus features include one new retrospective interview with director Jan de Bont and a decent collection of legacy content
sourced from the 2008 Blu-ray (listed below with
notes when needed). Missing from that older disc are the mid-length History Channel program "Nature Tech: Tornadoes" and a pair of theatrical
trailers.
NEW! The Legacy of Twister: Taken by the Wind (15:44) - This new retrospective interview
with Jan de Bont immediately leads off with the director speaking about this being a "new version" of the film and potentially superior to theatrical
presentations, which is in reference to both its sporadically green-tinted new color grading and the Atmos mix. From there it turns into a more
traditional behind-the-scenes retrospective and talks about the film's groundbreaking special effects, general production, approach to visual
storytelling, shooting in the Midwest (away from most studio interference), and of course its legacy during the past 25+ years.
Audio Commentary - A legacy track featuring Jan de Bont and VFX supervisor Stefen Fangmeier.
Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited (29:00)
HBO First Look: The Making of Twister (14:04)
Anatomy of a Twister (8:34) - Not mentioned in the 2008 review, but a like-minded DVD-era featurette.
Van Halen "Humans Being" Music Video (3:37) - With blistering DVD-grade Dolby Digital audio.
Jan de Bont's Twister is a solid staple of 90s-era thrillers, delivering a visceral punch and then-groundbreaking special effects that largely hold
up almost 30 years later. Warner Bros.' long-overdue 4K UHD edition, which fully replaces their ancient 2008 Blu-ray, brings the A/V goods with a very
satisfying (though slightly color-tweaked) new 2160p/HDR10 transfer and outstanding Dolby Atmos audio. Bonus features remain largely the
same, with a new retrospective director interview headlining most of the familiar legacy extras. It's a largely well-rounded effort that is really only
missing a remastered Blu-ray, and as a whole certainly comes firmly Recommended to fans and first-timers.
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Universal Pictures has provided us with a brand new domestic trailer for Lee Isaac Chung's Twisters (2024), starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell. The film is set to open in theaters across the nation on July 19.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is preparing a 4K Blu-ray release of Jan de Bont's Twister (1996), starring Bill Paxton, JHelen Hunt, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, and Lois Smith. The release is scheduled to arrive on the market on July 9.
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