Twister Movie

The film starts in a rural farm, as a severe thunderstorm hits. (They did not feature any downpours of rain in the beginning, just lightning.) A man is watching a TV news report about a tornado warning. Seconds later, the "freight train" like type sound approaches the farm. His wife quickly awakens their daughter, Jo, and takes off for the storm cellar as the tornado hits the family farm. (Jan De Bont and Stefen Kramer didn't actually feature a tornado but made it look like the tornado was on camera.) His daughter screams that their dog Toby (a resemblance of Toto from The Wizard of Oz) is still outside, and the man opens the cellar door just in time for the dog to get in, and closes it. However, the tornado turns out to be too powerful, and after a struggle, the mighty tornado rips the door (and the man) off into the vortex. Daylight reveals that the tornado destroyed everything it touched.

Many years after, the story revolves around two married storm chasers, Dr. Jo Harding (Hunt), now an adult, and her soon to be ex-husband Bill Harding (Paxton). As the film begins, Bill has gone into the fields of Oklahoma to find Jo and her team of storm chasers. Bill is a former weather researcher and storm chaser who has taken a job as a weather reporter and is about to marry his new girlfriend, Dr. Melissa Reeves (Jami Gertz), a Reproductive Therapist. Bill is seeking Jo’s signature for the final divorce papers.

When they meet, Bill discovers that Jo has built DOROTHY, a device that Bill invented. DOROTHY is designed to release hundreds of sensors into the center of a tornado. He also meets up with Dr. Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes), a smug fellow meteorologist and storm chaser. Miller is a savvy fund raiser but has little instinct for field work and has questionable professional scruples. When Bill discovers that Jonas has “invented” a device almost identical to DOROTHY called D.O.T. 3, Bill is enraged and vows to deploy DOROTHY before Miller can claim credit for his idea.

He joins Jo and her eccentric team of storm chasers which includes Dustin 'Dusty' Davis (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Robert 'Rabbit' Nurick (Alan Ruck). Jo's team enjoys the thrill of the chase but to Jo, it's personal. She had been the girl in the beginning of the story whose father was blown away. If successful, DOROTHY will help increase warning times and save lives.

Tensions rise between Jo and Bill as they have several close calls with dangerous tornadoes as they try to implement the new device. Through these ordeals, it becomes obvious to everyone but them that they still have strong feelings for one another.

Jo's team stops in what is said (by a news anchor after the town was hit), Canton, Oklahoma for the night. An F4 hits the town shortly while they are in a drive-in movie theater (the movie playing is The Shining). The squad doesn't have time to prepare for it so they seek refuge in a car garage near the drive-in. Melissa is too frightened by it, and decides to leave Bill, since she does not want to go through this. The powerful F4 tornado next moves on to the town of Wakita, Oklahoma, where Jo's Aunt Meg (Lois Smith) lives, injuring her and many others.

The team then attacks their goal with even more fervor, wanting to succeed to prevent more injuries and deaths. They modify the sensors with an idea inspired by the windmill sculptures that Aunt Meg had in her front yard to create a sort of wing on each sensor so the tornado will pick them up more effectively. Soon hot on the trail of another tornado, they next witness Jonas and his driver Eddie (Zach Grenier) drive right next to an F5 tornado. Jo and Bill try to warn Jonas that the tornado might shift its track and come at them, but Jonas won't listen. Sure enough, Bill's prediction proves to be true as the tornado changes course. A section of a radio tower antenna from the tornado flies right through the truck's windshield, and impales Eddie and the twister sucks the truck up. After a few moments of hovering in the air, the truck crashes back into the ground and explodes, killing both men.

Jo and Bill decide that they will have to come dangerously close to the tornado in order to successfully release the sensors. They successfully release the sensors into the tornado, but to avoid DOROTHY being blown away too early, they leave it strapped to the back of the truck to increase the weight and they jump out, leaving the truck on cruise control. The idea works, but they lose their truck in the process. Suddenly the tornado comes in their direction, and while running they take cover from the tornado in a farm pumphouse, tied to a water pipe by leather drive belts. After the tornado passes, the team begins to get the results they were hoping for, proving that DOROTHY was a success.

[edit] Cast