Twisters 4K Ultra HD Review

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Twisters is a stand-alone sequel to the 1996 disaster film Twister. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith, based on a story by Joseph Kosinski, the story dives right into the adrenaline-fueled, high-staked world of its predecessor, taking many cues from the original, but shaking them up into a new mixture.

We start out meeting Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her team of storm chasers on the Oklahoma prairie. She thinks she has a new technology that can help save lives from the devastation of tornadoes, but tragedy has her give up her storm chasing. The film jumps ahead five years and we now find Kate working in New York City in a TV station’s weather room, predicting weather from computer screens. A team member from her past, Javi (Anthony Ramos) shows up enticing her back to Oklahoma to work with him chasing storms again using a new technology to map the shape of tornadoes. After vacillating, she decides to go back for a week.

In Oklahoma, Javi’s business venture has a rivalry with another group of storm chasers who stream on YouTube, led by Tyler (Glen Powell), who seems more interested in clicks and likes than science. But there is a lot more than meets the eye with this situation, especially when it becomes evident that there is a local businessman profiting from buying up properties on the cheap after people are devastated from tornadoes.

There are some story beats in this film that rhyme with the original film, sort of how Jurassic World had a lot of story beats and elements that rhymed with Jurassic Park. When we get to act three is where things really diverge, and we find that antagonists and protagonists may not be what or who we assumed. There are also a lot of Easter eggs here and there for fans of the original. I don’t want to say much here for those who want the pleasure of finding them all on their own, but I will drop one hint for one of the more obvious ones and say, “Kansas.” In all, this is a solid disaster film that is not as bad as it could have been, but not as popcorn fun as the original either.

Purchase Twisters 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital on Amazon.com

The Video

Twisters was shot on 35mm in Super 35 in a variety of slow, medium, and fast speed Kodak Vision3 50D 5203, Vision3 200T 5213 Vision3 500T 5219 and Ektachrome 100D 5294 film stocks. The transfer uses a 4K digital intermediate and is presented in a 2.39:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc. The transfer looks organically filmic, with a thin and consistent layer of grain throughout and lots of detail. Everything is crisp and three-dimensional with a lot of textural information on clothing and skin. The color palette is purposely desaturated and grayish in tonality, for obvious reasons – this is a film that deals with storms, after all. The colors do not ‘pop’ nor do the highlights. The Dolby Vision grading is very subtle without a lot of added brightness. The MaxLL is only 459 nits and MaxFALL 115 nits, which is just barely outside of SDR range, and that is how this presentation comes across. That is not to say this looks bad, but even when there are things like flames or sparks, there are not a lot of stunning specular highlights leaping from the screen.

The Audio

Twisters comes with a lossless English Dolby Atmos audio mix on 4K Ultra HD. While the mix does not have as much movement in the sound effects I expected going in (i.e. sounds tend to be placed around the room but do not pan through the soundfield much), there is very good use of the channels and overheads. The balance is excellent and, when there are tornadoes rumbling, the low-end gives the subs a good workout. There are also other little sounds like the detritus flying and of course the excellent score that are wonderfully balanced in. Dialogue remains intelligible even in the most active scenes.

The Supplements

All supplements are in 4K and Universal includes an audio commentary from the director, two-minutes of deleted scenes, the very first one includes some clarity on why Javi tells Kate at the end “as promised,” and more “making of” and behind the scenes featurettes on the production.

Bonus Features:

• Movies Anywhere Digital Code
• Feature Commentary with Director Lee Isaac Chung
• Deleted Scenes (4K; 00:02:04)
• Gag Reel (4K; 090:03:57)
• Tracking the Fronts: The Path of Twisters (4K; 00:14:53)
• Into the Eye of the Storm (4K; 00:24:07)
• Glen Powell: All Access (4K; 00:03:12)
• Front Seat to a Chase (4K; 00:05:16)
• Voice of a Villain (4K; 00:06:16)
• Tricked-Out Trucks (4K; 00:04:31)

The Final Assessment

Twisters is popcorn spectacle, a disaster film reboot that no one was really asking for, but it is better than it could have been. The 4K Ultra HD release is a solid home theater release with lots of entertainment value.

Twisters is out on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital October 22, 2024 from Universal Home Entertainment

Purchase Twisters 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital on Amazon.com

• Rating Certificate: PG-13 (for intense action and peril, some language and injury images.)
• Studios & Distributors: Universal Pictures | Warner Bros. | Amblin Entertainment | The Kennedy/Marshall Company | Lightnin’ Production Rentals | Dentsu | Domain Entertainment | Universal Home Entertainment
• Director: Lee Isaac Chung
• Written By: Mark L. Smith (screenplay) | Joseph Kosinski (story) | Michael Crichton (characters created by) | Anne-Marie Martin (characters created by)
• Run Time: 122 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 459 nits
  • MaxFALL: 115 nits
  • Max. Luminance: 1000 nits
  • Min. Luminance: 0.0001 nits
• Primary Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible)
• Secondary Audio: English DD 5.1 | French DD 7.1
• Subtitles: English SDH | Spanish | French
• Street Date: 22 October 2024