Ahead of the new Twister reboot, we revisit the 1996 disaster movie about a woman (Helen Hunt) left understandably traumatised after watching her dad get sucked off in a tornado.

At a time when romantic disaster movies ruled the box office, Jan de Bont (Speed) cyclones through all the clichés without ever finding a plot. The film is literally people chasing tornadoes for two hours while bickering about their divorce, like Sharknado without the sharks.

Because this is the ’90s and he’s a white man, Bill Paxton is the hero despite being the biggest blowhard in Tornado Alley. He rekindles his relationship with his ex-wife while his fiancée (Jami Gertz) looks on wondering what she is meant to be adding to the story, aside from the opportunity for some light-hearted cruelty.

For all its hot air, Twister is surprisingly low-stakes, since the crew seem more interested in being the best storm chasers than actually saving anyone (see also Top Gun). The movie pits Paxton’s twister whisperer against a typhoon tycoon (Cary Elwes) whose fancy gadgets are no match for Bill’s modern cowboy instincts (see also Armageddon). “He’s in it for the money, not the science,” sneers Bill, as though his crew aren’t just adrenaline junkies themselves.

There are however some impressive stunts, and Hunt brings some welcome charm to an otherwise unlikeable cast. But the more successful action elements are let down by human drama that sucks so hard you might as well be watching daytime TV, only pausing its painful soap opera to bring you Pepsi ads and the weather.