Review: Twisters
Chase. Ride. Survive.
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Twisters. Keep in mind this is but one of the many movies I watch every year, and that whatever initial grade I come up for this film could change for better or worse with time. To better keep up to date with both my thoughts on other movies and if my feelings on this film changed, follow me on Letterboxd.
I’d also appreciate it greatly if you spread the word about the newsletter to any family or friends who would love to have film reviews, classic movie lists, and Oscars projections delivered straight to their inbox.
THE PLOT
Via Letterboxd: As storm season intensifies, the paths of former storm chaser Kate Cooper and reckless social-media superstar Tyler Owens collide when terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed. The pair and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.
QUICK REVIEW
The original 1996 Twister is a special film for me. While not one of my top favorites from the year, it is a movie that I really enjoy overall and consider to be one of the most impactful of that year. It’s also a film that left an impact on me on a personal level as I remember watching the marketing hype for the movie when I was just seven years old, and then watching the movie play countless times on HBO over the next few years after. I revisited it the other day in preparation for this review and it still held up as a solid B+ disaster film.
Considering this was a movie that was a major part of mid-90s’ pop culture, and saw itself live on as a (now defunct) popular ride at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, its wild to me we haven’t gotten a sequel or spin-off since then. But finally in 2024, a whole 28 years later, we get the sequel/spin-off, Twisters, just in time for the Summer blockbuster season in the middle of what to me and many others has been a less than stellar year for movies.
And look at that, its directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the man who gave us one of the best films from the 2020 awards season in Minari. And if that wasn’t a big enough steal for this production, the ensemble is headed by Glenn Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos. Three up-and-coming Hollywood stars with the first being a straight up movie star on the rise post Top Gun: Maverick.
As much as I have a special place in my heart for the 1996 original, every re-watch of that movie makes me cringe at how mediocre the CGI in it has aged, and the structure of the story relying on a comical amount of close calls with the tornadoes that take away my disbelief. I understand we’re supposed to be following storm chasers, but storm chasers don’t find themselves in pulse-pounding near-death experiences with every single tornado they encounter. So I was hoping this sequel would address those things.
Unfortunately this new Twisters film repeats the mistake of making me have to buy into near-death experiences happening to these storm chasers on a constant level, including an out-of-nowhere tornado strike in the middle of a bull riding show that seemed too convenient for the movie. But to be fair we are here to watch tornadoes do their thing, and just like the 1996 original you will definitely get that.
Thankfully the visual effects for this one are far superior to the original. These tornadoes are realistic looking, big, loud, and in your face in ways that enhance the disaster scenes. Our protagonists get up and close with these things in ways that had me feeling like my seat was rumbling in my Dolby theatre screening. The spectacle provided in here when these monsters, known by some as God’s fingers, touch down is exhilarating and thrilling to watch unfold. Some truly “edge of your seat” stuff. These scenes alone make this a decent enough movie overall and worth a matinee trip to the theatre for.
The direction from Chung is also top-notch, and the camera work really makes you feel like you’re moving with each chase scene. The soundtrack to this movie might be among the best in film this year, and the score really took me back to the vibes of a 90s disaster film.
But I was let down by the film’s script which I found to be incredibly lazy, and at times downright insulting to my intelligence. As good as the ensemble is, these characters lack better chemistry together for me; and I don’t even blame the acting (which is good) so much as I do the bad dialogue writing. The main “romance” that is teased here was hard for me to buy, there’s a tease of a love triangle that never develops which had me scratching my head, there’s comically stereotypical corporate villains (To be fair this was an issue in the first film as well, but I’d argue it was developed better then), and then we have the issue of the “Tornado Wrangler” team, led by Powell’s character, that we’re supposed to be endeared to.
We’re supposed to empathize with them as rebels, as everyday men and women not going the typical “science nerd” route, and bad-asses versus the buttoned down, straight lace Science team that Edgar-Jones and Ramos belong to. But I found them obnoxious, annoying, and troublemakers in all the worse ways. Powell’s incredible charm and the easing of his character's initial exterior make up for it a little, but I couldn’t help but wonder how in another movie they could have come off as nuisances. And then there’s a turn in the movie half-way through when we learn what these ragtag YouTubers do with the money they make off their merch, and the reveal was so “after school special” I rolled my eyes to the very back of my head. It was like the script wanted to force me into loving this group after I watched them be needlessly reckless.
But again the spectacle in this delivers. There’s legitimately thrilling moments. You will be shaken in your seat coming up close to these monsters of the sky. I just wish the heart that the 1996 original had with its writing of its characters was just as good in this one. This is a case where spectacle saves a lazy script from sinking a movie. Ultimately I walked away from my screening liking this enough, but also not liking it as much as I was hoping to. I’d rewatch this, but not in a hurry to either. The 1996 original is a strong B+ for me, but 2024’s Twisters is a very soft straight up B for me. Not B-, not B+, just a plain B. If you just want to see tornado action up close, you’re in for a treat. If you want the same heart of the original, you might come away let down like I was.
INITIAL GRADING
