Film Review: Twisters

Twisters
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Amblin Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company
In Theaters: 07.19

It’s not always easy to separate personal attachment to a movie and recognition of a true classic, and the 1996 disaster movie adventure Twister holds a huge soft spot for me. I saw it seven times in the theater, checking my brain at the door each time to fully enjoy the thrills, the witty banter and Helen Hunt in a tank top. The new sequel, Twisters, can’t possibly compete for sentimental value, and if you’re an unabashed fan, the key to enjoying it is to accept that and move on.

Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones, Where The Crawdads Sing, Under The Banner of Heaven) is a college student studying meteorology, intent on making her mark. When she hits the road, testing a new theory while using the old tried and true “Dorothy’ device from the original film, tragedy strikes, and all members of the team, save for Kate and her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos, In The Heights), are lost to the tornado. Five years later, Kate is working as an analyst at the National Weather Service in New York City when Javi approaches her. He needs her expertise to help him with a cutting-edge 3D scanning project aimed at more effectively predicting tornado behavior. As she returns to Oklahoma and the height of storm season, the chasing game has become a big pastime, in part thanks to Tyler Owens (Glen Powell, Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man), a reckless and charismatic YouTube star known who calls himself “The Tornado Wrangler.” As Kate works with Javi, navigating the converging storm systems over central Oklahoma, competing with Tyler, their paths keep converging, and they are drawn together in the race to understand and even tame the forces of nature. 

The trailers for Twisters have a strong “second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse” vibe, and while that may sell the movie, it also sells it short. While director Lee Isaac Chung, who broke through with the magnificent 2020 indie drama Minari, doesn’t capture the same brisk, amusement park ride pacing that Jan de Bont brought to the original, he’s not trying to merely copy it, he’s making his own movie. While it starts off with an intense opening sequence—one that feels a bit like Twister combined with Renny Harlin’s 1993 thriller Cliffhanger—Twisters gives itself more time to build and to breathe. The screenplay by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, The Boys in the Boat), based on a story by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), is smarter than the original film and has more convincing psuedo-science jargon, though it does lack the steady stream of humor and catch-phrase heavy repartee that uncredited script doctor and fallen angel Joss Whedon brought to the table. The numerous action sequences are spectacular and gripping, though they feel more grounded and less Spielbergian this time, as Chung, an Oklahoma native, aims more to create the feel of being caught in the middle of the event than to top himself with each elaborate set piece. The biggest failing of the script is the same as the original—the inclusion of an intrusive and somewhat cartoonish semi villain, even if it does provide key motivations for other characters.

Edgar-Jones is an appealing and talented actress with a natural presence, and she brings a nice combination of intellect, earnest likability and vulnerability to Kate. Powell, this year’s clear breakout star, continues his hot streak, making Tyler a much more likable character than I was expecting him to be, with a certain “what if Han Solo had his own YouTube channel?” quality. The supremely talented Ramos is underused, though he and Jones have one quiet moment of beautiful acting that made the movie for me. One problem the movie faces is that it’s overloaded with characters, and because Chung is less keen to make each one as easily identifiable and broadly defined than in the original (again, owing to the Whedon influence), it’s harder to keep track of them. Daryl McCormick (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande) spends most of his rather limited screen time as Jeb, Kate’s boyfriend, making her fake American accent look all the better by letting his natural Irish push its way through to the point of being distracting. 

Twisters is a highly enjoyable summer blockbuster that can be readily enjoyed even if you’ve never seen Twister, as well as by die-hard fans, as long as they accept it on its own terms. It’s a good popcorn flick, and it’s definitely “blow you through the back wall of the theater” entertainment that is best seen on a big screen with a spectacular sound system. Grab a firm hold on your arm wrests and prepare to have a good time. –Patrick Gibbs

Read more film reviews:
Film Review: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Film Review: The Convert