Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, Twisters is a standalone sequel to the 1996 disaster flick Twister and follows the story of meteorologist and former storm chaser Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones). Haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado, Kate Cooper gets lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos), to test a groundbreaking new tracking system for tornadoes. She soon crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a charming but reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures. As storm season intensifies, Kate, Tyler, and their competing teams find themselves in a fight for their lives as multiple systems converge over central Oklahoma.
There was a time when disaster films used to be really fun and thrilling, mainly because they were mostly created with passion. In recent years though, the disaster flicks I’ve been seeing have been lacking any sort of passion, resulting in mindless schlock that audiences could care very little about. It feels that a lot of directors and studios have forgotten what made some beloved classics like 1996’s Twister so entertaining and engaging for audiences, but that has changed now that director Lee Isaac Chung has entered the picture, jumping from his indie films to making his first ever blockbuster that is a standalone sequel to the 1996 original film.
After getting to see the film at an early screening I can gladly say that I had a great time with this passionately made disaster flick that reminds everyone how fun and thrilling a disaster film can be when given actual care and effort. It is a sequel that vastly exceeds its predecessor in a variety of ways, yet captures the heart and charm the original film had with its new characters and story.
Now I’m not going to go as far as to say this is one of the greatest legacy sequels ever made as some people have praised it to be, but it is definitely an awesome watch that deserves most of the praise that it has been getting and deserves to be seen on the big screen.
Let’s get into what makes Twisters stand out amongst recent disaster flicks, starting off with perhaps the most crucial element that makes this film so fun and that is the cast and their characters. The problem with most modern disaster films has been that no matter what cool special effects or crazy destruction scenes you have on screen none of that matters if you don’t have investing characters at the center to make audiences feel engaged. Even when you cast famous faces in your disaster film to get people in the seats the only way to keep them there is to give the cast interesting, or at least entertaining, characters to play that people would care about, which is what director Lee Isaac Chung and writer Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun Maverick) do for this film.
We have a cast of some of the greatest rising stars all together in this film who are given fun characters that you actually feel invested in and worried for as they put their lives at risk chasing tornadoes across Oklahoma.
The first main star of this film is Daisy Edgar-Jones who delivers a great and genuine performance as Kate Cooper. Kate is first shown to be a very fun, excited, and passionate meteorologist, but after a devastating tornado incident that took the lives of people she deeply cared for, she becomes shut off from everything, plagued by the guilt and fear of what happened. She goes on a thrilling and emotional journey of redemption and facing her fears that feels hugely investing thanks to Kosinski’s strong writing and Daisy’s even stronger performance that elevates this character and really sold me on her story. She is honestly what Helen Hunt’s character from the original film should have been like from the start and is one of many things this film has improved upon from its predecessor.
Joining Daisy Edgar-Jones in delivering one of the best performances and characters of the film is Glen Powell as the absolutely awesome tornado wrangler Tyler Owens. Glen Powell has been popping up in a lot of films lately and consistently proves himself to be an incredibly talented actor and charismatic individual who lightens up every film he is in and Twisters is no exception. He does an excellent job playing a fun and investing character that has two interesting sides to him. One is an arrogant thrill-seeking online persona that he puts on for show, and the other is a well-intentioned, down-to-earth individual who truly cares about people and community despite what first impressions make him appear to be. This is the kind of character I’d love to hang out with and care about and this is once again due to a combined effort of Kosinski’s writing and Glen Powell’s charm-filled performance.
It also goes without saying that Daisy and Glen share very vibrant chemistry on screen and I certainly preferred them more as a duo compared to the original film’s main duo.
Anthony Ramos also delivers a good performance as Javi, Kate’s former storm chaser colleague, but he keeps things a bit more grounded in the film as he is a bit more of a serious character in comparison to the others due to his circumstances. While he is investing I do feel he was a bit overshadowed by some of the other characters who were far more entertaining and fun played by several famous faces including Brandon Perea, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sasha Lane, Katy O’Brian, and Tunde Adebimpe.
Brandon Perea had his breakthrough role in Jordan Peele’s Nope and ever since then I’ve wanted to see him in way more projects going forward. I am so glad he got cast in this because Brandon brings Philip Seymour Hoffman levels of energy to the role of Tyler’s cameraman, Boone, making him easily one of the funniest and most lovable characters in the film thanks to his dedicated performance.
One of the most surprising inclusions I didn’t expect to see in this film was future Superman David Corenswet, who plays the expected disaster flick role of being the mandatory dickhead of the film named Scott. It is one of the most cliche roles one person could get in a film like this but I’ll be damn David Corenswet did a great job nailing this kind of role with his snarky comments and attitude, making him the ultimate love-to-hate character in this film. It is definitely going to be funny seeing him transition from being this kind of character to one of the most iconic superheroes next year.
The film’s story is pretty straightforward but it’s full of exciting thrills, genuine heart, and fun amounts of charm that very much feel like an improved version of the 1996 original’s story. It has some dramatic moments but it also tries not to take itself too seriously for most of the time and doesn’t let itself get bogged down by unnecessary subplots like the divorce subplot in the original film.
Now if you are expecting any of the science involved in this film to be more realistic compared to the original I wouldn’t get my hopes up. I may not be a meteorologist but I’m pretty sure there are a lot of things in this film that aren’t scientifically accurate at all no matter how much it gets explained in the film by the characters. But realistically I don’t think most people going into this film would really care about anything being scientifically accurate, they just want a good time involving adrenaline-fueled storm chasing and terrifying destruction scenes and that is exactly what this film delivers with its story. The well-written and performed characters elevate this film’s thrills to the max since you care about all of them (except Scott) and to me that was the most important thing they needed to nail for this film to get me to enjoy it.
The tornado action sequences in this film are all awesome as well as really scary, capturing the thrills of the original film while improving upon it with better effects and better destruction scenes. Visually it all looks spectacular and epic but I will admit I do wish we had way more practical destruction featured in this film. I am aware that there was actually a high usage of practical effects used for a majority of the destruction sequences, and while I certainly praise them for doing that I still couldn’t help but feel that CGI was used more in this film over the practical. Yes the CGI does look great in this film for the most part but it just felt like it was missing a majority of the practical charm that the original film had.
In terms of cinematography, this film is beautiful as it captures the beauty of the Oklahoma landscape prior to its destruction by the tornadoes, capturing the full-on wrath of Mother Nature can bring.
All the technical elements of this film easily surpass that of the original and make for a grand experience to watch in the theater. This film features a fun soundtrack as well as a decent score by composer Benjamin Wallfisch but I will admit I much preferred the original score by Mark Mancina. Maybe this is just my opinion but I felt Mark Mancina’s score for the tornado build-up and destruction scenes was a lot more haunting in comparison to the score in this film. Mancina’s score made me feel immense dread for what was coming, as well as gave the tornadoes a much more intimidating presence, showing just how music can enhance certain scenes and how you feel in the moment when watching them.
Overall I had a really great time with Twisters as it proves that disaster films can be fun and investing again when being made with actual passion and effort rather than as a quick way to make a quick buck. Do I think this film reaches the heights of greatness as some recent legacy sequels like Top Gun Maverick or Mad Max Fury Road? No, but it is still a damn good sequel that mostly exceeds its predecessor and is a very worthwhile watch in the theater. Go ahead and check it out but remember “If you feel it, chase it!” I am going to give Twisters a B+ = 89.
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