Twisters is the best non-superhero blockbuster since Top Gun: Maverick.
Featuring charming lead performances by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, Twisters is a rare disaster flick that maintains momentum even when the mayhem dissipates.
Director Lee Isaac Chung and writer Mark L. Smith keep many successful elements from the 1996 film Twister. Fill the movie out with colorful character actors. Create a compelling romance centering on your main stars. Show respect for mother nature.
Twisters follow two groups of storm chasers in Oklahoma. There’s the seemingly more scientific Storm Par team featuring Kate Cooper (Edgar-Jones), Javi (Anthony Ramos) and Scott (David Corenswet). Kate believes the group aims to measure tornadoes and perhaps prevent them. The crew is working on behalf of a real estate tycoon who is using the tornadoes to buy property at a cheap rate.
On the other end is the crew led by Tyler Owens (Powell). His crew is a group of thrill-seeking YouTubers. They appear to be in it only for the fame. However, they use their success to help towns ravaged by tornadoes. They provide food and drinks, which they sell merchandise to pay for.
The chemistry between Powell and Edgar-Jones is great. They start off bickering, but their ability to forecast tornadoes binds them together. As Kate and Tyler spend more time together, Tyler’s brash personality brings out a different side in the more tight-laced Kate. The story in Twisters is an improvement over the 1996 film.
The tornado effects are fantastic, but Twisters‘ depiction of the aftermath is just as impressive. Twisters shows the destruction of multiple towns and the struggle to begin anew. The real estate tycoon paying for property on the cheap isn’t given much time. However, the fact that the story’s a part of the film is pretty significant. After establishing Tyler as a good guy provides the movie with a human villain.
There are a couple of issues in Twisters. The tease of a love triangle between Javi, Kate, and Tyler is unnecessary. Beyond his boyhood fascination with tornadoes and bull riding injury, not enough time is spent with Tyler and his crew.
Overall, Twisters is a blast of a summer film with likable characters and thrilling scenes that should be seen on a big screen.
After the overview and ranking Twisters 8.5 out of 10 (Great), let’s dive into the gutsy chasers, tornado prevention and aftermath. Twister (1996) is streaming on Max.
Feel it, Chase it
Twisters uses tornadoes for more than wanton destruction. For Kate and Tyler, it’s about the feelings these whirlwinds stir up.
Facing fears comes naturally to Tyler’s Tornado Wranglers. Tyler believes in literally riding your fears. His rig includes an anchor attached to the undercarriage so he can endure a tornado. He’s able to transfer his confidence to Kate.
For Kate, tornadoes stir up a sense of fear. She has a unique intuition for predicting the right funnel cloud to chase. However, a mistake in her younger years results in tragedy. She bolts for New York, and the other survivor, Javi, leaves for the military. Javi brings Kate out of retirement. During Kate’s first chase back, she freezes and makes the wrong call.
However, being back in her home state of Oklahoma evokes memories of her past. As a teen, she aimed to use a chemical compound to diffuse a tornado. She views those actions as hubris and just wants to help her friend Javi, but that’s the extent of her involvement.
With Tyler’s support and reluctant help from Javi, Kate gets another shot at redemption.
There’s nothing too revolutionary about the storytelling here. However, it’s executed well and leads to a nice payoff at the film’s end.
Fighting Mother Nature in Twisters
Whether they’re bickering or attending a rodeo, the chemistry between Edgar-Jones as Kate and Powell as Tyler is terrific.
The couple’s relationship doesn’t start on the best note. Kate doesn’t take Tyler seriously due to his loud entrance. Tyler shows interest in Kate’s forecasting abilities, but she has her walls up.
These two characters bring out the best in each other. During the rodeo, Kate brings out Tyler’s legitimate meteorologist side. Tyler coaxes the inner renegade out of Kate. When another tornado hits, Kate comes up with the solution. Later, after a sweet dinner scene featuring the impeccably cast Maura Tierney as Kate’s mom, Kathy, Tyler helps give Kate the confidence to test her theory once again.
Tornado Fallout
In addition to the rush of tornadoes and whirling Kate-Tyler chemistry, Twisters also finds time to deal with the devastation of these storms in the local community.
Storm Par and the Tornado Wranglers handle the aftermath of these storms in different ways. Unknowingly, Kate is part of a scheme orchestrated by Storm Par to purchase property for the bottom dollar. Meanwhile, the Tornado Wranglers appear to take money from unhoused individuals. In actuality, they’re only selling T-shirts to offer free food and drinks.
The calm after the storm moments makes Twisters more than a mindless disaster romp.
Twisters Final Thoughts
Overall, Twister is a massive surprise that rivals and, in some way, eclipses the 1996 Twister film—the chemistry between Powell and Edgar-Jones rivals Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. While Anthony Ramos is great, the haphazard approach to a possible love triangle doesn’t work.
The special effects are terrific. Impressively, Chung and Smith take just as much care in demonstrating the psychological and economic devastation a tornado can leave in its wake.
The Review
Twisters
PROS
- Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell are terrific.
- Fantastic special effects.
- Surprisingly moved by how the movie deals with the damage from tornadoes.
- Fun supporting cast makes the whole adventure fun.
CONS
- Javi as a 3rd wheel doesn't work.
- Not enough time spent with the Tornado Wranglers crew.
