“Twisters” is a EF5 Crowd-Pleaser
In 1996, a summer Blockbuster came along and changed the way we look at the skies. Jan de Bont’s Twister is a fun action adventure following a ragtag group of tornado chasers – and a couple of dreamy A-list stars – who enjoy driving into storms while everyone else runs away. Until its release, meteorology was a niche subject that occasionally interrupted our regularly scheduled programming, but this bombastic film brought the science into the mainstream. A series of similar titles followed like Volcano, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012, but we never got a sequel to the original film. Now 28 years later, cinematic tornadoes are back in Lee Isaac Chung’s equally crowd-pleasing weather disaster film Twisters, a loose reboot of the original classic.
Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a dedicated storm chaser with a knack for sniffing out tornadoes. Her college project involves a chemical blend she plans to activate inside a cyclone to hopefully stop a storm dead in its tracks. When a surprisingly powerful weather event wipes out most of her team, Kate abandons her theory and moves to New York. Five years later, fellow survivor Javi (Anthony Ramos) coaxes her back to the plains of Oklahoma to track a once in a generation system of storms. Now the lead of Storm Par, Javi uses corporate investors to pay for highly sensitive data-collecting tech and hopes to construct the most accurate imagery of tornadic activity the world has ever seen. Also on the Oklahoma roads is Tyler (Glen Powell), a brash YouTube chaser known for reckless behavior. Though antagonistic at first, these two weather enthusiasts find they may have more in common than meets the eye. With massive storms bombarding the state, can they join forces with Javi to save innocent lives?
None of this story feels particularly novel. Uniform tech versus grassroots altruism is a hallmark of the disaster subgenre and as common as the treasured enemies to lovers trope. But we don’t buy a ticket for a movie like Twisters for the story. We want to sit in an air-conditioned theater, munching on popcorn, and treating ourselves to some bona fide weather porn. And on this front, Chung does not disappoint. The film opens with a deadly EF5 event followed by a series of exciting and disparate storms, each with their own destructive personalities. The dust flies, the buildings disintegrate, and debris cascades down from all directions. One sequence plays out in a vintage movie theater, a fun nod to one of de Bont’s most iconic scenes. Each storm is accompanied by thrilling car chase sequences in which breathless teams jump into tricked-out trucks and speed off in search of the next big storm. When not evading deadly winds and flying debris, they’re racing each other for optimal position. There’s a palpable sense of motion and adrenaline interrupted only by brief conversations that allow us to finally catch our breath.
In addition to storms, Chung also draws us in with the undeniable power of Glen Powell’s smile. The charming actor has a genial swagger, channeling the late Bill Paxton as a devil-may-care storm chaser. While initially presented as an opportunistic charlatan, Tyler soon reveals himself to have more substance and integrity. Perhaps he is using his platform to help where he can. Like Cary Elwes before him, Javi channels the corporate element of the storm chaser world. Though Storm Par may command respect in the field, Javi soon begins to question the true purpose of his well-funded team. Despite strong performances from these talented actors, the heart of the film belongs to Kate. This sensitive scientist carries extreme guilt over the deaths of her friends and struggles to trust her instincts when watching the skies. Edgar-Jones matches the magnitude of Powell’s charm while maintaining a vulnerability that keeps us invested. At one point Tyler points to Kate and tells a reporter, “She’s your story,” and it’s difficult to disagree.
There aren’t many surprises in Twisters and the fun lies in an adrenaline-fueled journey from points A to B. Chung is not trying to reinvent the wheel and the film’s overall story is fairly thin. We dabble in anti-capitalist messaging and hint at conversations about climate change, but even romance takes a back seat to powerful weather. What we get instead are strong performances and dynamic direction. Chung knows when to put plot aside and let the storms take center stage. It’s also refreshing to see a sequel/reboot with virtually no ties to de Bont’s 1996 film. Other than the original Dorothy hardware and tech, this is a brand new story with characters unburdened by anything that’s come before.
Few films have managed to capture the innocent fun of the original Twister. From flying cows and wacky chasers to implausible survivals and explosive storms, de Bont’s film remains a classic of the disaster subgenre. Twisters manages to capture the same kind of joy with a likable cast and jaw-dropping effects. It’s everything you could want from a summer blockbuster: a family-friendly crowd-pleaser with exciting action at every turn. See it on the biggest screen you can find.
Jenn Adams is a writer, podcaster, and film critic from Nashville, TN. Find her social media nonsense @jennferatu.