Twisters Movie Review
Nathan Swank
July 19th, 2024
TWISTERS asks the question: How does one defeat a tornado? Answer: Have the always charismatic Glen Powell give it a wink and a smile.
After an impressive, edge-of your-seat, surprisingly horrific, traumatic tornado event to open the film, retired tornado-chaser and meteorologist, Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones), is persuaded by her long-time friend Javi (Anthony Ramos) to join his new team with new technologies for a week-long tornado chase in Oklahoma. Similar to the original, their mission is in competition with another storm-chasing team, a rush-seeking wild group led by the outgoing online-personality, Jesse Owens (Glen Powell), known as the “Tornado Wrangler.” With a little twist on who the good and bad guy storm chasing team might be, one thing is for certain, the tornado game is a dangerous one.
A thrilling, wild ride with some fantastic special effects, TWISTERS is aided greatly by Powell, who does a lot of the heavy lifting in giving the film much needed heart and personality. His extremeness gives the film’s absurdness a stamp of “it’s okay to like this” approval. Director Lee Isaac Chung has the daunting task to follow up the 1996 hit TWISTER. Chung mostly delivers at the new summer blockbuster after proving his ability in drama from the terrific, award-winning film MINARI. Like any horror sequel, the body count is way higher in TWISTERS. Was that necessary? Probably not. But the film delivers much like the original by embracing some silly premises and ridiculous action, while being fully enjoyable entertainment.
Why is 1996 TWISTER better than 2024 TWISTERS? In the original, the action takes place in roughly a 24 hour span. All the conversations and exposition is delivered within the action.he characters are constantly moving and interacting organically as they are rushing or about to rush to the next tornado. TWISTERS constantly stops the action with stale one on one chat that could easily be tightened or delivered within the movement of the tornado hunt. Movies that are 20 years older or more seem to understand editing far better than our current Hollywood films. TWISTERS is not long, but even at two hours, the film could easily be shorter and be better for it. I’m beginning to think I sound like an old man with my complaint of current filmmaking. Even the soundtrack felt a bit lamer this time around. Just get off my lawn already.
But that’s enough bad mouthing. I thoroughly enjoy TWISTERS despite my problems. I’m actually all on board with the silly factor. The original had those same types of cheese factor and unbelievable premises, which actually is part of the charm. The time and distance issue is always in question in TWISTERS. But the idea that storm chasers are the only people who know what to do when a tornado comes is highly ludicrous. You’re telling me all these Midwest people who deal with tornadoes every summer have no idea where to go for shelter or how to behave without the helping hand of a professional? As a Midwesterner who has dealt with my fair share of tornadoes, I could have easily found this a bit offensive.
However, the nonsense only adds to the joy of TWISTERS. Ultimately, it’s a fantastic fun time at the theater. The set pieces, special effects, and action sequences are all hair-raisingly exceptional. And it helps with the naturally irresistible supporting star-power from Glen Powell and his tornado wrangling ways.
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