Disamance? Romasterpiece? Twistmance? Heartwhirl?
Twisters (2024): 9 out of 10: Twisters (2024) serves as a standalone sequel to the 1996 classic Twister, plunging audiences back into the heart of tornado alley.
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the film centers on Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a former storm chaser haunted by a tragic tornado encounter during her college years. Now analyzing storm patterns from the safety of New York City, Kate is coaxed back to the tumultuous plains by her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos) to test a groundbreaking tracking system.
Their mission becomes entangled with the exploits of Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a charismatic YouTuber known for his daring storm-chasing escapades.
Twisters balances high-octane tornado sequences with the growing dynamics among its central characters. Kate’s internal struggle between her traumatic past and the lure of the chase is portrayed with depth, while her interactions with Tyler and Javi add layers of tension and intrigue.
The Good
The Good: You know I like this movie a lot better than the original Twister, which was a fun time. The real improvement, and it is a dozy, is the characters. These are some of the best well-rounded characters I have seen in movies in ages. Gone are the obvious black hats and white hats. Everyone has a shade of grey, and as a result, seem more like real people.
I loved the opening as well. Even if you kind of know where this is going, it is still very well done. Acting is pretty good across the board with Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell owning their many scenes together. Also, a special shout out to Maura Tierney as Daisy’s mother, who spins gold with what could have been a thankless role.
This is particularly impressive considering the original’s star power. (I mean Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes and hell, even Philip Seymour Hoffman). And yet the acting in Twisters is just better. Why? Writing.
The script is so much better than the original story. Twisters also takes its time and allows its characters to make mistakes and grow. AIas, this is a lot to ask for a summer disaster movie blockbuster but “Twisters” delivers.
Twister in all fairness is the funnier movie (“I gotta go, Julia, we got cows.” will never not be funny). And while on a technical basis, “Twisters” is top-notch on the special effects I found 1996’s Twister’s action seemed to be more creative (see cows above). Also, Helen Hunt easily wins the wet t-shirt contest against Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Alas, Twister is a nineties movie and suffers a lot of weird nineties tropes. The entire Cary Elwes story line is such a nineties thing. (See also Charles Hallahan’s character in Dante’s Peak the next year). Twisters (2024 this can get confusing Ed) is such a great character study they almost didn’t need the tornados. I could just watch Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Maura Tierney having a picnic dinner as the sun sets for half an hour.
Twisters is a straight up romance with a disaster movie occasionally showing up. Much like Titanic come for the disaster porn stay for the romance.
The music in Twisters is not really my cup of tea, but fits the film well. There are some almost seventies movies style musically interludes but they work here and the actual soundtrack is on point.
The Bad
The Bad: The good guys (or bad guys… Twisters has some proper characterization) story seems really fishy. Anthony Ramos went into the army and left after four years with this top secret equipment and started a storm chasing team? And that team seems to be funded into the millions filled with PHDs and with top-notch equipment (named after Wizard of OZ characters naturally.) How and Why?
I mean, the apparent funding is that they are bird-dogging for a land investor swooping in to take advantage of people who lost everything. But you would need no equipment to do that. Hell, you really would not even need to be a storm chaser, except perhaps as a cover. But even that seems overkill.
There are real storm chasers of this type. People of Oklahoma are very familiar with them. They show up after every hail storm to convince you to get a free car or roof and your insurance will pay for everything. It is one reason people in that area are suddenly finding it really hard to get affordable insurance.
Perhaps he is doing the bird-dogging to fund his scientific research with these radars he apparently got from the army as a parting gift after a four-year stint. Why the ”We Buy Land” guy would fund such a boondoggle is the genuine mystery. Those guys are notoriously so cheap they don’t even pay attention.
The Ugly
The Ugly: Writer Margaret Renkl criticized the film for not mentioning the link between climate change and the increasing frequency and intensity of tornadoes. This kind of caught on because Maggie writes for the Grey Lady and it is one of the few newspapers people still read.
Apparently, the link between tornado severity and climate change remains unclear. (Climate change isn’t making more tornadoes, but it is likely influencing where and how they form, as well as making extreme tornado events more frequent. If anything, tornado activity in Oklahoma may decrease as tornado alley continues to move north.)
Director Chung stated that while Universal wanted him to put forward an obvious message about climate change, his scientific advisors on the project suggested that he be more measured.
Overall, I found the directors’ explanation very hard to believe. Mainly the part about Twisters having scientific advisors. The plan to kill tornados with (let me check my notes here) sodium polyacrylate is right up there with the nuke the hurricanes crowd. You know, sodium polyacrylate, that stuff in those doggie pads or sanitary napkins. Sometimes ads will pour weirdly blue water on it.
Dorothy in Twister looked like something that might actually work in real life. Sending diaper filler into the heart of a tornado to absorb it is hilarious on its face. The black hole gun from Godzilla vs. Megaguirus was more scientifically plausible.
The bottom line is the director could have stuck a poster during the New York City NOAA scenes and that might have shut everyone up. But he wisely figured a movie with fifteen country songs on the soundtrack may not be the place to preach.
Plus, in his defense outside of my poster idea, there really was not a good place to shoehorn such a message. One does not stop in the middle of the Grapes of Wrath to discuss the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. One focuses on the characters and the issue at hand right now.
In Conclusion
In Conclusion: I have said many times on this page that a good script does not cost more than a bad script. Mark L. Smith deserves all the credit in the world for delivering one of the best scripts in 2024. The fact it is a big budget summer blockbuster with so many cooks makes the accomplishment even that more impressive. Kudos also to director Lee Isaac Chung for treating this like one of his A24 films instead of a paycheck.
Twisters surprised and delighted me. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell are a ridiculously charismatic couple and the film is nicely paced with solid action scenes. A very pleasant movie.
