Twisters Review

Directed By: Lee Isaac Chung
Written By: Mark L. Smith and Joseph Kosinski
Runtime: 122 minutes
MPA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense action and peril, some language and injury images.

Daisy Edgar-Jones – Kate Carter
Glen Powell – Tyler Owens
Anthony Ramos – Javi
Brendan Perea – Boone
Maura Tierney – Cathy Carter
David Corenswet – Scott
Harry Hadden-Paton – Ben
Katy O’Brian – Dani
Tunde Adebimpe – Dexter
Daryl McCormack – Jeb
Kiernan Shipka – Addy
Nik Dodani – Praveen
David Born – Riggs

Twister is the latest classic Hollywood blockbuster to receive a next-generation reset with the new sequel, the aptly titled Twisters. Despite some esteemed talent at the helm of this project, with Minari filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung directing the project and a script by The Revenant scribe Mark L. Smith, Twisters leaves tons of damage in the wake of its massive, CGI-rendered tornadoes. However, it fails to find that same spark of the original, amounting to a dull, imitation summer blockbuster experience.

Twisters follows the perspective of young tornado expert and would-be storm chaser Kate Carter (Edgar-Jones). In the ominous opening prologue sequence, Kate Carter and her friends attempt to test a theory on potentially disrupting a tornado by cutting off the damaging vortex at its source. Unfortunately, like Icarus, they fly too close to the sun. The experiment fails, with a violent tornado claiming the lives of Kate’s boyfriend Jeb (McCormack) and her young friends Addy (Shipka) and Praveen (Dodani).

Some five years later, Kate works as a meteorology expert in New York City. She’s called back into action by her old college buddy, Javi (Ramos), who wants her help documenting and tracking tornadoes in Oklahoma before the latest “once in a generation” storm system [Sound familiar?]. Kate reluctantly heeds the hero’s call, not fully understanding what she signed up for since Javi’s operation is funded by wealthy corporate investors seeking to exploit the victims of tornado damage. Along the way, Javi and Kate compete with Tyler Owens and his ragtag “Tornado Wranglers” to get up close and personal with the storms. Owens’ and his rowdy crew film their exploits for social media, drawing a sizable fan following. However, the storms continue to rage on, and they appear to be getting worse. Kate must find a way to reconcile the trauma of her friends’ deaths and see her experimental theory come to fruition.

Twisters boasts a big-budget scale, production values, and elaborate visual effects. However, the film lacks the essence and spark of fun to make its experience a compelling, adventurous, roller-coaster ride. The pace and conflict of Twisters feel flimsy. Creating a sense of urgency around Javi’s team competing with the Tornado Wranglers lacks sufficient motivation. Why do they even need to compete? Not to mention, the concept of storm chasers as social media influencers sounds like one of those mess-around-and-find-out situations. The plot tries to position the Tornado Wranglers as folk heroes because they offer aid to victims of tornado damage, but that only happens after they film themselves riding into a tornado to light fireworks inside of it. They aren’t exactly working the game to study tornados with the hope of aiding potential victims and learning more about the violent storm systems.

When the tornadoes wreak havoc, the disaster scenes look ominous and threatening, but the scenes of characters running for their lives lack any palpable suspense or excitement. Twisters misses out on that Spielbergian style despite Amblin Entertainment’s involvement.

In the first half, after Kate joins Javi’s well-funded, nicely dressed corporate team, she successfully guides the group around a bonafide tornado. However, at one point, Kate makes a mistake judging the distance, failing to find the best position to mount Javi’s advanced radar system. Javi’s team acts disappointed and angry at Kate’s reasonable error. Kate does not even work for Javi’s company. She’s simply acting in an advisory capacity. Not to mention, Kate hasn’t done any storm chasing in about five years since the accident that claimed the lives of her friends. For Javi and her teammates to be so hard on Kate after this one mistake, when Kate just resumed storm chasing for the first time in years, comes off as unrealistic.

The film invests heavily in a potential rivals-to-lovers romance between Kate and Tyler. Unfortunately, the film whiffs on that as well. Twisters wants the audience to invest in a romance between these two characters, but it refuses to pull the trigger. The relationship’s payoff is not sufficient for the buildup throughout the narrative. The lack of quality romances in recent modern blockbusters continues to be utterly disappointing

In terms of the lead actors, Glen Powell undeniably possesses a movie star quality, and he will undoubtedly continue to find success with his burgeoning career. The same is true for Daisy Edgar-Jones, who brings believability and sincerity with her performance, especially delivering such self-serious dialogue in an overly preposterous plot. Powell’s Tyler Owens at least displays an intriguing character layer, revealing that he’s more than just a wild cowboy who chases storms. Later in the film, he demonstrates some educated scientific expertise about tornadoes.

The same cannot be said for the rest of the cast. The actors do their best with what they are given, but the supporting cast are largely forgettable, cookie-cutter characters. Corenswet serves as the bland, antagonistic member of Javi’s corporate team. The team members resemble familiar character archetypes but lack significant development and charm to make them more compelling.

Twisters fails to justify its existence as a sequel to the original. The only passing connection is the presence of Dorothy V from the first film, and it’s never explained how the device even came into Javi’s possession. Instead, the film resembles a glorified remake rather than an actual sequel. It works more like a direct-to-video sequel, with a story and structure similar to the original feature, but little else.

The film avoids attempting to lure in moviegoers with cheap fan service. However, Twisters lacks material connecting back to the original. It’s a blockbuster that fails to live up to its name.

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

For its massively budgeted visual effects and ambitious setpieces, Twisters fails to justify its existence. It's a bland sequel with little connection to the original. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell certainly have movie star charm, but the movie invests heavily in their relationship without a suitable payoff. Twisters lacks the Spielbergian charm that made the original so much fun.