Twisters

Twisters

Released July 19, 2024

Directed by Lee Isaac Chung

Story by Joseph Kosinski

Screenplay by Mark L. Smith

* No Spoilers *

Watching 1996’s Twister in the theatre was an intense and memorable experience. Few movies since then have captured the awe-inspiring and terrifying power of nature so well, leaving 2024’s Twisters with big shoes to fill. Aside from being about storm chasers, a few small easter eggs, and the name of the film itself, this shares no real connection to the previous film. Mediocre legacy sequels and reboots are all too common, so I wasn’t exactly itching to see this until I learned of the heavy hitting talents working on it. Direction by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari), a screenplay by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) based on a story by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), and on top of that produced by Steven Spielberg.

Full of eye-rolling cheesiness and optimistic 90’s charm, I had a lot of fun with this. The story is straightforward, using classic archetypes and some old school tropes to highlight our fear and adoration of nature. It’s a bit oversimplified but there is an intriguing commentary on the merits of blue collar intuition versus corporately funded cutting-edge technology. This theme continues into a midpoint reversal that gave the second half of the movie a much needed shift that kept me invested through to the climax. I also appreciated just how much they emphasized the importance of sacrifice for the sake of others. There are honestly more genuine moments of heroism here than in most superhero movies. 

Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where The Crawdads Sing) plays Kate, a former storm chaser turned meteorologist with an intuitive knack for tracking tornados. Edgar-Jones embodies a character that is clever and talented but also disillusioned and hesitant. Her performance is good, but unfortunately her one especially emotional scene didn’t land for me. Thankfully her chemistry with her co-stars is great and salvages what would have otherwise been a largely unremarkable performance. 

Javi, played by Anthony Ramos (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), works for a well funded research company that has access to some groundbreaking technology. He was a classmate to Kate and recruits her to join his research team. Javi is a complicated and surprisingly well developed character but Ramos’ performance is inconsistent, appropriately subtle but at times but also inexplicably boisterous, feeling like a off-brand Terrence Howard impression. 

There are plenty of fun supporting characters as well. It was nice to see David Corenswet (Kal-El/Clark Kent in the upcoming Superman: Legacy) as an uptight and standoffish colleague of Javi. Brandon Perea (Nope) plays an obnoxious sidekick and camera man and Harry Hadden-Paton (The Crown) is a frightened journalist writing about the storm chasers. Kiernan Shipka (Longlegs) and Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding) also have brief but solid appearances as well. 

The surprise stand out was Glen Powell (Anyone But You). Powell plays, Tyler, a storm chaser and “cowboy scientist” who streams his adventures on Youtube. His reckless bravado was a great contrast to Kate’s trepidation and they played well off of each other. Powell’s casting is perfect. He fits so well as a douchebag with a heart of gold, being both annoyingly smug yet endearingly charismatic. The character grew on me enough that I was able to not only tolerate, but even enjoy, an excruciating cheesy moment at the end of the movie. Despite rolling my eyes at what happened I was already won over by that point. They knew exactly what they were doing and leaned into it while holding back just enough to not go too far.  

Isaac Lee Chung’s direction is great, especially during the many storm sequences. As the name implies there are a lot of tornados in this movie. They are all creatively set up to make each more exhilarating than the last. Twisters excels beyond other disaster movies in how effectively it portrays the power and gravitas of nature. Whether a gradual reveal of the devastating aftermath or a cross cutting explanation of tornado formation, there is a sense of wonder and awe that is brilliantly captured. 

Storms and weather are given a magical aura that felt frighteningly realistic. A lot of that is owed to the incredible visuals and sound. As fun as the story is, the strongest part of this experience was how incredibly immersive and overwhelming the storms felt. The CGI was used sparingly and in conjunction with practical effects to really sell the experience. Actors are being drenched with real water and buffeted by wind machines, all while tangible pieces of debris are being flung across the set. Even the cinematography lends itself to this. We occasionally get some breathtaking wide shots of the storms but there are also moments where action is obscured or even happens off screen. These are techniques that were more common when films didn’t have the luxury of relying on CGI and I really appreciated how far their use went to create a sense of authenticity. 

That said there are plenty of fantastical moments where the laws of physics and general common sense are ignored for the sake of spectacle. If you have a tough time suspending your disbelief or have a physics degree you might find yourself nitpicking. It was definitely noticeable even for me, but I was invested enough to look past it. 

The sound design is so immersive and authentic that you might question whether a storm is actually about to rip your theatre apart. The way storms build from a trickling of drops with a light breeze to an overwhelming deluge with gale force winds is remarkable. The audio is never overbearing, with dialogue remaining crisp, clear, and distinct despite having a million other sounds being thrown at you once. With the exception of some rough lip-synching (ADR) for Kate at the start of the movie this is a masterfully mixed and designed soundscape.

Unfortunately the music was a bit lacklustre. The original score was somewhat generic but did its job by providing an emotional base that disappeared into the background. Where I felt a disconnect was with some of the licensed songs. It might be because it’s not my preferred genre or types of music but there were some needle drops that were definitely jarring, even if they fit the setting of the story. 

Not everyone will appreciate Twisters’ unapologetic 90’s vibe. The movie takes place in the present but feels like a return to a simpler time where movies weren’t overly concerned with practical cynicism. This is full of cheese and a lot of the dialogue is stilted and borderline cringeworthy, yet I was surprised by how much fun I had. Make no mistake these choices are undoubtedly intended to capture the magic of that era of cinema. It’s wholesome fun and I think we need more of it. Chung and Kosinski’s summer blockbuster reminds me of a time when the theatre was a sanctuary. A place where we could escape and have fun. That is why Twisters is a true spiritual successor, not just in its subject matter but in how it calls back to an era of cinematic optimism that I have sorely missed. 

7/10 - Twisters was surprisingly good despite it’s cheesy Hallmark movie moments and sometimes stilted dialogue. This is an immersive audio visual spectacle that forces the audience to accept the devastating and destructive power of nature. Embodying the nostalgic 90’s vibes that made me fall in love with movies as a kid, this well balanced summer blockbuster is a theatrical experience that must be seen on a big screen.