Twisters (2024, dir. Lee Isaac Chung)

by Jack Martin | Jul 17, 2024

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 122 mins

UK Distributor: Warner Bros

UK Release Date: 17 July 2024

WHO’S IN TWISTERS?

Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, Sasha Lane, Harry Hadden-Paton, David Corenswet, Daryl McCormack, Tunde Adebimpe, Katy O’Brian, Nik Dodani, Kiernan Shipka, Paul Scheer

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Lee Isaac Chung (director), Mark L. Smith (writer), Patrick Crowley and Frank Marshall (producers), Benjamin Wallfisch (composer), Dan Mindel (cinematographer), Terilyn A. Shropshire (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A group of storm chasers encounter some deadly tornadoes…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON TWISTERS?

Despite its strong box office and modest critical reviews, the legacy of director Jan de Bont’s 1996 blockbuster Twister is, nearly thirty years on, minimal at best. Few seem to remember much about it other than its Oscar-nominated visual effects – considered groundbreaking at the time – and the fact that it featured performances by sorely missed actors like Bill Paxton and Philip Seymour Hoffman, with anything else like plot and character being lost in the windy chaos. Either way, it’s not enough to justify a legacy sequel all these years later.

Thankfully, Twisters – this time from Minari director Lee Isaac Chung – isn’t a legacy sequel. Nobody from the previous movie shows up, not even being mentioned in passing, and any and all callbacks are kept to a strict minimum. This is very much a standalone follow-up, one where absolutely no knowledge or experience of the original film is required, with its focus very much being on a new set of characters with their own issues and goals, none of which are even related to anything or anyone from that other movie.

This certainly helps Twisters stand extremely well on its own as a completely separate entity, free of the nostalgia that often bogs down actual legacy sequels (case in point: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, from mere weeks ago). That is certainly refreshing, and the film itself is a fun and playful ride that, while never anything great, gives you all you need for a good time at the movies.

The film begins in Oklahoma as young storm chaser Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) survives a powerful and deadly tornado that claims many of her friends, prompting her to give up that life and settle for a job in New York as a meteorologist. She’s eventually lured back into the game by her friend and fellow storm chaser Javi (Anthony Ramos), who’s received corporate sponsorship to test a new tracking system that could lead to more in-depth study of tornadoes than ever before. Along the way, Kate has an encounter with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), an internet personality who’s made a name for himself and his motley crew by recklessly driving towards the storm and livestreaming their dangerous stunts. Though Kate is initially put off by Tyler’s abrasive approach, she soon finds that they need to work together in order to prevent the rising number of tornadoes from wreaking havoc across the land.

As someone with little knowledge of the original Twister from 1996 – the only time I ever really watched any of it was in my old Geography classes, where the teacher would regularly play clips from it to explain aspects of the weather – I was initially thankful to find that Twisters barely relies on its predecessor to function. That made it easier to identify with these newer characters, who have some good moments to establish their emotional core, as well as display plenty of likeable traits that make them easy to root for. Of course, getting hugely charming actors like Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell to play these people helps a bunch, with the latter particularly revelling in his trademark on-screen charisma that seems to come so naturally to him (to where you start to wonder if this is just another one of Gary Johnson’s personas from Hit Man that, like Ron before him, has gotten a bit out of hand).

The film is easy to get caught up in from a visual standpoint as well, with director Chung lending the big effects-heavy tornado action a real sense of scope and terror, with one midway sequence – which includes a terrifying one-shot scene set in and around an empty swimming pool – standing out as a fine example of big-budget tension that you’re eagerly nerved about all throughout. In some of the quieter scenes, Chung also brings some of the leftover gentle Americana charm from Minari, with cinematographer Dan Mindel capturing a number of wide shots that proudly display the expansive beauty of the Oklahoma landscapes, before a number of massive CGI tornadoes bugger everything up (said CG tornadoes, incidentally, look pretty decent, even though you can always tell that they’re mere effects).

Its entertainment value is certainly apparent, though I wouldn’t say that I outright enjoyed Twisters as much as others seem to. It does follow a lot of standard narrative templates for this kind of film, from the former expert convinced to return to the game, to the blatant bad guys represented by their robotically corporate personalities (represented by future Superman David Corenswet). Plus, while there’s a clear focus on the characters played by Edgar-Jones, Powell and Anthony Ramos, many of the supporting players that make up the ragtag crew – among them Love Lies Bleeding breakout Katy O’Brian and Brandon Perea from Jordan Peele’s Nope – are barely given much time to register, with not even a quirky Philip Seymour Hoffman equivalent among this less than memorable crowd.

For the most part, this is a blockbuster that checks many of the boxes needed for some entertaining enough escapism, but it provides nothing deeper than that. Sometimes, though, you don’t need a film like this to be deep. You just need it to be fun, and Twisters definitely provides plenty of that despite its flaws, making for a film that probably isn’t going to be high up on many people’s lists of favourite summer blockbusters, but does everything it needs to do in order to give audiences a thrilling, if never powerfully windy, time.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Twisters is a fun blockbuster sequel that refreshingly requires no previous knowledge of its 1996 predecessor to enjoy, with pleasant and engaging filmmaking, along with charismatic turns by its cast, carrying it through a rather safe narrative.