The day before I bought my ticket to see Twisters, I watched the original Twister for the first time in front of my TV. I figured if I were going to see this latest standalone sequel, it would only make sense that I watch the original Jan de Bont film so that I would have some context going into Twisters.
In retrospect, though, that might have been a mistake because after the credits rolled, I was left with a feeling of déjà vu that I always feel whenever I watch one of these legacy sequels. Twisters didn’t feel like a significant improvement upon the original nor a film with a unique identity or approach to its premise. It felt like the same movie with the same plot and archetypes (calling them “characters” in either of these films would be an exaggeration) but with nicer special effects and some elements switched around.
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari), Twisters follows a young woman named Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) who returns to her old home state of Oklahoma with her friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos), to test a new tornado scanning system developed by the company Javi works for. Kate is initially hesitant to return as the last time she went storm chasing; she lost all her friends to a deadly tornado. However, after learning that Javi’s research mission will help save millions of lives from future tornado attacks if successful, Kate agrees to team up with her old friend and return to her old life of storm chasing. Kate and Javi quickly realize, though, that this mission will be very contentious as they’ll be forced to compete against other storm chasers, the most notable of which being Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a popular and charismatic YouTube storm chaser who refers to himself as the “Tornado Wrangler.”
Like with the original Twister, Twisters is a visual effects-driven film that prioritizes being this massive spectacle, and to give the movie some credit, it accomplishes precisely that. It’s clear that Chung took inspiration from both the original Twister and ’70s to ’80s Steven Spielberg films in that he mixed both practical effects and CGI when creating the tornado sequences because the results were not only gorgeous to look at (especially on an IMAX screen), but also felt authentic and realistic. Additionally, the way the tornado sequences were shot and directed was impressive because they do a great job of selling the dread and fear the characters have whenever they’re caught in these storms.
What many disaster movies fail to accomplish is making the audience feel any sense of suspense or fear for the characters whenever they get caught up in these terrifying acts of God. They often prioritize making the disasters look as visually striking as possible. While that is an important attribute, this priority is frequently at the expense of creating any emotional weight or connection with the characters. The best kind of disaster movies can put the audience in the character’s shoes, and that is exactly what Twisters pulls off very well. Every time a tornado sequence occurs in the film, it’s exciting yet tense to watch because it feels like the audience is in the heart of the storm with Kate, Tyler, and Javi. Whenever a character screams in terror as they avoid getting caught up in these tornadoes, we can’t help but feel a sense of dread because we end up feeling the same level of fear that the characters are experiencing. The tornado sequences alone are worth purchasing a ticket to see, as they are easily the best aspects of Twisters. Had the entire film matched the quality of those scenes, then this could easily have been one of the best movies of the summer.
Unfortunately, the rest of Twisters is far from as fun or engaging as those tornado sequences because, just like the original Twister, half of the film is dedicated to boring drama that is predictable and repetitive and would often bring the movie to a screeching halt. For whatever reason, the characters attempting to survive and study giant dangerous tornadoes isn’t enough of a significant source of conflict. Hence, both films attempt to “raise the stakes” by forcing in pointless dramatic fodder that doesn’t do anything except artificially drag out the runtime. In the case of Twister, that fodder is the stupid love triangle between Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and Jami Gertz. In the case of Twisters, it’s all the bickering between the three central characters (Kate, Tyler, and Javi) in which they argue about their approach to science and doing what’s best for the people after a tornado hits.
While the boring dramatic parts in Twisters aren’t as tedious to watch as the ones in the original film, they still drag the movie down and don’t add to the characters or the plot. However, it’s important to note that I am not saying that disaster/forces of nature films like this can’t have moments of characterization; they absolutely should. However, if they are going to include these sorts of scenes, they need to be as well-written and engaging as the action set pieces and flesh out the characters meaningfully. For example, part of what makes the lunch scene in Jurassic Park arguably the best moment in the entire film is that it not only does a great job exploring each character’s beliefs and personalities, but it’s also just as gripping to watch as any of the tense scenes featuring the velociraptors.
Unfortunately, there is not a single moment throughout Twisters like that lunch scene from Jurassic Park, as many of the scenes that “attempt” to develop the “characters” fail to accomplish anything except pad out the runtime. The characters in Twisters barely feel like real characters at all. Instead, they feel more like generic disaster movie archetypes that attempt to mimic their 90s counterparts. For example, Tyler Owens is just a 2024 update on Bill Paxton’s character. Kate is essentially this version’s Helen Hunt, and Javi is about as memorable as any of the dozen side characters/fellow storm chasers from the ’90s film. Scott (David Corenswet) is clearly supposed to mirror Cary Elwes’ character and even the British journalist (Harry Hadden-Paton) that tags along is very similar to Jami Gertz from Twister.
This is what I meant when I mentioned in the beginning that Twisters feels more like an HD remaster of the original Twister instead of a movie that has its unique voice or even improves upon the original. Twisters goes to such great lengths to capture the original’s special effects, charm, presentation, and even tone that it forgot to forge its identity. This film feels very much in the same camp as some of the more tedious and generic legacy sequels like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Jurassic World, Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny, where it is so wrapped up in reminding you how great the previous entry was that it has tiny ideas of its own. Unfortunately, Twisters didn’t follow the footsteps of some of the best legacy sequels like Blade Runner 2049 or Top Gun: Maverick. It could have been something great if even the tiniest amount of effort and creativity had been put into this movie. Unfortunately, the result is a film that, while at times entertaining and looks amazing on an IMAX screen, is something I will forget by the end of this sentence.
Rating: 6/10