Directed by Lee Isaac Chung — Screenplay by Mark L. Smith — Story by Joseph Kosinski.
Reportedly, one of the first (if not actually the first) films to be released on the DVD format was Jan De Bont’s disaster classic Twister. The Dutch cinematographer-turned-film director delivered a genuine hit about a fear of the uncontrollable power of Mother Nature, and, now twenty-eight years later, it finally has a sequel. Twisters is one of this year’s big summer movie releases, and it has somewhat of an unlikely filmmaker in the director’s chair. Twisters has been made by the award-winning and critically acclaimed director of the American Dream/immigration film titled Minari, Lee Isaac Chung. Though perhaps a surprising choice of filmmaker, rest assured that the end product more than lives up to the original and that he has done his best to infuse the film with a human story at the center so that it isn’t all about CGI tornados.
Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters follows the current meteorologist and former storm chaser, Kate (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones), as she is convinced by an old friend, Javi (played by Anthony Ramos), to come back with him to do some kind of a 3D scan of wild tornados for his company STORM PAR. Once back in Oklahoma, Kate witnesses how Javi’s crew of serious Ph.d.-storm chasers are actually competing with a group of seemingly excitable and reckless YouTube storm chasers led by a cowboy-hat-wearing man, Tyler Owens (played by Glen Powell), who calls himself a ‘Tornado Wrangler.’ However, as she gets to know the competing crew, Kate realizes that her initial understanding of the two competing crews doesn’t tell the whole story. Meanwhile, the tornado season intensifies and their storm-chasing becomes more and more dangerous.
We are all used to seeing Hollywood pump out legacy sequel after legacy sequel or reboot after reboot of once-popular films that have now been remade for a new generation but with very few changes. There are so many examples out there of films that are essentially carbon copies of what came before. So, how does Twisters stack up against that trend? Well, the film, admittedly does initially feel a little bit too similar to the original film. Like in the original film, this is a film where a character is haunted by a past traumatic event. Like in the original film, this is a film where a brilliant meteorologist returns to storm-chasing even though they didn’t initially want to. And, like in the original film, this film also includes both a quirky storm-chasing crew with colorful characters and a competing crew that is more straightforward in their approach. So the formula is very similar, and I’d also add that the film contains a couple of very clear references to the original film (including a sequence built around the showing of a film).
That said, this is definitely more of a standalone sequel, as it never really hits you over the head with nostalgia or legacy characters. What is smart about this film’s narrative is that Daisy Edgar-Jones is essentially both playing the Helen Hunt and the Bill Paxton character types of the original film (i.e. she is both the brilliant returning meteorologist and the person with a complicated relationship with storm-chasing given her past). By merging those two characters into one and, smartly, initially having her be aligned with the more straightforward crew, Lee Isaac Chung’s film manages to have room to add in different types of characters and subplots that make the film feel relatively fresh despite its similar narrative structure.
The way Lee Isaac Chung’s film integrates the tragic backstory works much better in this film than it did in the original, as Kate is haunted by her past in a way that is at one point slightly startling. That said, I would’ve liked this startling approach to showcase how her past haunts her to be felt more clearly in the film’s later stages. Similarly, while this standalone sequel smartly focuses on both storm-chasing groups’ ulterior motives, I do think that the subplot involving one of these ulterior motives (the most exploitative of the two) kind of just fizzles out. As for the narrative development and the pacing, I will say that the film does feel a little bit long, in part due to the film having a little bit of a lull point in between the 2nd and 3rd acts.
I will also say that in the early stages of the film — i.e. when initially it feels a little bit too similar to the original film — the film desperately needs a shot of energy and that is, thankfully, exactly what it gets. The moment Glen Powell shows up, he delivers the right kind of energy into the film to liven it up and have it become something more. In the last year, Hollywood has delivered a perfect storm — pardon the pun — for Glen Powell’s status as a rising star. The extremely likable and charismatic star is asked to play a thrill-seeking character with a heart of gold that both McConaughey and Costner will wish they were still young enough to play, and Powell plays it to perfection. He is paired with Daisy Edgar-Jones, the film’s lead, who delivers a solid performance, which is also true of Anthony Ramos. But other than Ramos, Edgar-Jones, and Powell, there aren’t really any other characters that are more than superficially designed (I say this despite being really entertained by the YouTuber characters). Also, David Corenswet does well with what is asked of him, but his character is much too thinly drawn, even though he initially seems like a much bigger character than he ends up being.
The visual effects are modern, impressive, and more convincing than the ones found in the 1990s. There is the required intensity to its big tornado sequences, though I also think it would be fair to say that Tyler Owens’ storm-chasing crew is a bit too unafraid of the tornados in the early goings to actually sell the idea that they are supposed to be in danger. That said, the film does include scenes that prove how dangerous tornados are. I believe that both the original film and Twisters are at their best when they flirt with becoming Mother Nature horror movies, and Lee Isaac Chung’s film certainly has its moments where the danger, the cost, and the jump scares become quite frightening or startling. Twisters is an exciting Hollywood blockbuster disaster film that is packed with pretty much everything you could ask for, including a super entertaining performance from one of Hollywood’s rising stars, who manages to give the film a needed boost of energy and charisma right when it starts to feel too much like a retread.
7.7 out of 10
– Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 