Twisters review

TWISTERS: 

TORNADOES AND GLEN POWELL DOMINATE FUN POPCORN SEQUEL! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos in Twisters

 

            The tornadoes of Oklahoma are back with a vengeance in Twisters, the long awaited sequel to the 1996 Jan De Bont disaster movie hit, Twister. I really enjoyed the original Twister though I didn’t watch it for the first time until years later when I was like 11 or 12 after finding an old VHS copy of the movie at a thrift store. 

            It’s a dumb, fun disaster movie and one of my favorite guilty pleasure films with impressive special effects, memorable characters, silly dialogue, and just the right amount of stupid and implausibility. Not to mention strong performances by Helen Hunt, Cary Elwes and of course, the late Bill Paxton and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Dusty forever!). 

            Now we have this standalone sequel released 28 years after the first film revolving around a new group of tornado chasers and doesn’t really connect to the 1996 movie that much aside from a few references and callbacks. The film is directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) with the original Twister’s producer, Steven Spielberg returning as an executive producer. 

            Well, I must admit as a fan of the first Twister, this was a very enjoyable movie and definitely worth seeking out on IMAX or one of the other premium formats with large screens and amplified sound. I can’t say it’s a great movie or one of the best of the year but as a throwback to these 90s disaster movies with tons of characters and overblown special effects, Twisters nails it. 

            The film follows Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones-Cold Feet, Fresh, Where the Crawdads Sing), a former storm chaser haunted by an encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns in New York City. She is soon called back to Oklahoma by her friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos-In the Heights, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Dumb Money) to test a new tracking system and crosses paths with the charming and reckless social media star, Tyler Owens better known as the Tornado Wrangler (Glen Powell-Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You, Hit Man) and his rambunctious crew. 

            But as the storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before is unleashed as Kate, Tyler, and their crews find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over Oklahoma in the fight of their lives. 

            The film also stars Brandon Perea (The OA, Dance Camp, Nope) as Boone, Maura Tierney (NewsRadio, ER, The Iron Claw) as Cathy Cooper, Harry Hadden-Paton (Downton Abbey, About Time, The Little Stranger) as Ben, Sasha Lane (American Honey, Daniel Isn’t Real, Loki) as Lily, Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders, Pixie, Bad Sisters) as Jeb, Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men, When Marnie Was There, Longlegs) as Addy, Nik Dodani (Atypical, Dark Was the Night, Strange World) as Praveen, David Corenswet (The Politician, Pearl, Superman (2025)) as Scott, Tunde Adebimpe (Rachel Getting Married, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marriage Story) as Dexter, and Katy O’Brian (The Mandalorian, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Love Lies Bleeding) as Dani. 

            Overall, Twisters may not be the Top Gun: Maverick or Mad Max: Fury Road of Twister nor does it take the film to new heights, but as a throwback to disaster films of its time it’s a fun and consistently entertaining ride throughout. The movie hits a lot of the same beats as the original in terms of its story and characters with Daisy Edgar-Jones essentially being this movie’s Helen Hunt and Glen Powell is obviously the Cary Elwes of the film, but they have defining personalities all their own and aren’t blatant stand-ins for the original characters like Glen Powell’s Tyler being a much more likable character than Cary Elwes’ slimy performance as the rival, Jonas. 

            The film repeats similar moments from the first movie but does its own spin (No pun intended!) on things like instead of using a machine filled with sensors to record tornado data, the goal is to reduce the intensity of tornadoes with barrels of a sodium polyacrylate solution and instead of a tornado destroying a drive-in showing The Shining there’s a tornado destroying a movie theater showing the original Frankenstein. I wouldn’t call this ripping off the first movie, but rather paying homage to it and that’s exactly what this film is, an homage to Twister right down to using the same kind of cameras to shoot the movie, having silly moments played completely straight, and a similar soundtrack consisting of country and rock songs. 

            You can feel the love the crew has for the original movie here which makes sense since Lee Isaac Chung grew up in Arkansas so he is no stranger to tornado experiences. It never feels like an entirely different movie about tornado chasers with the Twister named slapped on it, I 100% believed this was set in the same universe as the first. 

            The special effects are damn good especially with the amount of different kinds of tornadoes ripping through Oklahoma throughout the film and the effects in the first movie were already spectacular given the time it came out. However, I wouldn’t say the effects are groundbreaking like in Twister, but you see the money on the screen whenever a tornado strikes down and causes destruction and makes for an exciting time at the theater. 

            I doubt Twisters will be nearly as remembered as the original Twister, but it’s a surprisingly solid follow-up and fun throwback to disaster movies like Twister, Armageddon, and Volcano with stunning special effects, silly moments played entirely straight, and lovable characters. If you’re nostalgic for the 1996 Twister or disaster movies of the 90s and 2000s then this is one tornado chase you won’t want to miss on the big screen, but even if you’ve never seen the first Twister it stands on its own as a fun popcorn movie that doesn’t require a prior viewing of its predecessor to be enjoyed.