Final Rating: 4.5/5
There’s something magical to Twisters, this year’s major summer blockbuster about storm-chasing. A legacy sequel to the Jan de Bont-directed Twister from 1996, Twisters is a deeply nostalgic movie without the typical hallmarks so commonly associated with modern remakes and reboots.
There are no returning characters, no obvious references or homages (the only explicit callback is the return of a piece of weather equipment affectionately named Dorothy), even the themes of the movies are drastically different. And yet, Twisters feels ripped out of the 90s through its characters, cinematography, soundtrack, and script. It’s the perfect mix of cheese and sincerity to stand out as a coming out for a new generation of talent, a strong entry into the filmography of several up and coming stars.
Five years after an accident forces Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) to abandon her meteorology PhD, she’s brought back into the world of storm-chasing by her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos). Javi is attempting to use military technology to create 3D scans of tornadoes, hoping to use the data gathered to help meteorologists better predict, and possibly even prevent them.
As the two look for the perfect tornado to create a scan to use as a proof of concept, they meet Tyler Owens (Glenn Powell) and his band of “Tornado Wranglers,” a group of storm-chasers equally enthusiastic about finding big tornadoes with the seemingly less noble intention of making exciting YouTube content.
After an opening featuring a catastrophic tornado, Twisters only slows down for a few minutes before launching its character back into action and doesn’t let up again. The leads and the film’s enormous supporting cast are never far from at least one twister, if they aren’t literally inside one. Director Lee Isaac Chung doesn’t rely solely on the human characters to make the chase exciting, though; each tornado has a personality. There are big, destructive tornadoes, tiny twisters that are just for show, narrow wind-funnels that feel targeted in their destruction, and even a giant flaming spiral from hell.
With a mix of CGI and practical effects, every tornado is memorable, not just as a set piece, but as a character with its own behaviour and interactions with the cast. Each one capable of a different kind and level of carnage with a range of temperaments, with some seeming to coyly invite chase while others feel distinctly sinister and dangerous.
With each storm being unique,Twisters offers great variety in its action.This variety allows Chung and screenwriter Mark L. Smith to build in educational nuggets for the audience. Twisters won’t give the audience a holistic understanding of meteorology, but great care is taken to make sure that Carter’s and Owens’ reverence for the weather is accurate in addition to enthusiastic.
The leads’ passion for wind builds in the explicit themes of nostalgia at the core of Twisters. Carter is said to have been “better than the cows” at predicting the weather when she was a child, while Owens traces his love of tornadoes back to the first vortex he saw at eight years old. The actors excellently convey that passion, injecting fun as well as a sort of wistfulness into their performances. There’s a real sense of watching people living out their dreams in a way that often feels as inspiring as it is escapist. Tying back to the idea of the 90s blockbuster, Twisters isn’t made for kids, but it’s the kind of movie that trailers would have regularly touted as “fun for the whole family.”
At the same time, the events of five years ago haunt both Carter and Javi, who grapple in different ways with what storm-chasing means to them. Carter develops an outright fear of tornadoes (though it doesn’t last long into the movie), developed from her guilt about her role in the accident. Javi, who safely watched his friends suffer from the safety of a van miles away, feels almost duty-bound to get up close and personal with tornadoes. Each character struggles with finding a constructive way to channel their natural passion and boldness towards helping people, especially after learning first-hand how destructive tornadoes can be.
Narratively, the text of the film isn’t complicated. Each character, faced with the opportunity to make a difference during tornado season in Oklahoma, must overcome their tornado-based trauma, each in a slightly different way. It’s a classic setup and works to turn Twisters into an effective and satisfying story, with enough room for all the actors’ chemistry to shine through. With only minor changes, Twisters would be an amazing romantic comedy between Carter and Owens – it basically already is, though the conclusion to their arc is just short of satisfying.
Like any good 90s blockbuster, Twisters is host to an all-timer soundtrack. In addition to Benjamin Wallfisch’s John Williams-esque score, Twisters includes certified country/rock anthems from Luke Combs and Jelly Roll, ballads by Shania Twain and Lainey Wilson, and a host of radio-rock earworms from big names in country music.
What’s more, Twisters goes to great lengths to make sure as many of the tie-in songs as possible are played appropriately in the movie. You know they’re radio-rock hits because characters in the film sing along to every word as they play over the radio. It’s rare enough these days for a movie to have a full tie-in album, rarer still for that tie-in album to be diegetic. *Unfortunately, the album is not included with the Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray.
What is included in the Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray is a treasure trove of bonus features. There’s a full feature commentary, three deleted scenes fleshing out the supporting cast, and even a featurette showcasing a day-in-the-life of Powell. Powell’s video diary documents the shooting of the film’s memorable rodeo scene, which also happens to be the day Powell’s parents visited the set and cameo’d in the movie.
The real highlight of the Blu-Ray are the behind-the-scenes featurettes, which highlight the real challenges and opportunities of shooting Twisters on location during tornado season. Ironically, production was shut down several times due to actual tornadoes. The authentic experience helped the cast and crew understand what it’s like to be in or around tornadoes, though unfortunately real footage of tornadoes couldn’t make it into the film. That footage did make it to the offices of Industrial Light and Magic, and the talented VFX team explain in detail the work that went into creating the tornadoes on screen. These details further emphasize Chung’s idea that the tornadoes themselves are characters, with VFX master Ben Snow breaking down the exact inspirations for each one.
Equally impressive is the work of production designer Patrick Sullivan and set decorator Missy Parker, who inject every set piece in the film with a jaw-dropping level of detail. Showing off the town of Crystal Springs (a fictional town destroyed in a pivotal scene in the movie), Parker talks about how her team helped clean up local towns after tornadoes, and repurposed some of the detritus to create their ruin-from-scratch.
The opportunity to look behind the scenes shows Twister as a marvel of technical craft. Chung and his talented team of artists capture the spirit of the Midwest as often literally as they do figuratively. And all of that work pays off to deliver undeniably one of the funnest summer blockbusters of the year.
Thank you to Mandy Kay Marketing and Universal for the Blu-Ray.
