Twisters 2024 Movie Review

“Twisters” is a standalone sequel to the 1996 disaster film “Twister”, Directed by Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”) and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos, it exceeds its loosely related predecessor as an exciting adventure film that works perfectly fine on its own without any prior knowledge of what came before it.

Five years after losing most of her friends in a devastating tornado, former storm chaser Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) has since retired and pursued a career as a meteorologist in New York City. One day, Kate is approached by her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos), who informs her that tornado season is intensifying in Oklahoma and wants her to assist him in testing out some new weather tracking technology he has developed. After some convincing, Kate reluctantly comes out of retirement to accompany Javi into the dangerous, wind-stricken state in hopes that this new device can prevent future casualties of this natural phenomenon. Upon arriving, Kate and Javi find themselves crossing paths with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a social media influencer who has gained fame by posting all of his storm chasing adventures online for his millions of followers. With the storm season worsening, Kate, Javi, and Tyler work together to further study the patterns of these deadly winds while also trying to survive being blown away in the process.

Thanks to advancements in technology, disaster movies experienced quite a resurgence back in the 90s, with films like “Independence Day”, “Armageddon”, and “Volcano” dominating the box office throughout the course of this decade. One of the more notable examples of this genre would be “Twister”, a film about a group of tornado chasers determined to research these destructive winds even if it means placing their lives in danger. Although the film was flawed in many places, it nonetheless managed to win audiences over with its great special effects and sound for that particular era. On that note, it’s worth mentioning that “Twister” was also one of the very first films to be released on DVD, likely as an ideal way to demonstrate the sound capabilities of home theatre systems. Almost 30 years later, we now have a standalone follow-up in the pluralised “Twisters”, which still provides many of the thrills of its similarly themed relative with plenty of technical updates and even some narrative improvements that were previously lacking.

It’s pretty obvious that most people only watched the original film for the special effects, choosing to disregard the poor characterisation and paper-thin plot as irrelevant to the enjoyment factor. However, this time around, it seems like actual effort has gone into developing the characters beyond one-dimensional people placed in the path of danger simply for the sake of an action scene. As we are introduced to our protagonist Kate, we see that she is still suffering from PTSD as a result of watching her friends literally blown away right in front of her by a huge tornado. With her confidence in her abilities now in doubt, Kate decides to work in the less dangerous field of meteorology behind the safety of an office desk. When her friend Javi convinces her to help him with his research, Kate musters up the courage to return to what she knows best; chasing tornadoes right up close and personal. Most of the film focuses on Kate putting her extensive tornado knowledge to great use, and it’s nice to see her work hard to conquer her trauma over the course of the story.

As the film progresses, we then meet the bombastic but charming Tyler Owens, whose high-octane methods of chasing tornados have gained him a large following online. Donning a stetson and cranking the rodeo music up loud, Tyler and his crew are shown speeding their way directly inside the whirling vortexes and recording their antics for the entire world to see, earning him the nickname “The Cowboy Meteorologist”. He treats tornadoes almost like wild broncos, wrangling his way through the extreme winds to “tame” them using the technological features attached to his customised pick-up truck. What I found interesting about Tyler’s character is that despite his rowdy demeanour, he is quite knowledgable about meteorology and is passionate about what he does for a living. He is genuinely fascinated by the unpredictability of these dangerous wind anomalies, using his adventurous nature to encourage his fans to learn more about the world’s weather, so long as they don’t try to imitate what he does at home, of course.

Also improving upon the original is the film’s visual effects and pacing. Director Lee Isaac Chung’s quick editing and atmospheric cinematography skilfully places his audience right into the thick of the intense winds, making it easy to understand their destructive capabilities. We see objects consumed by the tornadoes like a monstrous creature devouring everything in its path, playing into the notion that this extreme weather is truly a force to behold. The CGI effects are all highly convincing here, and the very idea that a large object like a truck or even a barn could drop out of the sky amidst the chaos at any moment helps keep viewers in suspense. Additionally, unlike the 1996 film, which was borderline comical in how convenient the tornadoes would appear randomly whenever the plot desired it, each time one was featured here it was because the characters were actively searching for it. As a result, it really felt as though these storms were being chased by the chasers rather than the storms chasing them instead.

In the lead role, Daisy Edgar-Jones is likeable enough as Kate, although it does take her a bit of time to gain some personality throughout the film. At first, her character is understandably still coming to terms with the trauma she is enduring over what happened five years earlier, so she does little else but react stoically to things for the first half of the movie. I suppose you could interpret this as a commentary on how people handle PTSD differently from others, but it doesn’t help Kate stand out among the more interesting cast members who are doing far more exciting things in the mean time. Eventually, Kate does come into her own as she regains her confidence over time, and in doing so she becomes a believable heroine whose actions make you want to cheer for her to succeed.

I was somewhat disappointed by how underused Anthony Ramos was as Javi, whose role in the film is nothing more than a basic sidekick for Kate. Though his interactions with her did provide some reasonable insight at first, he is later demoted to being a typical expositional character, only really showing up to inform Kate about a tornado that might be forming. Since Javi is the one who built the technology that could teach others more about how tornadoes function, it seems like a waste not to have featured him in the story as much as he should have been. Aside from one scene near the end, Javi’s overall presence in the film is mostly forgettable.

However, Glen Powell is definitely a major highlight as Tyler, whose character steals the show in nearly every one of his scenes without even trying. Powell’s performance is reminiscent of a young Matthew McConaughey, always wearing his Texan roots on his sleeve and exhibiting a level confidence that always has him in control of the situation, no matter how bad things might get. Tyler’s unique methods of chasing tornadoes are so much fun to watch that if he were a real, I’d be more than happy to subscribe to his YouTube channel. Tyler’s interactions with Kate also add some much needed emotional warmth to the film, as it is comforting to watch the two bond over their mutual interest in tornados. This is certainly a refreshing change from the 1996 film, which consisted primarily of Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt bickering at each other until another tornado decides to strike out of the blue.

Regardless of whether you’ve seen the original or not, “Twisters” is sure to provide all of the necessary thrills one would expect from a film about people chasing tornadoes. It only wishes to please its audience with laidback popcorn entertainment and never becomes too bogged down with deep themes or complicated exposition. With that said, I would be willing to call this one of the best movies to feature tornadoes as its main plot device. Then again, apart from the 1996 film, the “Sharknado” series, and “The Wizard of Oz”, it’s not like it has much competition on its hands.