Twisters is a convoluted constructed cyclone of a modern-age blockbuster that never measures up to its 90s predecessor featuring a showcase of Glen Powell’s stardom.

The lore of Twistercomes from its pivot to making its natural forces the stars instead of its human cast. It is a showcase of the wonders of the world and excellent practical VFX. Once those elements are satisfied everything else is left up to the best mode to support with the original going in the route of a campy comedy with a group of residents from the isle of misfit toys led by a sexy dynamic of Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. It was scrappy but lived in so it worked with the story immediately throwing you into an established world leaving room for the wonders of science to take charge in how this story would evolve.

That is the basis of what makes a successful Twister movie that the new iteration rips from but doesn’t necessarily compellingly align all its trademarks. There is no need for Twisters to attempt to reinvent the wheel of blockbusters for the 2020s. But it needs to lean into what it’s trying to do. With a summer release not, much pressure is put on it to be a profound piece of cinema it can go the full-on silly thrilling time route, but this film doesn’t want to decide between the two like a storm chaser trying to figure out which storm to chase. The film has to work in the guidelines on not being a direct sequel to its originator and also having Oscar nominee Lee Isaac Chung attached making this an elevated blockbuster, but it never seems to find its footing outside of having some jaw-dropping practical VFX setups.

Twisters take a romantic comedy approach with small-town turned big-city girl Kate Cooper and cocky youtuber storm wrangler Tyler Owens. The perfect opposites that allude to these two will eventually work out their differences and perhaps fall in love towards the end. The original also had a love story at the center, but it was built on a power dynamic between two mega stars going through a divorce Bill and Helen who rekindle their love of one another through the love of storm chasing. Kate and Tyler hastily rush into a partnership once she drops her ego to realize she had been judging him and his quirky team. It doesn’t help that Glen Powell is acting circles around Daisy Edgar Jones with his natural-born charisma that never gives her traumatized character of Kate any breathing room to be interesting. They feel like archetypes out of the 90s in a story taking place in the 2020s.

Twisters have the stamp of a late-stage Amblin all over it, never going too cynical like theJurassic Parkseries by using nature to punish man for his selfishness or the rawness of its predecessor in what felt like a group of film students picking up a camera and going out to chase tornadoes. There is an absurdity about a day-long journey to track down a tornado to get sensors sucked up into it before your arch nemesis does. The round-out casting of a young Todd Field, Alan Ruck, and Philip Seymour Hoffman provides plenty of laughs along the way that this ragtag group can manage to get anything productive done under the leadership of bickering exes. With their texturized youthful skin, audiences can pick up on the existing dynamics within the group, understanding who they are and what brings them all together to make them a surprisingly well-functioning team when faced with the dangers and stimulation of storms. 

A real rush to the clock that when redone here feels a little too polished in its outcome with a soundtrack that feels much like an afterthought to sell vinyl instead of the story. The personalities are desperately lacking and it’s not clear if it’s on purpose to evoke the DNA of how a 90s film would look and sound in the modern day. The cliches hiding underneath the thrills of facing your fears and not judging a book by its cover feel a little too convenient with trying to find meaning within outright silliness. When it tries to get serious about the effects of these disasters on small towns and how people take advantage of other people’s devastation it ends up getting in its way. A movie about tornadoes should not be boring but somehow this manages to do exactly that with a hyper focus on humanity that lulls on in-between action. The focus on the humans affected by destruction is refreshing but there are never any solutions to showing these disasters other than for shock value of what a tornado is capable against these small towns. 

Major themes of weather’s impact on housing and how extreme weather has increased over time are used like bullet point notes without ever fully diving into the interesting impacts of both. It would be fine to write this off as a mindless summer film, but it’s because of the film’s inability to decide which lane it wants to be in that makes it hard to figure out whether your brain should be on or off while watching. The heart rate should be pumping nonstop with an edge of terror on the horizon but as things get too intense it immediately dives to turn it back down to zero. 

The looks of the tornadoes take the top prize here which mix in real-life footage and a soundscape that is so claustrophobic the theater audiences are sitting in feels like it could fold in at any second. The set pieces of an oil refinery and movie theater add to some new ground these twisters can rise to that feel aligns with the draw of its original. Chung set out to not make a negative look at weather patterns but a thrill ride of the abilities of nature and he certainly hits the spot well in his approach. The point isn’t to put an end to these tornadoes but allow moments of memorization at the way weather patterns work causing an intrigue for audiences as evidenced by the uptick of meteorology majors when the first one came out. It is a time to understand the world of weather in a non-classroom setting in the most extreme situations you can imagine. 

Other than the tornadoes, Glen Powell survives this disaster film. Powell has proved that all you need to do is stick him in front of a camera and he knows exactly how to play a character with minimal effort that your heart immediately swoons at his Texan nature. As Tyler Owens, the tornado wrangler who embarks on adventures for his huge following on YouTube, Glen feels like he is at home. Owens as a YouTuber is used to show modernity that this isn’t your parent’s Twister, it’s a Twister for the new generations, and seeing his dedication to storm chasing it can only be assumed that seeing a film like Twister could have ignited this love.  It is like when your favorite 90’s sitcom comes back for a reboot, and they give everyone a podcast instead of actual character development so they can say it’s a more innovative version. A self-aware himbo that winks with the audience as if he is in on his joke fully embodying the ridiculousness of the situation. Out of everyone he did his homework on what movie he is in, never coming across as trying to replace Bill Paxton but adding his character to the Twister universe. Every time he flings on-screen revving his red truck with Brandon Perea at his side, he is in a Twisters one wishes they could stay in for the duration of the movie instead of being sidelined to a quiet rediscovery of one’s confidence. When the tornadoes aren’t onscreen Powell is picking up the slack from those who have no idea how to wrangle in this beast of a film. 

For indie talent, like Lee Isaac Chung and Edgar-Jones, the jump to a blockbuster was always going to come with challenges, and their flaws are certainly shown on full display. Chung isn’t too bad as he grew up idolizing the original film growing up in Tornado Alley and understanding this world. It is more the story he was handing in and his focus on finding humanity on a large scale, now some directors can do this like Michael Mann but that is not the task of Twisters. The humans are second to the twister, no one sees Jurassic Park for the humans they come for the main spectacle of the dinosaurs and the same rule applies here. Edgar-Jones’s Britishness slips up at times making her Americana girl next door shtick hard to truly believe when she freezes up at tornado sightings. She does what she can to be the emotional pull of the film offering moments of meditation amongst destruction, but it never adds anything to the overall story because of how fast paced they move to resolve her trauma.  Sharing the screen in a love triangle one might not pick up on until the very end is Anthony Ramos as one of Kate’s hometown friends.

Twisters proves the novelty the original has grown into while showing itself as a carbon copy remake that never finds its legs to qualify as a true stand-alone, but Glen Powell sure looked great.

Grade: C+

Oscars Prospects:
Likely: None
Should be Considered: None

Release Date: July 18, 2024
Where to Watch: In Theaters