Dark clouds circle overhead. You’re in the middle of a field in Oklahoma with nowhere to go. Suddenly, the clouds form something horrifying. A tornado. There is only one thing for you to do: drive directly into it and shoot fireworks up its ass, or better yet, diaper the sucker. Sounds exactly like something a logical person would do, right? I didn’t think so, but that’s what the characters in “Twisters” did.
The story follows a young woman named Kate, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, raised in Oklahoma who left her tornado-chasing life behind after one claimed the lives of her friends. One of her surviving friends, Javi, played by Anthony Ramos, convinces her to return to Oklahoma and help him use military-grade technology to get readings on tornados and help save lives.
Upon returning home she meets hot, cowboy hat-wearing, tornado-wrangling Tyler Owens, played by none other than Glen Powell. The movie captures the tornado-chasing competition between StormPar, Javi’s group of Ivy League uptight dudes in polos, and the YouTube-famous Tornado Wranglers. And of course, Tyler and Kate have some Fujiwara effect type of tension going on.
“Twisters” is classified as a standalone sequel to the 1996 “Twister” starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. It is hard to beat out the classics when you are trying to recapture something that has already been done. If you were to compare these two, I don’t think it would be a fair game. It’s never fair to put a sequel or remake up against the original because nothing you can make will ever compare to the experience the audience had with the initial installment. However, if I were to look at the new “Twisters” as its own thing and not even refer to it as a sequel, I think they did a phenomenal job.
A movie like “Twisters” is exactly what the big screen was made for. Watching it on the big screen makes you feel like that tornado coming towards the characters is not coming for them but rather to take you out of your seat and drop you in Oz.
A big part of the reason the movie was so enjoyable was the cast. They seemed to have a good working relationship, which in turn made the movie feel like a passion project. It was a group of friends, who happened to act together, and that was reflected through the characters.
Aside from the friendship between the cast, I can’t talk about “Twisters” without acknowledging the fact that, once again, Glen Powell created undeniable chemistry and tension with a costar. I am beginning to think that it is honestly just his powerful acting that allows him to create immediate on and off-screen chemistry.
Now reader, if you don’t believe they had chemistry, do yourself a favor and go look up Entertainment Weekly’s live photo cover for “Twisters” of those two and then you can come back and talk to me. I mean, come on, “Perfect Storm?” Someone needs a raise.
There is plenty more to say about this movie in terms of the cast and their acting, but I would rather not because frankly, yeah, the jokes were bad. Daisy’s accent was never consistent. Anthony Ramos seemed like he was playing the same character he always plays. He doesn’t take on a role rather he is just speaking the lines as Anthony Ramos. Not all good movies have great acting. Some of them have to be cheesy and “Twisters” decided they were going to go that route, maybe not on purpose, but hey, it was entertaining to me.
A proper “Twisters” review cannot be complete without praising the soundtrack. We gotta talk about “Ain’t no Home in Oklahoma.” Luke Combs, sir, you did that, and for that, I say “thank you.” It does not matter where I am if I hear that guitar intro, you know my cowboy boots will be on, and I am in the nearest truck on my way to tornado wrangle. The rest of the soundtrack is phenomenal and I could write a whole other story about those songs alone, but that will have to be another time.
“Twisters” truly was one of the joys of the summer. It may not be the greatest movie ever created, but I do feel that the people who made this movie possible deserve their flowers and cheers because they did something special with this one.
Remember: if you feel it, chase it.
