TL;DR – It has a lot of charm and action as long as you don’t dwell on the science for a moment.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Twisters Review –

Well, today, we look at a bit of an odd duck in that this could almost be classed as a straight-up legacy sequel to the seminal 1996 film Twister. However, bar one significant reference right at the start, you would be remiss to see any connection between the two films beyond vibes, narrative structure, and a deep love for tornadoes. But that love is still there, as well as a metric spoonful of unreserved swagger.

So, to set the scene, Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a whiz at tornadoes. She just has a feel for them and how they form. But growing up in Oklahoma, which is smack dab in the middle of tornado alley, Kate also knows the destruction that they can cause. To combat that, she and her team, including Javi (Anthony Ramos), Addy (Kiernan Shipka), Jeb (Daryl McCormack), and Praveen (Nik Dodani), have put together a plan to use reagents to suck the moisture out of a tornado. They planned to test it on a small EF1 tornado, but something went wrong, and the target intensified to EF5, and you can’t run from that. Five years later, Javi catches up with Kate, who works in New York. He needs her skill to help map a tornado using newly developed military technology. She is hesitant but agrees to come back for one week only. It is a week that just so happens to have some of the worst storms in living history, and where she comes face-to-face with the rascally Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), professional tornado chaser.      

To answer the first question you might have, how are the tornadoes? If you are going to have a disaster film work, you need to get the disaster right. Well, on that front, the film exceeds in spades. They capture both the beauty and the abject horror of the metrological formation. Two parts of tornadoes that go hand-in-hand. They also go out of their way to make each of the tornadoes feel and look different, so you are not watching the same thing repeatedly. They are small and big, and sometimes they form multiple funnels. They are always awe-inspiring as they are clearly about to cause carnage. So, a big congratulations to the visual effects teams and their fluid simulations.

Those tornadoes lean into the tone of the film because there are moments when it gets legitimately tense. Thanks to that opening, there is always an element that this could go bad for all concerned at any moment. This is best seen when the tornado strikes at night because you don’t even have a complete visual understanding of what is coming your way, just glimpses in the lighting. Yet, this is also a profoundly funny film at times, with the audience joining together for legitimate belly laughs. All of these moments felt like they were coming from a place of genuine emotion, and to get that balance right is a tricky tightrope act to pull off.      

What helps a lot on that front is the cast. I mean, you need to find someone in your life who talks about you, like Glen Powell talks about tornadoes. He has a wicked charm that works here when you are trying to work out whether he is charming or just a pratt. In fact, there is a lot of chemistry in this film, and not all of it in the sky. Daisy Edgar-Jones has the unenviable job of being the lynchpin that holds together all the different story threads, but she makes it work. Also, this is a film with a strong supporting cast who are always throwing their all into it, with shouts out to Brandon Perea for nailing that specific YouTube energy.

There are some issues, and they can mostly be found in the narrative. Your mileage may vary, but given that this is almost a beat-for-beat retreading of the first film, with some character motivations switched up, it does feel a bit dry at times. While it was great that they filmed this movie set in Oklahoma on location in Oklahoma, some of the scenes where they are telling people how to get to cover did feel grating, given this is a lived experience for them. There was an attempt to throw in a subplot about corporate greed. Still, the film never felt sure about what it wanted to say about that, bar that Scott (David Corenswet) was the literal worst, which means that Javi’s character feels underdeveloped throughout. Finally, look, you don’t go to a disaster film for its perfect science, and to be fair, they do have a lot of the surface-level stuff, right. However, the central premise feels so far from being plausible that you just must ignore that to have a good time with the film.        

In the end, do we recommend Twisters? Look, science aside, I had a blast with this film. It is fun when it needs to be, action-packed when it needs to be, and exceptionally tense when it needs to be. If you liked Twisters, we would recommend to you Greenland.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched Twisters?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Twisters
Directed by – Lee Isaac Chung
Screenplay by – Mark L. Smith
Story by – Joseph Kosinski
Based on – Characters created by Michael Crichton & Anne-Marie Martin
Music by – Benjamin Wallfisch
Cinematography by – Dan Mindel
Edited by – Terilyn A. Shropshire
Production/Distribution Companies – Amblin Entertainment, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Universal Pictures & Warner Bros Pictures.
Starring – Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, Sasha Lane, Harry Hadden-Paton, David Corenswet, Daryl McCormack, Tunde Adebimpe, Katy O’Brian, Nik Dodani, Kiernan Shipka & Paul Scheer  
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: na; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13