Twisters
Studying storm patterns via computer analysis in NYC after a traumatic storm chasing episode in her past, Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is lured back into the field by a friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos), to test a revolutionary new 3D modeling system. The two will cross paths with hotshot social media storm chaser Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) just as central Oklahoma is about to experience the far more dangerous and unprecedented crossing of multiple “Twisters.”
Laura's Review: C+
Twenty-eight years ago brought us the flying cows of “Twister.” Now “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung gives us…a chicken. The original film may have been pure popcorn, but it featured a great cast and was something we had never seen before. The latest has a ‘perky’ heroine in Edgar-Jones, who pulls up some ‘plucky’ in the film’s last act, but she’s outshone by Maura Tierney (TV's 'The Affair') playing her far more interesting Oklahoma farmer mom. Screenwriter Mark L. Smith (“Midnight Sky,” working from a story by “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinksi) tries to surprise by making the apparent ‘bad guys’ good guys and the good guys ethically challenged, but it’s manipulative and unconvincing and neither leads’ teams get much of a chance to distinguish themselves. “Twisters” is essentially a romantic comedy framed by a series of special f/x scenes set to C&W shit-kicker music.
The film opens with the tragedy that sent Kate scrambling for the city, her bid for a big grant by ‘taming’ a tornado (making it deflate by chemically removing its moisture) causing her to bring her team – fiancé Jeb (Daryl McCormack, "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande"), Addy (Kiernan Shipka, TV's 'Mad Men,' "Longlegs") and Praveen (Nik Dodani, TV's 'Atypical') - into the path of an EF-5, something cinematographer Dan Mindel (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”) conveys mostly in close-up, leaving the wide shot for its aftermath. Five years later, Javi, who was monitoring from a separate location during the event, arrives begging for her field expertise to test his new technology and she agrees to return home for one week.
No sooner has Kate met Javi's Stormpar business partner Scott (David Corenswet, "Pearl"), than they’re swarmed by the arrival of the rowdy Tyler Owens crew, along with some of the 1 million fans of his YouTube channel. Tyler’s a cocky son-of-a-gun with a rocket launching truck fitted out with drills to secure it to the ground as whooping videographer Boone (Brandon Perea, "Nope") records his exploits, drone pilot Lily (Sasha Lane, "American Honey") charts out his path and terrified British journalist British journo Ben (Harry Hadden-Paton, TV's 'The Crown') goes along for the rides. He’s followed by Dexter (Tunde Adebimpe, "Rachel Getting Married") and Dani (Katy O'Brian, "Love Lies Bleeding") selling branded paraphernalia from an RV. While he makes fun of Javi and company’s PhDs, he nonetheless focuses on Kate, because she’s the prettiest woman around and perhaps sensing she has a nose for twisters. While she tries to throw him off the track, both teams race to the same location. At the crucial moment, though, Kate chokes, disappointing Javi, but in this movie there’s a new twister to be found around every corner and she’ll be back in the saddle for the next day’s twins, succeeding, this time, in misdirecting Tyler.
That would mean three more, one breaking out on a sort of ‘rodeo date’ between Kate and Tyler that allows both to show some bravery and to set some action at night. The devastation of their base town sends Kate back to mom’s house (who is surprised to see her, oddly not having known her daughter was home), where Tyler finds her rather quickly and is championed by the no-nonsense Cathy, who invites him for dinner, then overnight, so that Kate’s original project may be rediscovered and given another shot. The whole thing ends with another EF-5 destroying a town and putting our leads in more serious danger.
Powell’s perfectly cast and Hadden-Paton adds much of the humor (as well as some Kate Carter mythologizing, his article focus shifting from Tyler to her), but “Twisters” suffers some serious sag before Tierney arrives to liven things up. Special effects are good, although none of the losses to the storm have much of an impact, the characters swept away not defined enough for us to care. The final storm is zhuzhed up by powering through a refinery before felling a water tower and ripping the screen “Frankenstein” is being projected on right out of a theater, leaving a frame for the devastation.
“Twisters” leaves us with a joke and romantic rivalry gone limp, suggesting a sequel. I’m not sure we needed this one.
Universal Pictures releases "Twisters" in theaters on 7/19/24.
