Twisters Review
Twisters (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Lee Isaac Chung, written by Mark L. Smith, Joseph Kosinski and Michael Crichton and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sasha Lane, Daryl McCormack, Kiernan Shipka, Nik Dodani, David Corenswet, Tunde Adebimpe, Katy O’Brian, David Born, Paul Scheer, Laura Poe, Austin Bullock and Stephen Oyoung.
With Twisters, director Lee Isaac Chung takes an action-driven plot and creates the summer movie theme park ride that Hollywood usually promises but rarely delivers effectively. What makes the new movie so entertaining is the director’s ability to stage edge-of-your-seat storm sequences that will keep audiences rooting for the film’s main characters. It’s man vs. nature and Chung pulls out all the stops, ultimately delivering the goods. Even if the character development takes second stage to the visual effects, this movie’s tornados are relentless, and you may be seeking cover in your seat as you watch the story unfold.
Daisy Edgar-Jones is the star of the movie. She plays a young woman named Kate Carter who is from Oklahoma. Kate is ambitious to a fault and when she loses two of her friends and her significant other to a vicious storm, she copes with the grief by going to New York to pursue her professional ambitions. She says the people are nice there even if the cab driver screams out nasty things in the street right in front of her.
Kate is admired by a nice guy named Javi (Anthony Ramos) who ends up convincing her to go back to Oklahoma but when the dreamy storm chaser, Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) enters into the equation, it’s not going to be hard to guess which guy Kate will want to protect her more. Tyler rolls with some colorful crew members, including one played by Sasha Lane and another portrayed by Katy O’Brian.
Although the opening scenes ae full of suspense, Twisters really picks up traction in the middle of the picture all the way through to the end. As crowds try to take shelter from the storm in a movie theater, these twisters have no feelings (why would they?) and threaten to wreak havoc on the town the movie showcases. It will take the combined efforts of both Tyler and Kate to save the day but let’s give Kate the upper hand because, well, it would be too easy to have Tyler as the only hero in the movie. In fact, both of these main characters are severely injured at intervals in the movie with Tyler having to be rescued at one point when a huge…wait let’s not give that part away. Let’s just say, Kate has to settle a score with these “twisters,” and you’ll be anxiously waiting to see if she does.
Glen Powell is charming and likable and has the internet superstar storm chaser role down pat. He makes a reliable love interest for Kate although their romance doesn’t have time to develop given the situations that arise in the plot. When the movie ends up at an airport near the end, Tyler will have to make the decision as to whether he will take it to the next level with Kate.
However, this movie isn’t meant to be a romance despite the fact that the stars are easy on the eyes. Ramos has fun as the third wheel who keeps getting in the way of Kate and Tyler, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.
You really don’t need to have seen 1996’s Twister to like Twisters. There are some problems with the new picture even though the fact that it’s easy to follow is much appreciated. Some of the sequences are simply build-up to the huge effects driven scenes at the end. There are storm chaser assistant characters who feel like they don’t have much to do and can grow a bit tiresome. When the action focuses on Powell and Edgar-Jones, it’s much better than when it centers on the assistants.
The last half hour of Twisters is a no-hold-barred extravaganza. When the storm from hell threatens to tear apart the town, the audience is treated to some disaster movie moments that rank as some of the best ever filmed. Particularly memorable is the part where Kate sneaks off to her truck while others are fighting against the storm for their survival. If I revealed more, it wouldn’t be fair but let’s just say that Kate is in this to win this.
I don’t think audiences will care if Twisters “twists” the possibilities of reality a little too much to give the audience the deadly perfect storms it creates. Chung isn’t the first name that would come to mind for a big action movie but the director proves a formidable asset to the production. Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones are pretty charming on-screen with Powell outshining Edgar-Jones in the likability department by just a tad.
Twisters can probably be seen in many different ways. IMAX would be one of them. I saw it in 4DX. This movie can work in any format because it has the star power and the quality action scenes that it needs to do so. It doesn’t have the requisite character development and like some claim the original Jaws did, Twisters spends too much time dilly-dallying before it gets to the action. In Jaws, waiting for the shark was a great experience but since Twisters opens with killer storm action, there’s too much time in-between terrific storm scenes. Some viewers may get antsy. On the other hand, the wait is well worth it because, in the end, Twisters will (figuratively) blow you through to the back of the theater like any good storm would.
Rating: 7.5/10
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