The best summer disaster movie in decades, TWISTERS blows in with thrills, laughs, fun and another big movie star turn by Glen Powell.
Not a sequel, or a "reimagining" of the 1996 original, this is a completely new story with a couple enjoyable visual references for fans of the original. I LOVED the Bill Paxton/Helen Hunt film, but everything here is next level, from music and special effects to storytelling.
Daisy Edgar-Jones (War of the Worlds) stars as Kate, a farm grown storm chaser. The film opens with a tragic Tornado pursuit that changes her, making her rethink everything. The film moves forward five years, with her old storm chasing buddy Javi (Anthony Ramos) visiting her in New York City. She's escaped to Manhattan and left her old life, family and friends behind to work behind a computer at the National Weather Service. Even staring at a screen, she seems to have an almost clairvoyant intuition when it comes to tracking storms.
Javi shares that he's got big-money financed scientific equipment that can analyze tornadoes on a whole new level. They can save lives. He needs Kate in the field.
She reluctantly gives him a week in Oklahoma and the movie is off and running.
Before long, they bump into You Tube sensation Tyler Owens, a pure Cowboy, social media bred superstar whose ego appears to be at superstorm level. Glen Powell (Hit Man, Top Gun: Maverick) is perfectly cast as Tyler. With a million dollar grin and charming drawl, the only person not under his spell is Kate.
Tyler defines the storm chasing cowboy, with a giant truck outfitted with everything from fireworks to OO7 style gadgets that anchor him to the ground. He's driving directly INTO tornadoes and live-streaming every moment.
Joseph Kosinksi (Top Gun: Maverick, Tron:Legacy) came up with the story and it's pure summer disaster movie thrills, but elevated by a strong supporting cast of characters.
Harry Hadden-Paton (The Crown) is hilarious as an English reporter newly arrived from London (he'll tell you exactly where) to write a feature on Tyler. He gets a lot more than he bargained for and Hadden-Paton delivers gold comic relief from all the suspense.
Sasha Lane (Hellboy) is a standout as Lily, a drone flying, daredevil member of Tyler's squad. Like many other characters here, there's much more to her than meets the eye and Lane is engaging as hell.
Our new big screen Superman (filming now), David Corenswet is intriguing as Scott, Javi's partner in the truck.
The music score by Benjamin Wallfisch (It, Blade Runner 2049) is excellent, hearkening back to the full throated orchestral score that John Williams wrote for "The Towering Inferno". It's as big and inspiring as the storms themselves. The movie also features a terrific line-up of wall-to-wall songs by Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson and many more. It never feels intrusive, matching the Oklahoma setting flawlessly.
But look, you're at a movie called TWISTERS for the storms and WOW do they deliver. We saw the film in AMC Dolby Cinema and we all agreed it sounded incredible. The winds roar, buildings crumble, debris flies by your head and you're rocked in your seat.
When I hear people say, "I'll just watch it at home when it comes out" I just shake me head. I don't care how good your home system is, seeing a film like TWISTERS on the big screen in a packed house with IMAX or Dolby Cinema ripping through your gut, it's a physical experience that elevates the thrills to a whole new level.
Kudos to the sound team and the visual effects team for taking everything you loved about the original and ratcheting it up to F5 levels.
Back in the seventies, we loved our disaster films. They all promised eye popping thrills and an all-star cast. They delivered the visual thrills, but the characters were often wooden props and past their prime actors waiting for the world to shake or the ship to capsize.
Director Lee Issac Chung (Minari) and screenwriter Mark L. Smith (The Revenant, Overlord) create three dimensional people you care about and then drop them into some of the most wild weather you've ever seen (and felt).
Leading the cast, Ramos, Edgar-Jones and Powell deliver heartfelt, fun and engaging people you want to follow through all the mud, wind and madness.
Run to the biggest screen you can find, grab the popcorn and buckle in, this one ROARS.
TWISTERS is a perfect summer movie and gets an A.
(Twister fans: watch for Bill Paxton's son James as the angry hotel guest whose room is about to get blown away. Also, watch for two great visual references to the drive-in scene from the original that was also recreated in the Twister ride at Universal Studios for decades.)
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