Twisters

Movies, like the calendar, have their seasons, and as moviegoers, we know them well. Our current season is the summer blockbuster season, which is the time when studios like to release their biggest movies that are meant to be experiences as much as films. With that said, we go into a summer movie expecting to have some fun while getting lost in its mayhem—you know, a good blockbuster. Twenty-eight years ago, that perfect summer blockbuster was Twister, which came in and blew the doors off local theaters. Now we have Twisters trying to roar its own path, but will making it plural make it better?

Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) wants not just to study tornadoes but also has a plan to make them disperse. That plan involves some scientific stuff and getting it in front of the tornado to make it work, something Oklahoma has plenty of. Kate and her friends attempt this, but things go wrong, and Kate is the only one to make it out. Five years later, Kate is now in New York City, still having a hard time getting past what happened. Another member of that team, Javi (Anthony Ramos), finds her and tells her he needs her help, as he has some new tech that will help figure out tornadoes. Kate reluctantly agrees to help, and they head off to Oklahoma to chase some storms. It doesn’t take Kate long to find her groove, but she and her team are not the only chasers out there. There is also a group led by a guy named Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), who uses YouTube to show his storm adventures. Kate doesn’t care for Tyler much at first, but soon she will find that he might just be the key to solving her problem.

Written by Mark L. Smith, with story credit by Joseph Kosinski, Twisters tries to be the roller coaster ride that Twister was, but it doesn’t quite get there. The 1996 film was simple, and besides the spectacle of it, the simplicity really helped that movie. For Twisters, things are not as simple. Sure, there are still people chasing tornadoes, but there is just a little more weight to the story. Unfortunately it does not come from its characters, as they are as light as a mild breeze, with only Kate given a personal story arc. Everyone else just seems to show up, and not add much to the film.

When it comes to being a summer movie, Twisters checks all the boxes, and it is one of those movies you will be glad you saw in the theater. While it tries to play the same tune as Twister, even following a lot of the same beats, it misses the important parts. Mainly the cast, although comprised of some good actors, they don’t quite leave their mark—well, everyone except Powell, who makes every second he is on screen a whole lot better. For everything Twisters is not, it still is, most importantly, an entertaining summer blockbuster filled with destruction and tornadoes. I wish it had more to it, something like the drive-in scene from the original, but that is not the case. Ultimately, I didn’t dislike Twisters as much as I was disappointed, but maybe my expectations were too high, but I still left feeling satisfied, even if there were no flying cows to be seen this time.