Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of July 15, 2024
Twisters
Rated PG-13 for intense action and peril, injury images and some language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77% at time of writing
In Theaters
I have very fond memories of the original 1996 Twister as I was attending the University of Oklahoma (Boomer Sooner!) as it was being filmed. And to give the film gravity, I saw a tornado as I was driving home from the theater. Talk about a scary moment! So now, almost 30 years later, we are getting Twisters, which sounds like a sequel, but actually doesn’t have any relationship with the original, other than it is about life-threatening tornadoes in Oklahoma. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung (director of the multi-Oscar nominated film Minari) the film follows a young woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones) who is a smart young meteorologist who loses three friends during an attempt to do tornado research. After her tragedy, she moves to New York but is lured back when one of her former research buddies (Anthony Ramos) gives her a new opportunity to finish her studies. But while attempting to once again tame a tornado, she meets a tornado chasing YouTuber (Glen Powell) who seems like a dangerous villain at first, until she starts to get to know him better. And of course, all of this is set in the middle of a bunch of storm chasing with maybe too many deadly tornadoes destroying everything in their path. While I was looking forward to watching the film, based on seeing the trailer, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. The original was a guilty pleasure, and I expected this one to serve as much the same. But there is a lot to like here, and the two-hour experience should be a thrill for most audiences. Yes, it is a big, loud roller coaster of a film, but I really liked the characters, the story and the special effects-driven adrenaline rush. Director Lee Isaac Chung, who was so impressive with his film Minari, with help of The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith, infuse the action with organic but fun characters who really help you get invested in the plot, even if it is a bit unrealistic. And while the acting is good throughout, actor Glen Powell really drives the movie through both action and romance as he attempts to both chase storms, while at the same time chasing the leading actress, pushing the audience to really hope they change the world and possibly even end up together. The icing on the cake here is a terrific soundtrack that I can’t wait to check out in my car once it is released. It has a Top Gun kind of feel, only with some rocking country music filling both the quiet and the action-packed sequences. And by the end you get an even better Twister movie, with better action, better characters, and much better storytelling. B+