Lets Twist Again, Like We Did 28 Summers Ago

Another month, another legacy sequel although, in fairness, Twisters doesn't share any direct connection to its 1996 predecessor Twister. Well, they are both set in Oklahoma and heavily feature spinning wind but if you're waiting for a Laura Dern cameo then keep waiting. It is though, about as 90's as a modern film can be. There's ridiculously cheesy dialogue about people wanting to make a difference and tornados "coming for everything we love". It's as all American as can be with blaring country music and star spangled banners flying over rodeos. It's a little bit sexist, with the female lead, on more than one occasion, screaming as she shelters from the wind with a big tough man standing between her and the worst of it. It really does capture the spirit of the decade.

The story follows Daisy Edgar Jones as Kate Cooper, a meteorological whizz kid who is tempted back into the field by a friend and fellow survivor of a disastrous encounter with a tornado five years previously. Apparently the trauma of watching your friends die is nothing weighed against the need to gather data on weather phenomena and Kate's expertise is desperately needed on the ground as modern computers can't compete with her twister sense and ability to watch dandelions blow in the wind. Once out there she crosses paths with YouTube star Tyler "The Tornado Wrangler" Owens played by Glenn Powell, who is instantly impressed and immediately starts hitting on her with his southern charm. A brash and cocky thrill seeker, he is, of course, a good guy at heart and may be able to help Kate with her one time dream of stopping tornadoes.

It turns out Kate has returned in just the nick of time as the twisters batter Oklahoma with such regularity, force and seemingly intentional malice that this film feels as much like an alien invasion or giant monster movie as anything else. While attempts to make the stakes feel apocalyptic come across fairly ridiculous the tornadoes themselves are pretty spectacular and that's really what you are here for. The breezy charm of Jones and Powell carry the downtime between tornadoes and they have an entertaining enough bunch of one dimensional side characters to bounce off.

Twister was no Top Gun so Twisters doesn't match up to Top Gun: Maverick as far as spectacular revivals go (give them all the call signs you want, storm chasers just aren't as cool as fighter pilots) but it is equally successful at bringing the spirit of its predecessor into the 21st century. Good fun, unless you really hate Americana. Or wind.

7 tornadoes light up by by fireworks out of 10.

Comments

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