Twisters (dir. Lee Isaac Chung)
By: Adam Freed
Mother Nature is still undefeated. Despite the best efforts of science and technology’s brightest minds to predict and prevent her wrath, mankind is yet to stand tall enough to truly call itself her equal. Evidence of this daunting inequity violently presents itself each summer through middle America’s Tornado Alley. Capturing the essence of Oklahoma’s summer tornado season is Academy Award nominated director and Tornado Alley native Lee Isaac Chung. On the surface, Chung hardly seems the right director to wrangle Twisters, a giant screen disaster reboot, in the wake of his delicate and layered small budget immigration tale Minari (2020). Yet given a closer look, the director’s Academy nominated film is the tale of a Korean family attempting to become farmers in rural Arkansas, which cultivates many of the same man vs. nature elements as his big budget summer blockbuster Twisters. There is a thematic thread that permeates both films rooted in a healthy fear and respect for nature, what she can provide, and just as quickly erase.
Twisters is a film that actively attempts to move on from its blockbuster predecessor Twister (1996) by advancing the story with a completely new cast, but can’t avoid a few subtle nods as if to reward audiences old enough to have enjoyed the Bill Paxton & Helen Hunt lead original in theaters. To call Twisters a sequel may be technically accurate but it operates far more effectively as a reboot. What hasn’t been lost in the 28 years since the original, is the whirling rush of adrenaline it injects into audiences who dare lock eyes with the worst that Mother Nature has to offer. Twisters spins no less than a dozen storms that look and feel as harrowing as anything yet captured on film. The tactile and granular details of tornadic destruction is captured brilliantly by cinematographer Dan Mindel who, in agreement with Chung, shot the grand scale disaster story completely on 35mm film.
Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing) plays Kate Carter, a former storm chaser and Oklahoma native who is sucked back into the world she desperately hoped to escape. Edgar-Jones exudes the necessary confidence and defensiveness presented by Carter’s troubling back story. The true lynchpin of Chung’s disaster film though is the seeming omnipresence of Glen Powell (Hit Man, Top Gun: Maverick). The megawatt star who here feels shot out of a cannon from his initial appearance, works very hard to layer what could’ve been a character devoid of depth with a redemptive level of soul and purpose. Regardless of the role, it is apparent that few actors of his caliber have enjoyed the level of fun that Powell is having riding the wave of his long pursued stardom. While Powell’s talent is enough to reinforce the shortcomings of his tornado “wrangling” character Tyler Owens, he cannot patch all of the holes in a story that suffers a few early setbacks.
Like a hot and humid afternoon in a rural Oklahoma town, Twisters is deliberately paced at its onset. The film, though, works its way into a storm-like frenzy offering a gripping and crowd pleasing final 45 minutes that erase plot concerns like an unsuspecting mobile home community planted helplessly in a cyclone's path. Twisters delivers the grand scale, full bodied entertainment that audiences have seemed to respond to in recent years. Part of Twisters' oversized appeal is the inclusion of a vibrant, albeit slightly overstuffed, country music soundtrack that feels inextricably linked to the vast expanse of Oklahoma's sprawling landscape. By tactfully overcoming a few early contrivances, Twisters’ Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and the unstoppable force of Mother Nature prove to be an unbeatable team.
Target Score: 7.5/10 Twisters is a whirling dervish of full throated summer blockbuster fun. The disaster film is a nice combination of star power and genuine thrills which amounts to an overwhelmingly worthwhile experience.