Twisters is a reboot that wasn’t needed, but now that it’s here, it’s proven itself to be a solid legacy sequel. Surprisingly, there are no characters or cast members from the original Twister—not even for a small cameo or name drop. But sometimes fans need to let go of the past and move on to a brighter future. There is no reason to watch the original to understand the sequel — it would just be an entertaining way to spend approximately 2 hours.
Right off the bat, however, Twisters does pay homage to Twister by having Dorothy V, a machine that is basically the plot of Twister, which carries weather sensors that deploy into a tornado to collect data. Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones), Javi (Anthony Ramos), and their friends use a chemical they think will stop a tornado while using Dorothy to record the data. It’s a fun scene where the characters make fun of how old Dorothy is then move on to show this film is for the new generation.
This opening scene sets up the group of kids to be the main characters of the film, and of course, when someone is a main character, chances are they won’t be killed off (most of the time). But writer Mark L. Smith and director Lee Isaac Chung throw a curve ball and let the tornado win against 3 of the 5 kids. This early twist is what’s so great about movies. Some filmmakers aren’t afraid to have a little fun with their film and it shows in the quality—increasing the quality in this case.
Being one of the survivors, Kate takes a break from tornado hunting, but it’s predictable how she’ll come back. And of course, when she does, that’s when the film truly starts. Viewers get the backstory and five years later we’re ready for the plot to take off.
Even though there is no correlation between Kate and any of the original characters in Twister, her tornado gut feelings resemble those of Bill Harding (Bill Paxton). If there is a character comparison chart, there’s no doubt she’s Bill. But what makes this film stand out on its own is Tyler (Glen Powell). Powell perfectly encompasses Tyler as a happy-go-lucky guy who just wants to do what’s right and hunt down tornados—even if he’s not seen like that at first.
Twisters also knows how to balance comedy with high-intensity moments. Thanks to London reporter Ben (Harry Hadden-Paton), viewers get to see how they’d most likely react when driving directly toward a tornado, even if fans think they’d be more of a tornado wrangler like Tyler. Ben adds that comic relief throughout the film in a way that doesn’t bring down the pressure of each scene, but rather provides fans with a good time.
As stated, it’s pretty safe to assume the main characters won’t be killed even during life-threatening events. No matter how many tornados Kate, Tyler, and Javi drive toward or find themselves trapped with no escape, it’s clear that they’d survive and make it out. Nonetheless, each tornado raises the stakes and could get someone to think, this is it, this is the tornado that’ll get one of them.
The movie itself is predictable with what’s really going on between Javi and Riggs (David Born), who funds his tornado chasing project, but that’s such a minor plot to the overall film, that it doesn’t really affect any of the quality or enjoyment.
But if there’s one thing Twisters falls short of, it is a satisfying ending. Throughout the film, Chung and the actors build this romance between Kate and Tyler, and when it comes time for them to act on the attraction that is clearly there, we get nothing. There’s an implication that they will continue to chase their passion (tornadoes or otherwise) together, but the way it plays out is a tad disappointing.
Twisters knows how to check everything off to make the film entertaining enough that fans can hope there will be a third, but it needed a push on that ending. Overall, the film deserves a solid 8.5/10, but even a bad ending to the best film ever can badly affect the view of the entire film. Thankfully Twisters hits every emotion spot on and provides beautifully intended laughs.
