Twisters - The Summer Popcorn Flick I Didn't Know I Needed
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00:00Continuations of long-running franchises are nothing new, especially this summer which
00:05seems to be crammed full of attempts to milk a few more dollars from vaguely recognisable
00:09names.
00:10But I don't think even the most cynical of media commentators could have predicted
00:13TWISTERS, a sequel to the Bill Paxton disaster movie from way back in 1996.
00:19I mean, don't get me wrong, Twister was a fun little movie with a novel premise and
00:23some decent action sequences, but it never really seemed like the kind of story that
00:27was crying out for a sequel.
00:29Like where can you even take a story like that?
00:31Oh well, strap in because you're about to find out.
00:35TWISTERS kicks off with a bunch of irritatingly cheerful college students led by main character
00:40Kate who are on the hunt for a tornado to test their latest science project on.
00:44The theory is that Twisters are driven by moisture in the air, and if you release some
00:48weird moisture-absorbing chemical directly into the funnel, it'll starve them of fuel
00:52and they'll just… die out.
00:54That's right, they're literally declaring war on Twisters.
00:58It's a nice idea in theory, but it all goes wrong pretty quickly when the Twister turns
01:02out to be way bigger and more powerful than they predicted, and everyone except Kate gets
01:06killed.
01:07Flash forward 5 years and Kate's contacted by her old friend Javi, who now works for
01:12some big company that uses radar to scan the inside of Twisters and learn more about their
01:17structure and how they're formed.
01:19I mean, I'm pretty sure that was literally the whole point of the first movie but whatever,
01:23maybe they just forgot about it or something.
01:25Javi wants Kate's help because apparently nobody has better instincts than her when
01:29it comes to chasing tornadoes, but she's like, nah, it'll be fine, because she's
01:33gun-shy after what happened to her friends.
01:36But then there's a convenient news report about a town getting destroyed by a tornado.
01:40Wow, that was lucky, wasn't it?
01:42And before you know it, Kate's back in Oklahoma ready to join the storm chasers.
01:46That's where she runs into a rival group led by Tyler Owens, a daredevil YouTuber who
01:50chases tornadoes for views and fun.
01:53And straight away, I knew this movie was complete bullshit because it portrays a YouTuber as
01:57likeable, charming and charismatic.
02:00Anyway, will Kate be able to overcome her fears and do her job to get the information
02:04they need?
02:05Will she discover the true motivations behind Javi's business venture out here?
02:09Will she be able to pull herself together in time to protect a vulnerable community
02:13from a once-in-a-generation storm event?
02:15Or will she lose herself in Tyler's dreamy blue eyes and charmingly roguish smile and
02:20...shit, sorry, I lost my train of thought there.
02:23Twisters is an interesting movie to review because I feel like I could praise and condemn
02:27it in equal measure.
02:28I mean, on the plus side, it definitely achieves its goal of being a broadly entertaining summer
02:33popcorn flick that delivers plenty of exciting spectacle without asking too much from its
02:37audience in return.
02:39The visual effects look great, but then what doesn't these days?
02:42There's some cool action sequences and plenty of stuff getting destroyed for your viewing
02:45pleasure, which is exactly what you'd want from a disaster movie like this.
02:49There's also surprisingly little keyjangling for a modern sequel to a legacy franchise.
02:54There's no pointless cameos from the original cast and very few references to the events
02:59of the first film at all.
03:00The most you get is one scene with Dottie, but even that comes and goes pretty quickly
03:04and for the most part it feels like a film trying to stand on its own merits instead
03:08of coasting on the popularity of its predecessor, which is admirable I guess.
03:12The cast is generally likeable and charming, especially the two leads who spark pretty
03:17well off each other.
03:18Daisy Edgar-Jones puts in a decent performance as Kate, who's kind of an amalgamation of
03:22Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton from the original film and although she probably could have
03:26done with a bit more spark at times, she's able to get the job done tolerably well.
03:31The only problem is that she's pretty much overshadowed by Glenn Powell, who's clearly
03:35on the fast track to A-list stardom and while I don't think Twisters demands too much
03:39from him as an actor, it's another reliable notch on his belt to prove that he can carry
03:43a big budget movie like this.
03:45And make no mistake, he's definitely the one carrying this movie.
03:48He might not be the main character, but he's certainly the main draw, playing the same
03:52brash, cocky alpha male who comes good in the end as he did in Top Gun Maverick to equally
03:57good effect.
03:58And I've got to be honest here, it's actually pretty surprising that the movie never feels
04:02the need to put him in his place and show the audience that Kate's actually better
04:05than him at everything.
04:07A character like Tyler is to modern Hollywood what hard work, accountability and personal
04:12integrity is to Boogie.
04:14And when I think about it, there's a refreshing lack of THE MESSAGE in all aspects of this
04:19movie making it feel like more of a throwback to the 90s original than it has any right
04:23to be.
04:24The director even went on record as saying that he didn't want to use the film as a
04:27platform for some clumsy lecture about climate change because in his mind, films are supposed
04:32to be about entertainment.
04:34Holy shit man, give this guy a raise and put him in charge of Marvel and Star Wars because
04:37we need more creatives like him in Hollywood.
04:40On the downside, the film feels a little less focused and structured than the original.
04:45The script can't seem to work out what to do with Javi, whether he should be an antagonist
04:48with a shady agenda, a love rival or a dorky supporting character, so it has a crack at
04:53all three and the result is as tonally confused as you might expect.
04:57Honestly, you could probably have cut the character out altogether and focused more
05:01on Kate and Tyler and it would have provided a much more streamlined narrative.
05:04Also, let's be honest here, the premise isn't exactly original.
05:08Most of the big action sequences centre around the same exact things we saw in the first
05:12movie.
05:13Daredevil scientists risking their lives to plant some important machine in the path of
05:17an unpredictable tornado, characters haunted by past mistakes, a second act low point where
05:22a tornado rips through a populated area and kills a bunch of people and a big climactic
05:26showdown against a monster storm.
05:29If you've seen the first movie, then you've basically seen this one too.
05:32Yeah, it's got a shiny new coat of paint and fancy new wheels, but it's the same
05:36machinery underneath and whether or not you can accept that is gonna determine whether
05:40Twisters is worth your time or not.
05:42For me though, it was a decently fun, well-executed and good-natured take on a well-trodden idea
05:47and in a summer movie season that's been pretty fucking underwhelming so far, it's
05:51not a bad ol' distraction.
05:53Well until Deadpool and Wolverine comes out at least.
05:57Anyway, that's all I've got for today, go away now.