'Twisters' Review

Is it a good or bad sign if the most interesting aspect of a disaster movie is the humans? Twisters may be the first film to buck a decades-long trend within the disaster/monster subgenre where our species has been the superficial window to view the events within our world that hold dominion. The occasional glances at the watch here are reserved for the moments of tornado-based destruction, with the character-driven scenes coming in like a knight in shining armor to break up the monotony. I guess that’s what you get when you hire the director of one of the most tender human dramas of the decade.

Lee Isaac Chung’s inability to fully flex his filmmaking muscles is definitely the lesser of two evils, as none of the traditional journeymen that could have been hired to fill the chair would have a percentage of the heart he instills here. A ragtag group of Oklahoman storm chasers has replaced his Arkansan family from 2020’s Minari, each ready to risk their lives in the name of science. But the risk turns out to have exactly that asking price, with the only two survivors of the five-person team being Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Javi (Anthony Ramos). It’s another startling reminder Mother Nature is undefeated in any attempts to tame her.

That fatal error of judgment was enough to send Kate behind a desk in the New York office of a weather service. She’s put her wild days behind her, which we all know isn’t true because we’re only ten minutes into a two-hour movie. Javi calls her back into the fold once an even deadlier series of storms starts ripping through her state. This time they’ve got the advantage of upgraded technology and a team full of PhDs, a combination that could help them answer the elusive question of how to prevent and stop these storms. 

The implementation of serving the common man as a reason to be in this line of work is sold well by Edgar-Jones and Ramos, both of whom carry a small amount of traumatized weight in their performances. Screenwriter Mark L. Smith doesn’t give them much of anything to work with, nor does he have regular Joes like you and I do anything more than get swept up in storms and look solemn after their towns have been destroyed. There’s an underdeveloped subplot about Javi’s boss acting as an ambulance chaser, buying up the ripped-up land at rock-bottom prices under the guise of offering a fresh start to those who have nothing left. That aspect could essentially be mirrored onto the film itself, with Smith and Chung always talking about their love for people, yet the way they walk illustrates otherwise.

This is where Glen Powell enters the scene as “tornado wrangler” Tyler Owens, his good-ol’-boy charm and looks implemented to distract from the film’s mental problems. That strategy works more times than it doesn’t, with Powell’s movie star swagger perpetually threatening to burn a hole through the screen. It’s no surprise that the most impactful moment of weather is just a drizzle of rain while he dons a cowboy hat and white T-shirt while striding to his mammoth pickup truck.

But the simplicity of that breathless moment instantly becomes a double-edged sword, as the weightless scenes with millions of dollars worth of special effects feel even more disappointing in comparison. The theater roars and the screen fervently flashes, but the bone-chilling feeling of real danger is never felt. There’s a moment where Kate and Tyler rescue a mother and child by clinging for dear life at the bottom of a hotel pool. Chung holds the camera on their fear-stricken face as an act of humanistic connection, yet the CGI debris and wind effects rob those feelings from truly bubbling to the surface. To incorrectly apply a famous phrase: it’s full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Twisters may still end up being one of the better blockbusters of the summer on account of it’s central characters being the secret main attraction, although I’m not exactly sure that’s how the plan was drawn up at the Universal offices. The rusty old door has been opened with care that it needed, while the well-greased one seems to be giving the most trouble.