I grew up in Texas in what used to be Tornado Alley and have vivid memories of my dad putting a mattress over us in the bathtub when the weather got ugly and tornado sirens started to blare. Over the last few decades, the Alley has expanded east, and storms have increased in frequency and size.
Because extreme weather is now the norm, Hollywood decided it was time to revisit the 1996 blockbuster “Twister” with a stand-alone sequel called “Twisters.” Because why have one tornado when you can have several?
“Twisters” has all the hallmark summer blockbuster vibes -- beautiful movie stars, a mediocre script and a predictable ending. Popcorn worthy entertainment is what I was going to see, and it didn’t disappoint.
The film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kate Carter, the intelligent wide-eyed scientist from Oklahoma who creates a compound that will lessen the impact of tornadoes. Jones is from London and her southern accent could use some work! Glen Powell stars as Tyler Owens, a former bull-rider from Arkansas who calls himself a tornado wrangler and initially comes off as a jerk with his loud monster truck and tornado chasing merch. Owens and his energetic rag tag team of storm chasers have a million You Tube followers, shoot fireworks into twisters and scream ‘yeehaw’ one too many times, but we learn they are good guys who are trying to help the survivors of these storms.
Anthony Ramos also stars in the film as Javi River, the only other survivor of the opening scene where a tornado kills Cooper’s boyfriend and best friends as they are trying to implement Cooper’s science experiment, and the tornado turns on them.
Flash forward five years, and Cooper, who suffers from extreme survivor’s guilt, lives in New York City where she works as a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. River tracks down Cooper and convinces her to come back to Oklahoma and help him with his new tornado-chasing endeavors.
The film is directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who also directed “Minarii,” an indie film that was pure poetry. At times I wondered if a big action-film director wouldn’t have been a wiser choice. Chung’s desire to put character first in a film where the real stars are the tornadoes took me out of the film at times and felt clunky.
At its core, “Twisters” is about how these mega tornados are destroying communities and lives, and how scavengers and land grabbers are benefiting from these tragedies. The images of people sifting through what’s left of their homes is heartbreaking. We’ve seen it on the news; it’s all too real. These storms are getting bigger and destroying more lives with each passing year, and the film does a great job of illustrating this, but what it doesn’t do is explain why. Climate change. Come on Hollywood!
The last scene is a monster tornado ripping through a town, destroying the movie theatre, knocking down the water tower, and sucking people into the air and out of sight. Mattresses in bathtubs are no match for these mega storms. Only Carter can save lives now. If only that part were true.
“Twisters” is rated PG-13 and has a running time of 2:02.