Twisters Movie Review: An entertaining spiritual successor with great gravitas

Glen Powell has carved out a niche for himself: excelling in a supporting role in a fresh update to an old film that elevates the original. In 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, Powell appears as naval aviator Hangman, his breakout role, playing his part in making the sequel to the 1986 film, starring Tom Cruise, better and more resonant. He does it again in Twisters, a spiritual successor to the 1996 disaster film Twister that improves on the original as it adds heft to the pulpy blockbuster. Like Hangman, Powell’s Tyler Owens starts off as cocky and competitive but gradually proves his worth as an adept and dependable teammate. Owens is Hangman without a fighter jet but with the same attitude as the aviator from Top Gun: Maverick. Owens has a degree in meteorology, but he finds it more fun to initiate scientific banter about storms even as he shoots himself chasing one for his YouTube channel, knowing that it will eventually grow stronger and become a tornado. Talk about ‘feeling the need for speed’; he is one of those adrenaline junkies who thrives on being in the thick of something potentially fatal as a tornado. It is no wonder that he and his fellow ‘tornado wranglers’ have a channel with over a million subscribers on YouTube. Owens is not alone in the game of taming the tornado, though. The real star of Twisters is Daisy Edgar-Jones, the breakout star of Where the Crawdads Sing. And the best part of the film is that it recognises its strength and builds the story around her.

Director: Lee Isaac Chung

Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, David Corenswet, Harry Hadden-Paton

Twisters is not your typical disaster film. You only expect great spectacle, maybe even some raw human reactions to a disaster (like in The Mist). But Twisters doubles up as a coming-of-age film with a proper arc for the protagonist and a sense of gravitas that complements its big set pieces. The film opens with Edgar-Jones’ Kate Cooper and her college friends thrusting themselves into a tornado to gain data on how to tame it. Tragedy strikes in the blink of an eye as the wind snatches some of them away. Then, the narrative jumps to a time where Kate is a storm pattern analyst at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). And—whoosh!—she is back again all of a sudden in the open plains of Oklahoma, doing what she does best—chasing storms. This abrupt shift in timeline might feel jarring at first, leaving you questioning the purpose of the first scene. But Twisters gradually reveals itself as a rare disaster film with a surprising level of intelligence.

Kate undergoes a tragic event and holds back some real trauma, even after years—one she knows she needs to release while dealing with all the violent storms. The film beautifully realises this aspect of the character without ever letting it get in the way of the spectacle. It is a plot device, sure, and the film does not completely transcend the genre in terms of character development. But for a popcorn flick based on a campy classic, even having a relatable character that clicks is commendable enough.

The director, Lee Isaac Chung (Minari fame), being a former resident of tornado-prone Lincoln, Arkansas (part of Tornado Alley), adds another layer of authenticity. The visuals feel real, and the storm chaser references in the film are spot-on. For people of a certain vintage like yours truly, it even brings back fond memories of watching National Geographic. However, the spectacle genre relies on exaggeration, so you still need to suspend your disbelief. For instance, a chicken flying back onto a car immediately after a tornado seems bizarre, to say the least. Should the chicken not be elsewhere after all that chaos? That said, the film cleverly balances spectacle with moments of introspection for both the characters and the audience.

This balancing act happens mainly thanks to Edgar-Jones’ performance as Kate Cooper. She summons up all the right emotions wherever necessary, thus counterbalancing the coolness of Powell's tornado wrangler, Tyler Owens. In one scene, Owens even tells a journalist (Harry Hadden-Paton), who accompanies him and his fellow tornado wranglers, that Kate is the main story, showcasing his humility.