Jan de Bont’s 1996 tornado thriller turned out to be the ultimate cinematic delight for a whole generation. The movie not only made storms trendy by introducing viewers to a group of unconventional and fervent meteorologists, but also offered them hair-raising tornado sounds as a bonus.
About 30 decades after, Tornados (like Aliens, a pluralised sequel) intend to achieve the relatively same end goal, but except this time there have been some updates. Yes, Iraq is still a country, but radical Islam has combined with Global Warming, which in turn has resulted in an entire series of tornadoes taking place in Oklahoma. The film’s first couple of scenes are set during a tornado and acts as a politician’s speech, promising a lot and delivering nothing, but the scares are real enough, resulting in Kate (Stephan) and Javi (Flor) to derail.
Kate’s compelling aim of saving lives from the aftermath of a tornado becomes possible to accomplish again, when their astonishing new gear and the help of their Ivy League colleagues become enough to give them the power they sorely needed. However, this time they aren’t alone in disillusioning purposes. A group of chasers, including the self-proclaimed Science Cowboy, Tyler, starts performing extreme stunts to gain likes and followers, all using social media.
Hailed for the beautifully crafted immigration drama Minari, Lee Isaac Chung is the director who has set out to deliver his twisters over the midwestern landscape. Most probably when he set out to shoot Minari in Oklahoma, he never thought of following it up with a film that transports us back into the wild crazy world of Twisters. At the time Minari was an Oklahoma based project that aimed to capture the essence of achieving the American dream along with reality. Gruppe’s film portrays over ambitious America in which the characters indulge purely for the money, excitement, and attention.
It is an absolute delight to see Powell penetrate the festivities with his larger than life persona and boastful attitude which seems to be carried over from his role in Top Gun: Maverick. Following his performance, Edgar-Jones has been at the back with his smoldering ‘boy next door’ charm and the chemistry they share is slow yet completely satisfying. Watching Kate navigate through the immense childhood trauma that she portrays layered under her calm and childlike demeanor throughout the film was an act of sheer brilliance. Although adorably charming, I can only imagine how much of a disaster the writers’ vision for Kate’s ability to sense storms in advance would have turned out to be had she been granted the opportunity to play this role.
Katy O’Brien, famous for her roles in Love Lies Bleeding, performs at her best through a cowboy hat that complements her hair and unfortunately this is the only element that stuck with me, watching David Corenswet play the perfect deckward was truly amusing but in the grand scheme of things, he feels useless. However, Brandon Perea’s character Boone along with Tyler in a more interesting fashion portrays a more charming and scruffy side which I must admit is refreshing to witness. While I do feel like Ramos’ character Javi lacked depth, my heart ached when he was left to fend for himself, along with his shady businessman role.
Where the plot of the film falls short in being able to portray certain characters it more than makes up with the action sequences. The idea of enhancing a tornado might sound unusual, but this sequel manages to do so with some visuals that are truly terrifying and good clean fun. Steven Spielberg is an executive producer under his Amblin imprint and one can sense touches of his style in the exhilaration of the pounding rain and the gigantic cylindrical debris that massages the viewer while the human drama reaches a crescendo. All this is caught on film, including the silvery-grey palette of the storms juxtaposed with emerald greens and sunny colors during the calm.
To put it bluntly, Twisters is very proud of being a Big Summer Movie. The music is upbeat and on the nose, the celebrity cast a little too much to take in all at once (for the record, Powell’s scene of walking in the rain wearing a white t-shirt does not contribute to the plot in any way). Powell once again working with Joseph Kosinski of Maverick fame here is credited with writing the story seems like a stretch since Cruise is unavailable, but Twisters pretty much throws every other adrenaline-inducing action film tool in its locked-down wheelhouse at Cruise. At some point, our heroes are literally inviting people to a movie’s watching room to hide. And you’d probably be wise to follow along.
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