“Kate Carter, a retired tornado-chaser and meteorologist, is persuaded to return to Oklahoma to work with a new team and new technologies.”
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Writers: Mark L. Smith, Joseph Kosinski, Michael Crichton, Anne-Marie Martin
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney
Release Date: July 19, 2024
IMDB
What a great time at the movie theaters! Twisters (2024) is now available for digital purchase, but if you missed out on watching Twisters in theaters, you missed out on a classic, stereotypical, successful box office hit. Emma and I had the opportunity to watch Twisters at a drive-in movie theater in Cape Cod on our honeymoon, and I’d be lying if it didn’t make the whole viewing experience just a tad bit more special.
If you have seen Twister (1996), you are primed and ready for Twisters. The plot is essentially the exact same; only the characters and their framing have changed.
Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) was once a high-risk tornado chaser and meteorologist. However, a traumatic event led to a career shift where she found herself behind a desk, looking at maps rather than traversing the land. Five years later, Kate gets a chance to get back in the field when her old friend Javi (Anthony Ramos) persuades her to take a week away from the suits to help his Storm Par team get their new 3D tracking scientific technology off the ground.
A lot has changed in tornado chasing in five years, and Kate gets a first-hand introduction when the loud and proud YouTube storm chaser Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) arrives on the scene. Storm Par’s team of “professionals” has to compete with Tyler Owens and his rag-tag crew for the storms they are chasing. Kate finds herself in many high-speed chases with motivations and friendship leanings rattling around in the gusty chaos. It’s no spoiler to say that Kate initially dislikes Tyler, but once true motivations and buried personalities are uncovered, the once-retired storm-chaser soon finds herself in the middle of a storm she never expected, literally and metaphorically.
The weakest part of this movie is Anthony Ramos. He has the thankless role of playing Javi, the friend who omits the truth from Kate while also somewhat managing his romantic crush on her. He has to balance disappointment with her at first, followed by disappointment in himself, anchored by an acceptance of his lowly place at the bottom of the totem pole. Every scene with Javi is an eye-roller because you know how it will play out. Ramos is a star and a name, but in Twisters he has to play a bit of a squirrelly character that sucks his natural charisma out of him. This was a poor choice in casting. Javi could have been played by an actor with more pity built into his on-screen persona.
We’ve got the worst part of the way, just so we can talk about the best part.
Glen, mother fucking, Powell.
Much like how a Twister will suck up anything you put in front of it, Powell’s easy-access charm is on full display right from the jump. Powell understood this assignment and knocked it out of the fucking part. Tyler, the YouTube creator and thrill-seeking man-man, is an easy character to hate at face value, but with the talents of Powell portrayal, even the most dubious viewer can’t help but be sucked into his vortex. The man wears a cowboy hat with the best of them, and as Twisters unfurls itself towards its end, we learn that Tyler is more than just the always smiling, seemingly risk-it-all type of guy.
Perhaps the best part of Tyler’s character is that he knows he doesn’t have all the answers, and his fascination with Kate is the perfect sprinkle of romance for this summer blockbuster. Twisters never goes full romantic adventure. Rather, it pays homage to its predecessor, Twister, with two characters that obviously have a connection, granted there is a chasm of variables to overcome before synergy can be achieved.
There are three moments in Twisters where one could argue I audibly reacted at the drive-in movie theater.
The first is when Kate realizes that Tyler and his gang of seemingly unchoreographed but very smart misfits take time to care for the victims of the twisters. Kate thought that Tyler and company were in it all for the attention and fame, but when it came time to volunteer, they made the time. It was the first of many moments when I fist-pumped for Tyler.
The second “wahoo!” moment is a blatant crowd-pleaser. When Tyler leaves Kate’s mom’s house in the rain with his cowboy hat and white tee-shirt, well, let’s just say that director Lee Isaac Chung and everyone involved knew exactly what they were doing. This is part of operation “make Powell look as attractive as possible.” Before Twistersi, the world got Powell in a Naval flight suit with Top Gun: Maverick (2022), made him the everyman costume wearer in Hit Man (2023), and pinned him naked alongside Sydney Sweeney in Anyone But You (2023). There is a reason Powell is the most bankable star in Hollywood right now, and the ability to look hot as hell is part of the reason.
The last crowd-pleasing moment is outrageous. It is unbelievable and involves the most suspension of disbelief of any moment in the movie. It comes at the very end of the film when Tyler is tired of dealing with an annoying airport traffic coordinator outside the dropoff area. We all know that walkie-talkie-wielding guy, right? Tyler decides he needs to stay an indefinite amount of time more to see about a girl, so he triggers his truck’s earth-grinding gears and digs into the asphalt. The vehicle’s supped-up powers are used throughout the story, so to have it triggered one final time in the most romantically insane way possible deserves the heartiest of fist bumps.
Wow, I went a little heavy on Glen Powell, huh?
Twisters knows precisely what it is and what it is meant to be. The movie is not going to win any awards, but it’s going to be loud, and it is going to put attractive people doing dangerous things. The most damning thing about Twisters is that it’ll make you want to “yee-haw” while putting on jeans and a cowboy hat. Watch the movie and have a good time.
STANKO RATING: B
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