Twisters

Fun+ - 6/10

by Jad Sammour

As far as Legacy sequels go, the majority have been mixed bags. Very few hit the spot and the majority fail to grasp what made the original too iconic or lean too far into it. Twisters seemed in many ways like an unnecessary sequel and I have felt this way ever since they announced the film, but having seen it, I changed my mind. I enjoyed the original and it’s a film I have watched when I was very young (LBC late night films on weekends). I rewatched the original a few weeks ago and it mostly holds up. Comparing the “sequel’ to it, I can say that it’s barely a sequel, only by name and with some references - it is called a stand-alone sequel. To my knowledge, none of the original characters return and the only thing that makes a comeback is some imagery and Dorothy, now in its fifth iteration… oh and a flying cow.

Structurally, it’s a carbon copy of the 1996 film. It copies it beat for beat, even keeping some key events in very similar locations, identical turning points playing out at the same time, and character dynamics. The tone in Twisters is more serious than Twister which never took itself too seriously and functioned as a more romantic tale to heal a marriage. One of the things that I felt this film did better than its predecessor is emotions. I felt that I became more attached to the characters during Twisters than Twister. The main character, Kate, is someone you care about, even though she comes off as wooden at first. But her pain is felt - Daisy Edgar-Jones is one of my favorite rising stars. Opposite her is Tyler, played by the great Glen Powell - who is on foot to become one of the best movie starts of this generation. He’s a fun character with a soft side to him beyond his apparent cockiness and rigidness. Anthony Ramos is good. David Corenswet (the next Superman) has a small role but is dislikable as the script intends. The supporting cast are a colorful bunch that mirror the previous crew from Twister, but the predecessors come off as more fun and much more entertaining.

I haven’t watched many films by Lee Isaac Ching (except Minari which I didn’t like). He did a good job for his first big budget effects film. He photographed the tornadoes as giant stalking beasts, dangerous and massive but with a certain beauty to them. The film does have a slightly washed out and flat look, color-wise. The visuals don’t really pop because it is cloudy most of the time, which is excusable I guess but the film just look dull despite being well-shot. The tornadoes’s VFX have come a long way and look insane, unfortunately other computer-generated elements do not look as good. There are a few instances of fun parallel editing, the way some dialogue scenes are shot and edited together are fun and engaging. 

I think Twisters is a good time at the movies. It reminded me of Top Gun: Maverick in many places: fidelity to the original, an old-fashioned feel. It is mostly fun without any boring parts. It properly utilizes its cast and their chemistry. The spectacle is decent, and it makes you care for the main characters.

Twisters benefits from a good heart, focusing on doing good and making you care for the people suffering from the disaster, something that many disaster films with larger natural or unnatural disasters seem to forget. The anti-corporate message is welcomed. Unfortunately, it fails to mention climate change which would’ve really complimented the film and made a sturdier case for its existence. In the previous film, studying the tornadoes was the priority, here it’s stopping them: it’s more desperate, more involving, and mirrors the urgency of the climate crisis. Talking about climate change isn’t a message, it’s a moral duty and necessity for anyone handling a project with this wide of an audience. And trust me, it wouldn’t have messed up the fun because the film is full of scientific talk… what harm would one more do?

Overall, it’s not a bad time. It’s nothing special but it does the job for what it is.

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