The original Twister has many hokey but thrilling moments such as a flying cow, a van driving through a windblown house, and withstanding the power of a cacophonous tornado by tying your belt to a pipe. It’s part of that 1990s wave of blockbusters about disasters of epic proportions with spectacular special effects. Twisters, the sequel made nearly 30 years later, adds more emotional gravitas to its familiar storyline of passionate storm chasers with an experiment that goes terribly awry.
Twisters’ opening wallops the audience with intense trauma and shocking tragedy when the lead character, Kate, her boyfriend, and friends (played by Anthony Ramos, Kiernan Shipka, and Nik Dodani) head into the belly of a violent storm. As Kate, Daisy Edgar-Jones deftly balances her character’s subsequent emotional detachment with the scientific wonder she feels for tornadoes that is difficult to suppress.
The twister scenes in Twisters are frightening since director Isaac Lee Chung puts the audience deep inside the action. The sound design envelops you with the ominous roar of thunder, heavy rain, and whipping wind. The camera shakes from all the turbulence, leaving you just as blinded and ambushed as the main characters. Chung makes the storm scenes feel intimate and personal through tight shots of the protagonists, allowing the audience to emotionally identify with them and viscerally experience their terror amidst the chaos.
The way that many innocent bystanders meet their deaths— their bodies unexpectedly sucked into a swirling vortex of destruction before they suddenly vanish— is harrowing. Behind the scenes, Chung combined CGI with practical effects, utilizing large jet engines and filming on location in Oklahoma during actual severe storms. This creates stunning action sequences with visuals that feel tangible and authentic. The impact of filming in this type of harsh environment is written all over the actor’s faces, whose performances often seem genuinely fearful and physically demanding.
There are a lot of callbacks to the original Twister that will satisfy fans such as Kate's costuming, a Dorothy machine cameo, and a tornado threatening a movie theater. Although Twisters follows much of the same story beats, it puts a new twist on the "He's in it for the money, not the science" dynamic from the first film. There is a rival tornado-wrangling crew of YouTubers, led by the charming Glen Powell as Tyler. Kate assumes they put their lives in danger to monetize their adventurous content and get viewers to smash that like button, not to contribute helpful research. Kate eventually learns that the ragtag group is led by a “cowboy scientist” who has just as much of an interest in learning about tornadoes to help others as she does. The gradual development of her and Tyler’s relationship and chemistry is compelling to watch, especially considering Powell’s performance. In his swagger, glowing smile, and twinkling eyes, Powell demonstrates the kind of bonafide movie star presence that audiences have been starving for.
At the same time, a member of Kate's former tornado crew begins developing a radar system for a real estate developer who exploits the victims of desecrated homes. Twisters lightly touches on these serious issues of climate change, economic hardship, and the devastating ramifications of severe weather. The quiet moments where the townspeople desperately search through the rubble of their homes for their family dogs or clutch their rescued photo albums are moving and add a touch of humanism to the action-packed spectacle.
Twisters builds to an adrenaline-fueled finale where a quaint small town is ravaged by a ferocious tornado. While the ride may be similar, you still get swept away by Twisters. It is an exhilarating popcorn flick that feels so rare in the current movie landscape. By combining pure, unadulterated excitement with sentiment, Twisters earns a rightful place alongside the original.