Tropic Sprockets / Twisters

By Ian Brockway

“Twisters” by Director Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) is big on action and hair-raising stunts but does not quite have the sense of surprise like the original. Nevertheless, it has a good cast, and actor Glen Powell does have matinee charisma and holds the film together. [Showtimes at Tropiccinema.com]

Kate Carter (Daisy Jessica Edgar-Jones) is a meteorologist and storm chaser. When Kate’s boyfriend dies due to a tornado, she is devastated and takes a job at a news station.

Five years later, Kate is visited by her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos). They begin to rekindle their quest for chasing tornadoes. In the midst of their quest, they are interrupted by Tyler (Glen Powell) a charismatic cowboy type with a hunger for fame and a penchant for pyrotechnics. Kate becomes leery of Tyler’s quest for Internet fame, but soon becomes smitten by the cowboy with a heart of gold.

Kate and Tyler begin a tornado tossed romance of sorts.

The events of disaster do not have the quirkiness of the 1996 Jan du Bont original film. There is more exposition and the sense of zany whimsy which made the first film so enjoyable is gone. At times, the action and the dialogue feels rote and routine.

That being said, Glen Powell, as the charming devil-may-care “tornado Wrangler” gives some energy to the film almost putting it into a retro 1970s Clint Eastwood realm. While we know well what to expect by now, there is something haunting and iconic about the sight of an angry gray sky accented by a formidable Hollywood score, as if the very atmosphere was the embodiment of the great white shark in Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws.”

As in the original film, terror comes not from any creature or entity but nature, and she is sudden and fickle unleashing walls of fire that cover the sky. The first film created the apocalypse as something kitschy and imperfect, a tragicomic happenstance. In 2024, the digital effects are so laser sharp and clean, all elements make nature’s funnel into photorealism, something precise and surgical. All tragedy is on now on a scheduled cue with the exactitude of an Apple Watch.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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