Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Cast: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: (M)
★★+
By AMASIO JUTEL
Twisters (Rialto, Reading) is a disaster movie paradigmatic of a general trend towards conservatism that has become commonplace in Hollywood this millennium. As a legacy sequel, it’s passable, with shallow characters and generic narrative beats that attempt to replicate the emotional experiences of its superior predecessor.
The narrative follows Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a tornado enthusiast with a traumatic past, and Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a social media sensation, who butt heads over storm-chasing in the elementally volatile Oklahoma setting.
Twisters presents a sanitised reimagining of the adventurous summer blockbuster sensation that was Twister. It borrows memorable moments from its predecessor without capturing the depth that made them resonate, instead treating us to a hackneyed plot about overcoming trauma.
Without the perilous thrill in the road junkie crew, or personal quirks and specific expertise, the characters aren’t given any means to grow. Kate’s prodigious tornado knowledge is unearned, lacking the adrenal instinctual mythos that surrounded Bill in Twister.
The film sacrifices thrill-seeking self-destructiveness for obvious moral clarity that only feels unadventurous. Without immersive worldbuilding, the resultant tornados, once titan-like, lose their awe-inspiring stature, robbing the film of the elemental fear that should accompany a disaster film.
Glen Powell delivers an absorbing performance as Tyler, showcasing a charisma akin to that of his rapidly developing star persona. Additionally, the film’s final "battle" boasts an interesting piece of visual spectacle and a character payoff that, while predictable, did bring a tear to this honest reviewer’s eyes.
Twisters’ greatest flaw is its lack of ambition, disfiguring its source material and settling for mediocrity rather than striving for something anything transformative.
