Twisters

Grade: B+

Twisters shares the same title font as Jan de Bont’s 1996 film Twister, but as far as I could tell, there are no connections between that movie and this one, when it comes to characters. Halfway through, we meet the young female lead’s mother. She starts off as an obscured shadowy figure for a few seconds, until stepping into the light. I thought maybe it would be a big reveal that it’s Helen Hunt reprising her role, but no – it’s the always welcome Maura Tierney (Jim Carrey’s wife in Liar Liar, and recently the mother in The Iron Claw.) When my oldest son was in 2nd grade, he had a homework worksheet that asked the question “How can tornadoes cause problems for humans?” His answer: “They can blow people around.” Twisters had me routinely thinking I knew exactly where it was going, as I prepared for each inevitable narrative beat – only to have me be pleasantly wrong, time and time again. This movie blew me around.

Our star wasn’t born yet when Twister (1996) came out. She’s Daisy Edgar-Jones, from Where the Crawdads Sing. I didn’t like that film, but loved her. The opening sequence of Twisters turns out to have just been a flashback, or a set-up, but it has characters (this is the only scene for most of them, hint hint) that are so compelling and fleshed-out that I didn’t know at the time they were just “throwaways.” A perfectly fine standalone film could have been made about them. Edgar-Jones plays Kate, who, along with her boyfriend and a few other weather-obsessed “tornado chasers,” are trying to capture some footage for a science project that offers a $1000 reward for the best one. I was thinking that’s not a gigantic amount of money when you divide it by 4 or 5, but maybe it is for teenagers. Kate lives, but is understandably traumatized by the experience.

After a “Five Years Later” title card, Kate is working in meteorology, in the safety of an office, in a place that doesn’t see many tornadoes. New York City. Kate hasn’t “chased” since the events of half a decade ago, but she receives a surprise visit from Javi (Anthony Ramos from In the Heights, A Star is Born, and Broadway’s Hamilton), the only other survivor in that group. He convinces her to go back out with him and a few others for another assignment in Oklahoma. He needs her because she knows her weather, and he’s obviously infatuated. Tornado-chasing in Oklahoma is apparently a huge, almost convention-like pastime for many. It’s crowded, but any cacophony is overshadowed by the entrance of pompous tornado-wrangler Tyler and his crew. They storm up (no pun intended) in their tricked-out Twistermobile blasting country music, selling T-shirts, and doing photo-ops like the YouTube celebrities they are.

He’s played by Glen Powell (Anyone But You). He’s an insufferable, toxically masculine grotesque archetype for his first few scenes at least. One of the most annoying examples of such that I’ve ever seen in a movie. He’s the competition, constantly taunting Kate and her crew. I wanted to tell her and her gang “Don’t worry about him. Just stay safe, try to get the info you need, then get her back to New York.” And now I’d say to you “Just keep watching.” We find out, in poignant unpredictable developments, how Tyler and his people aren’t that bad.

Tyler and Kate end up collaborating on a project. She’s long had a pipe dream of becoming a tornado-snuffer-outer of sorts, by getting inside one with her vehicle, drilling it into the ground to secure it, and releasing a series of chemicals into the air that will dissipate the twister before it causes more destruction and devastation. Tyler wants to help her with this. Edgar-Jones is very good in these scenes. I think I could pinpoint the exact moment she stopped dwelling so much on the awful incident from five years ago, and started enjoying the ride again. Meanwhile, Javi watches from the sidelines as this new unlikely friendship blossoms.

If you’re wondering how the love triangle pans out, well…as I was hoping, nobody kisses, and everyone is friendly. I was really enjoying the movie, but was on pins and needles in the last few minutes, as a grand romantic embrace would have been too easy, cheap, and would have brought the grade down. “No kissing. Don’t screw this up.” – I was thinking. They don’t, but still leave the door open for potential kisses in the future. The action scenes are great, but the story, believe it or not, is even better. Twisters has heart, strong character development, and every last song on the soundtrack (from the familiar to the unknown) is used effectively. I figured I’d hate Glen Powell’s character the whole time. I’m glad I didn’t bet $1000 on it.

Grade: B+