Review: New Oklahoma-made movie 'Twisters' is a worthy successor to the 1996 blockbuster
The long-awaited follow-up film "Twisters" proves a worthy successor to the 1996 blockbuster "Twister," a movie that not only boasts a lasting cinematic legacy but also forever altered the way people view and study tornadoes.
Even better, the new movie, like its predecessor, was filmed in Oklahoma and depicts this state's complicated relationship with its infamously stormy weather in ways that, while amped up with extra Hollywood drama, still feel true-to-life, respectful and empathetic.
Directed with great grace and style by two-time Oscar nominee Lee Isaac Chung and starring the winning trio of Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos, "Twisters" opens in theaters July 19.
What is 'Twisters' about and does it connect to the original 'Twister?'
As promised, "Twisters" is a new, contemporary follow-up to the 1996 blockbuster "Twister," rather than a true sequel. An Oscar-nominated hit, "Twister" followed Helen Hunt, the late Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as fictional storm chasers tracking a series of powerful tornadoes.
"Twisters" features some fun hat tips to the original "Twister." The narratives are not connected in any overt (and potentially cheesy) way, except that "Twisters" borrows — sometimes a little too freely — from some of the plot points and character arcs of its forerunner.
The clearest tie between the storylines is that "Twisters" introduces Edgar-Jones and Ramos' characters when they're in college at fictional Muskogee State University, the same Oklahoma alma mater of Hunt and Paxton's "Twister" scientists, which allows for a certain iconic piece of equipment from the first film to make a cameo early in the new movie.
Avoiding the often cringy, exaggerated Hollywood version of an Oklahoma drawl, London native Edgar-Jones gives a quietly captivating turn as Kate Carter, a weather wunderkind born and raised on a Sapulpa farm who is both academically brilliant and innately talented at predicting storms. We first meet Kate when she's leading a fellow group of enthusiastic meteorology students — including the perpetual party animal Javi (Ramos) — in a field experiment to test her theory that introducing large amounts of a certain chemical cocktail to a tornado can hinder the development of, or tame, a twister.
After their field test goes tragically wrong, Mark L. Smith's ("The Revenant") script picks up five years later with a subdued Kate, who works at the National Weather Service in New York City, following rainstorms from behind the safety of a computer. Her solitary new life is disrupted when her old pal Javi pays her a visit.
Now an ambitious, buttoned-down entrepreneur, Javi has tapped a big investor, allowing him to obtain experimental technology that could provide real-time 3D imaging of cyclones and help researchers better understand and track them. The catch is that he and his team need to get close enough to at least one twister to place their equipment, and he urges Kate to return to Oklahoma during a historic storm season and help them.
Naturally, Kate is lured back to the Sooner State, where the busy tornado season has attracted not only meteorologists but also storm-chasing tours, amateur weather enthusiasts and thrill seekers, including a ragtag crew of "Tornado Wranglers" led by charmingly handsome daredevil Tyler Owens (Powell), who have become viral sensations by filming their close encounters with tornadoes.
Already a rival of Javi and his strait-laced band of scientists, Tyler is intrigued by Kate and her uncanny ability to predict which storms will spin off the biggest tornadoes. Despite her misgivings about his attention-grabbing ways, Kate begins to see there is more to Tyler than just his cowboy facade, while also suspecting that Javi and his big-money backer have a less-than-scientific ulterior motive for tracking destructive storms.
How does 'Twisters' measure up to the original movie?
Like its predecessor, "Twisters" is an entertaining popcorn movie that successfully harnesses the real fear and fascination spawned by tornadoes, while not forgetting the devastating effect severe weather can have on the people and places unfortunate enough to be in the path of a whirlwind.
The not-quite-a-sequel sometimes copies and pastes a little too freely from the first movie's narrative, and not just because it focuses on another tornado-traumatized woman scientist heading back out into the storm. You know that future "Superman" actor David Corenswet's arrogant character is going to be nefarious at first glance, not only because he's an unsmiling, stuck-up MIT alumnus but also because he has an uncanny resemblance to Elwes' smarmy baddie from the first movie.
"Twisters" doesn't have quite the freewheeling energy of the original, with a middle homecoming section that lags despite the welcome presence of Golden Globe winner Maura Tierney ("ER," "Beautiful Boy").
But the new movie feels more structured and sound from a storytelling perspective, even as it bounces nimbly from rip-roaring action and heart-pounding fear to post-storm heartbreak and quippy one-liners. The three main characters are better developed and nuanced, and the actors' excellent chemistry helps make the love triangle feel more believable and earned.
Powell continues to show that he has true movie star potential, Ramos keeps bringing interesting angles to every character he plays, but Edgar-Jones particularly impresses with a leading turn that stands up not just to lavish special effects but also to showier performances.
Although there's no standout like the late, great Hoffman, Chung has assembled a strong supporting cast — especially Brandon Perea ("Nope") as videographer Boone and Sasha Lane ("American Honey") as drone operator Lily — to play the colorful "Tornado Wranglers," leaving viewers wanting to ride along and root for them. Plus, Harry Hadden-Paton's English journalist on a ride-along is less annoying than Gertz's unfortunate "Twister" character in the thankless role of the newcomer on the receiving end of the requisite scientific explanations.
How is Oklahoma depicted in 'Twisters?'
Chung previously filmed his excellent Academy Award-winning semi-autobiographical immigrant drama "Minari" in the Tulsa area in 2019, earning Oscar nominations for best director and best original screenplay.
But that's the not full extent of the director's experiences in the Heartland: He grew up on an Arkansas farm not far from the Oklahoma border, and his connection with the region, its people and culture gives "Twisters" a lived-in authenticity that feels even more grounded than "Twister's" Dutch director Jan de Bont's admirable previous effort.
Throughout 60 days of principal photography, the "Twisters" cast and crew worked in several communities across the state, including Oklahoma City, El Reno, Chickasha, Midwest City, Spencer, Kingfisher, Calumet, Hinton, Fairview, Okarche, Kremlin, Burbank and Pawhuska.
Downtown OKC convincingly doubles as New York City, but El Reno gets the brightest, and most tornado-torn spotlight, in the thrilling climax that involves a farmers' market, a vintage movie house and a digitally recreated version of the town's real-life retro water tower. The community's actual trolley even becomes a scary set piece.
Obviously, the movie takes dramatic license, such as depicting tornadoes ripping toward crowded events like a Little League Baseball game and a popular rodeo, the kind of outdoor activities that are routinely postponed around here on days when there's a even a high risk for severe weather. But that's Hollywood for you.
How do the tornadoes look in 'Twisters?'
The original "Twister" famously tapped Industrial Light & Magic to create the movie's souped-up storms, earning an Oscar nomination for its groundbreaking visual effects.
With an estimated budget of $200 million, the follow-up film brings back the legendary effects house to create even more dramatic and dramatized severe weather. In part due to the success of the original movie, the filmmakers are working with both more advanced digital effects capabilities and more close-up imagery of real-life tornadoes, which means audiences are expecting more wow factor from the new film.
Like his predecessor, Chung wisely uses a combination of practical special effects and digital visual effects to create his "Twisters," which includes a whopping six separate storm sequences boasting 10 total tornadoes.
Although some of the fiery action sequences seem far-fetched, the new movie mostly delivers on the stormy action, again, because of the director's commitment to grounding the storytelling in reality: All the cyclones in "Twisters" were inspired by at least one real-life tornado, and they often mix hallmarks of multiple storms, including the multiple vortexes of the real-life 2013 El Reno tornado that make a breath-stealing appearance.
It's hard to know if, like "Twister," the new chapter proves as influential and iconic as the original movie. Like its precursor, "Twisters" is devised as a fun tentpole action movie meant to be seen in the theater with lots of popcorn and jump scares — and it gets the job done.
Fortunately, "Twisters" also maintains the original's empathy for those who live in Tornado Alley and respect for the storm-chasers who brave the whirlwinds in the hopes of better protecting people from the danger.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Twisters review: Is the sequel a worthy successor to the 1996 hit?
