I miss the movies of my youth sometimes. Disasters, alien invasions, the wrath of nature, all of it awe-inspiring and riding on the shoulders of some of the most beautiful people on the planet (often with real chemistry, remember that!?). Twister, a Jan de Bont vehicle starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, was one such film and it was an exciting, effects-driven thrill ride that I still love to this day. Hearing that Minari‘s Lee Isaac Chung was headed to direct a big-budget sequel was a bit…odd, but I held out some hope due to my love for the director’s first film and the incredible cast.
Twisters lives up to the hype, and serves as further evidence that there’s a hunger for big movies that don’t feature anyone in spandex.
Getting Glen Powell in front of this thing does it every favor in the world. Film geeks, desperate for a new movie star, are hungry to anoint him their new king and I am onboard with this mindset. The man sweats charisma, is achingly hot, and has studied under the airplane wing of Tom Cruise. Pairing him with Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing)? You’ve got a recipe for incredibly successful film right there.
The meat of the movie comprises of pairing these two together as they chase turnaders. Edgar-Jones stars as Kate, an enthusiastic but haunted meteorologist that can read clouds like tea leaves and predict the weather. Moving to New York City after a tragedy that claimed the lives of most of her graduate school team, she’s now safely behind closed doors. When Javi (Anthony Ramos) shows up to draw her back into the field with shiny new equipment she accepts with reluctance, but a competitive spark forms between herself and Twitch-streamer Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), who rides into tornadoes to set fireworks off in them and sells t-shirts with his face on them that say “This ain’t my first tornadeo.”
Ramos has some fun here as the guy who is eternally friend-zoned and we get some good moments with Owens’ crew (Brandon Perea, Sasha Lane, Tunde Adebimpe, and Katy O’Brian), but the real star of the show is the chemistry between Powell and Edgar-Jones. I’ve longed for movies with gorgeous stars that have real “tear into each other” chemistry and it’s here at last. It pairs with a spectacle that mixes computer graphics with some wonderful practical sets and destruction.
Missy Parker’s set decoration truly is the third lead of the film, with very specific images to invoke damage in a part of the world I’m quite familiar with. Her work speaks volumes to Midwestern audiences that haven’t gotten to see themselves onscreen in ages. Everything is wonderful and then it ends up with everyone being corralled into a movie theatre. Five stars, no notes.
The only thing that truly frustrates me about Twisters is its fear to act on any of the real chemistry between its two leads. There’s plenty there to take a bite of but the script allows neither of them to really get a mouthful. There’s a prudishness about movies these days but for the love of whatever you believe in please just let the hot people kiss. It’s all I ask for. It’s a romance plot for crying out loud. Let. Them. Smooch.
Aside from that if you’re looking for a sexy spectacle (with country music that isn’t painful to listen to) then you’re in for a great time. I cannot recommend Twisters enough, a throwback (or resurrection) to a genre I’d long given up for dead.
Twisters is still playing in theatres, at least if Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t hogging all the screens.
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