The Stream: *Shrug* What you see is what you get.

The Big Screen: It delivers on the promise of twisters galore.

The Final Bill: A story that calls back to the original while the visual effects are a welcome upgrade.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Writers: Mark L. Smith; (story by Joseph Kosinski)
Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rating: PG-13 for intense action and peril, some language and injury images
Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Amblin Entertainment, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Lightnin’ Production Rentals
Platform: In theaters July 19, 2024
Notable Trailers: The Killer’s Game, Conclave, It Ends With Us, Trap, Speak No Evil, Wicked

Hey, Streamers! It seems like this is the summer of sequels of movies from 1990’s cinema. I guess no unoriginal idea can be denied when it comes to potential blockbuster material. Anyway, Twisters is just another one to throw on the pile. It isn’t a direct sequel to Twister (1996), but it does have some references to that movie, which suggest it exists in the same universe. In Twisters, Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a meteorologist and skilled storm chaser, teams up with a former classmate, Javi (Anthony Ramos), to utilize technology to map tornadoes. Kate wants to develop a solution that will decrease the intensity of tornadoes in order to save towns that could be devastated in Tornado Alley. Kate and Javi encounter a charismatic YouTube storm chaser, Tyler (Glen Powell) and his crew as they all converge in Oklahoma during a week of a predicted tornado outbreak. Tornado wrangling and flying debris hijinks ensue.

The movie is titled, Twisters, so you expect twisters. Spoiler Alert: you get twisters – many of them. If you are looking for destruction and things getting sucked up into the funnel clouds, you won’t be disappointed. The visual effects are pretty good. The storm chasers have to feel like they are in danger while we know that most of this is computer generated. It looks good enough. The landscapes are captured well, and it feels dangerous and ominous. The action sequences will get your adrenaline pumping.

If you are looking for an interesting story to go along with that destruction, you may be less enthusiastic about this sequel. From my recollection, this story isn’t too different from the 1996 version – not that that’s necessarily a problem – it just means this movie has to set itself apart in other ways. The leads of this movie, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, have enough charisma and acting chops to fill the screen. Kate is kind of a dumb character, but Edgar-Jones makes her sympathetic and relatable. She is the center of the movie and the audience will root for her. Glen Powell pours on the charm – a little too much in the beginning, but he settles in. Powell’s character has some layers for a blockbuster hunk, which is good enough. Powell and Edgar-Jones have nice chemistry, which makes the human part of the story watchable.

This movie is tornadoes, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell. The other side characters have a few moments, but none are very memorable. Twisters is entertaining in the moment, but it will probably twist right out your brain once you leave the theater because there’s nothing as iconic as what’s in Twister.

Ultimately, Twisters delivers on the mindless, popcorn blockbuster you hoped it would be. It has references to the original Twister, which you would expect, but it utilizes upgraded technology and the star power of Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell to set itself apart. The story is pretty basic and the characters make dumb decisions; but the movie is entertaining enough nonetheless. This movie is good enough for a matinee in a comfortable theater. Grab your bowl of popcorn and get twisted up.