Nearly thirty years after the release of Twister, the movie that inspired a new generation of storm hunters and disaster movie enthusiasts – a new chapter is hitting theaters this weekend. Twisters is a more modern version of Twisters with an (almost) all-new storyline, new characters, and new technology.
Twisters brings us the story of Kate Cooper, a former storm chaser who gave up on her passion after she lost some of her closest friends trying to prove her theory right. Five years later, one friend comes back and asks her to help him with a new project with tornadoes as the state of Oklahoma is being ravaged by them. Going with the intention to help others, Kate quickly is confronted with things not being as they seem as they interact with a YouTube storm chaser and his team, and watch as small communities are torn apart.
Fans of the original Twister movie will quickly pick up on the dynamics between Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) being similar to the Helen Hunt/Bill Paxton relationship in the original movie. The competing personalities complement each other well and work better when together than when working against each other. They even style Kate and Tyler in similar outfits that the Hardings wore in Twister. Yes, fashion has cycles but these are a bit too on the nose to be a coincidence.
The character dynamic isn’t the only similarity that you may notice from the first movie, the scripts are almost down to the exact formula. Studying the storms, dinner with a family member while in town, helping out after a storm, rogue livestock, and an indestructible Red Dodge Ram. And yet, even with all of those things being the same, they found a way to make the movie feel unique and not just another rehashed movie.
The chemistry between Kate and Tyler is one of the highlights of the film. It doesn’t seem forced and the two are well-matched. Sure Glen Powell’s character is a bit of a cheeseball and it’s hard to see him as the bad guy the movie initially sets him up as. But he’s absolutely someone you would watch on Youtube, just to see what kind of crazy stunt they would do next. It’s almost a mix of How Ridiculous and a storm chaser, with a touch of Jack Ass thrown in as well. It’s a believable group of characters that no doubt would do well if they existed.
Twisters may have fans of the original wondering just how hard they had to lean on that original script when writing this one – but there is one thing they all will agree on. The movie is fun. There are enough storms that will feed that need that the audience is looking for, some high-risk moments, and some terrible losses along the way, as well. Yes, there are countless striking similarities to the original Twister movie, and that may be just the Easter Eggs for fans. But some do leave some pretty big open-ended questions for fans. But most of all, it’ll leave you questioning and waiting for the extras to find out how much of the science actually works and if it could be something that can be applied in real-life storms.
Twisters is in theaters everywhere this weekend.
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About Twisters
Kate Cooper, a former storm chases haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City. She is lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens, the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better.