Quickie: Twisters

Hello, everyone! Logan here to give you a quickie on the latest blockbuster, Twisters, starring Daisy Ecker Jones, Glenn Powell, Anthony Ramos, and the list goes on. This is probably going to be a bit of a short one, not because I didn't like the film. I actually had a lot of fun with the film, but it's going to be a spoiler-free Quickie as well as a solo Quickie! I know Andy saw it today as well as I did, and I don't know what he thought, but at least in my opinion, Twisters is a lot of fun. While I don't think it’s as good as the original film, I think it still gives you what you want out of a Twister sequel in some way, shape, or form. Now, that doesn't mean it's going to be, you know, highly tied to the original film. The thing about this film, too, is that if you, for some reason, are expecting this film to be almost like a legacy sequel, something like, you know, The Force Awakens, you're not gonna get that with Twisters. There are references to the first film. There's one blatant reference that's very early on in the film, but besides that, I think a lot of the other stuff is pretty much just, like, you know, dealing with Oklahoma and the Tornado Alley and things that are already talked about in the first film. And then, ultimately, you're just going to have to be brought up back into conversation, organically discussing storm chasing as well as how, in this universe, how much tornadoes have changed and gotten more increasingly violent as the years have gone on. (And yeah, for context, I actually never watched the original Twister all the way through until yesterday.) Twister, as a film, was one that I had seen plenty of clips of and even knew the premise of, as well as the main love triangle that's involved in that film, but ultimately just never fully sat down and watched it until yesterday to prep for seeing Twisters. And I had an absolute blast with the original film, which is no surprise. The original film is a beloved 90s classic, but it was good to see that film going into Twisters because, while I do think that there are elements in the original film that, you know, the sequel just can't capture, in a sense, because it's really just hard to capture the type of wild, silly edge that the original 90s film has. Overall, I think Twister still does a good job of finding kind of a modern equivalent to, like, the silliness, the, you know, the hamminess in the performances, but in a way that's very, you know, fun and really just amp up the ridiculousness of the fact that we are watching people who are going out of their way to drive into paths of tornadoes. And I think, honestly, while I do think that there are elements in the directing, cinematography, and the editing and Twisters that I feel like, you know, hinder some of the aspects of the tornado action compared to the first film—the first film was directed by the director of Speed, Jan de Bont. And there are some phenomenal, wild shots that are in that first film that are just clearly, like, of course the man behind Speed is doing the tornado film, and it's clear that he's going all out with some of these set piece moments. And Lee Isaac Chung—who most people might know from his Oscar-winning film Minari from 2020—does a wonderful job in the film, in terms of really capturing the essence of what makes these films so much fun to watch, regardless of the craziness going on in the narratives in either one of these films. And honestly, I think, surprisingly, even though the first film touches on it a bit, I think Twisters does, in fact, without spoiling too much, capture and touch a bit more on the aftermath and the damage and the consequences that come from natural disasters like tornadoes. It's fascinating to watch and be Like, “Oh, yeah, the original Twister DOES touch on those things,” but a lot of that is just to lead into cool set pieces, which, again, in the original Twister, there are a lot of really cool set pieces! So it's interesting to see with Twisters, how it does want to focus a bit more on the human element and the more grounded aspects of tornadoes and the death and destruction that can come from them. But, you know, honestly, when it comes to Twisters, while there are some interesting angles that they touch on, in terms their approach to an antagonistic force in this film, whether as the, you know, kind of figuring out how, where do you go from the original film being about just trying to scan a tornado to what this film is trying to do, in terms of trying to figure out: how do you “kill” a tornado before it gets too dangerous? Similar to the original film, that is just one aspect of a nearly two hour film. And overall, again, I think what it does is it makes a very fun popcorn film that has a really good lead performance from Daisy Edgar Jones, and an overtly silly but still fun and charismatic performance from Glen Powell—who does have moments of earnestness throughout the film, but it is kind of wild every time he shows up on screen because having Glen Powell as like this “version” of a Bill Paxton-type is clearly not a 1:1 and really shouldn't be because it's a vastly different approach. But it's still fun to see Powell because he has really good chemistry with Jones. And honestly, the one thing that I was kind of shocked about, and I wish was worked on more was Anthony Ramos, who I think is a really good actor—I think he's very charismatic and energetic, and I really enjoy his performances and other things like In the Heights. I think he might be miscast in this film. Doesn't mean he's bad. It just feels really, really subdued in a way that just feels like there's more to this character that could have been put on the screen that we really don't get. And that is a lot of what the downside of Twisters is. I think that there are more elements that they're trying to build upon that aren't, you know, in the original Twister. Yes, there are other elements they kind of build upon, but they're very the ones that are the most important they focus on entirely and are able to give to a very solid, very satisfying conclusion by the end of that film. And with Twisters, yes, the conclusion I do like a lot. Ultimately, there are some elements to certain aspects of like, you know, the “antagonist” of the film, also a possible love triangle depending on if you are going to imply it as such. But I can also honestly see people seeing this film, walking out of the theater, and not even thinking about it being a love triangle. Similarly, Glen Powell's crew of storm chasers have a lot of personality, and though that ensemble is doing a phenomenal job, we don't get really a lot of development surrounding them. But overall, I think it's, I honestly, I think it's just really good to have something like Twisters out in theaters. It's not as good as a Top Gun: Maverick, in terms of almost like a return-to-form blockbuster, but I do think it has enough of that classic blockbuster energy that I think if you were kind of on the fence on Twisters, wondering whether or not it was gonna give you that kind of excitement in a theater, I'll tell you what: I was pretty excited and having a fun time in my theater. I went with a friend in IMAX, and when we bought our tickets, there were, like, four or five people in the theater. Initially. When I got there, it was, like, five, six times more than I anticipated. Like, it was a pretty crowded IMAX for a Sunday night, and everyone was having a good time. People were laughing at the jokes. You know, the energy was very palpable in the tornado scenes, and it kind of gave me a little bit of a glimpse of what I got when I saw Top Gun: Maverick a few years back. And so, with Twisters, even though I would consider it a weaker film than the first Twister—which I'd give, like a three-and-a-half out of five—I'd probably give Twisters the same thing. But, like, it's just enough lower that I would still rank the first one better by a few different elements. But overall, I really do like the fact that, you know, everyone's going for the craziness in Twisters. Everyone seems like they are having a fun time. I like how there are a lot of elements that are brought back narratively, in terms of the structure from Twister into Twisters and done in enough of a twist that I think keeps it fresh enough that I think fans of the original Twister can go into Twisters and really enjoy the time—unless you really, really want, like, a Twister 2. That's the situation, too, like, I think most people can go into Twisters without even seeing the first Twister and have a really good time. And I think most people who have seen the original Twister will get a lot out of the little changes and tweaks here and there too, like, character types and narrative situations where it's like, “Oh, yeah, I remember that from the original film.” But if you're one of those people who, even though, Bill Paxton has passed away, and Philip Seymour Hoffman has passed away, wants Helen Hunt and the crew to come back for a Twister 2, you're not going to get that. And, you know, if that's the case, I'm sorry to tell you that, but understandably so. I think that once you're able to get over that, I think it's still a good time. If anything, with Twisters, I think it's pretty inoffensive across the board, in a good and a bad way. I think it stands out enough that if you're looking for something to watch at a matinee price in the future and this is still in theaters and you haven't watched it yet, I feel like it's an easy, safe bet to just go see it and have a good time, because I think I definitely liked it more than, like,The Fall Guy—that Ryan Gosling-Emily Blunt film that came out earlier this year. It's kind of on the same spectrum to me, in terms of being a film I had a really good time with, but I don't know if it's gonna be, like—it’s gonna be nowhere near my top ten of 2024, but it was worth the time and experience as, a popcorn film. And I think Twisters really grabs that as well. So, yeah, Twisters is a lot of fun. I would probably definitely recommend it as a matinee-price film. But if you're a big fan of the original film, I think seeing it in full price, especially on, like, a Dolby Cinema or an IMAX screen, you'll definitely get your money's worth. It's good to see Daisy Edgar Jones in bigger films. It's fun to see Lee Isaac Chung be able to do something. While I know that he's very versatile as a director, it is fun to see him do something more bombastic of a crowd-pleaser. And, of course, everyone knows this, but Glen Powell is too strong, and he must be stopped before he gets any more powerful. That's my quickie for Twisters. I'm Logan Sowash. Thank you so much for listening. Bye.