Review by Brad Balfour
Film: Twisters
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, Sasha Lane
With this summer season of intense weather and a vast array of tornadoes touching down in state after state, there’s no better timing than now to release this film, “Twisters.” It’s a sort of sequel to its 28-year-old predecessor, “Twister” — directed by the now-retired Jan De Bont. The now 80-year old Dutchman has been a cinematographer, director and film producer. He’s best known for directing 1994’s “Speed” and then “Twister” which were part of the rise of blockbusters such as “Die Hard,” “The Hunt for Red October” and “Lethal Weapon.” He was the cinematographer of “Die Hard” and “Lethal Weapon 3.” He also was cinematographer of “Red October,” the first of the Jack Ryan series.
Chock full of dramatic moments we can all relate to, both films are terrifying. The various scenes of destruction are blood curdling. And given that a twister is far more fearsome than any creature fabrication like Godzilla — since storms are far less easy to reason with — the film resonates. As innovative as the original was, this edition explores all the investment in special effects to give audiences a truly close up look at what people have actually experienced when this weather phenomena destroys homes and sweeps people away into deathly oblivion.
But these films, especially the latest as directed by Lee Isaac Chung, aren’t merely fictionalized documentaries. There is a rich and fully rounded narrative of love lost and gained here. Most of that’s thanks to the fine casting of Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell — who now seem to be the go-to guy for actors who display naturalistic grit and charisma.
As weather scientist Kate Cooper, Britisher Edgar-Jones provides a reasonable facsimile of a midwesterner obsessed with coming up with a Tornado-killer solution. The film opens as she is working with fellow students and friends to test a chemical solution to contain tornadoes. All goes awry and three of her team are swept away to their deaths.
Five years later, the other survivor, Javi (Anthony Ramos), comes to NYC to ask Kate to help him with a new project, a 3D tornado mapping system which has — as audiences realize later — insidious implications. They head to Oklahoma where they clash, at first, with tornado wrangler Tyler Owens (Powell), a high-energy social media sensation. Initially, the two teams compete but Kate eventually bonds with him and discovers that he has the scientific acumen to help her along the way.
As they wend their way to the film’s conclusion — repeatedly surviving death-dealing twisters — both find love and scientific solutions to quell the impact of these mega-death machines. It also opens the door to possible sequels, ones to be produced in a shorter time than nearly three decades.
In addition to the sheer drama of the various set pieces constructed here, “Twisters” is also loaded with trenchant political, scientific and sociological notions. The ecological implications are obvious. There have been so many hyper-powerful tornadoes happening now in our real world. Are they due to authorities ignoring the cause of the surge?
For various reasons too complicated to go into here, greed and irrational climate deniers have made it harder to address the long term solutions necessary to make life in tornado alley more bearable. This film may have a touch of fanciful science built into it but it also provokes audiences to think of the implications of weather change and man-made global warming. “Twisters” may not make your summer more soothing but it does provoke more than sheer terror.