Twisters (2024)

Cinema Visit of 2024 - 24

I’m not sure if the world really needed a Twisters sequel but here we are. 28 years after the Bill Paxton and Holly Hunter we get a sequel which isn’t really a sequel as there is no connection to the first one. There are no returning characters, there are no nods to the previous film. There are a couple of references that the film makes but they aren’t pushed in your faces and will only stand out if you have seen the first one. The use of Dorothy is perhaps the biggest one but they do have a part of the film where an actual film is being watched. In Twister it was The Shining but in this film it was Frankenstein. Presumably to say that the tornado is the monster. Also a perhaps not knowingly but Kate is dressed quite similar to Helen Hunt in the previous movie.

The set up of the film is Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a Tornado Chaser and after her boyfriend and two friends are killed, the story moves along five years with Kate is lured back by her one friend that did survive Javi who is working with someone who is acquiring land but Kate is trying to come up with a plan to ‘tame’ tornados and ends up working with Tyler who has a YouTube channel and is quite over the top and opposite to how Kate is.

THE GOOD
I thought the dynamic between Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell was really good and I also liked how they did a slight bait and switch with having Kate joining her friend but then it turning out that she is on the bad guy’s team. I also thought that the effects were quite good. Even though it’s been 30 years since the previous film, the effects have moved on but they still feel quite impressive. I also liked how the whole attitude to tornados has changed with amateurs seemingly willing to get involved even though thankfully they aren’t really a part of the story.

THE BAD
As much as I liked Javi’s intentions. It did seem like the whole selling information to some land developer did seem a bit half baked. The only real purpose it served is that it meant that Kate could jump sides with a decent excuse. I also thought that the journalist didn’t really add anything an could easily have been took out. There isn’t really much to fault this film for.

OVERALL
I was impressed with how good this turned out to be considering I was quite dismissive when I saw the first trailer for it. I think that the film manages to feel like it’s a proper sequel but doing enough to stand on its own which is harder to pull off than you might think. I was a fan of Lee Isaac Chung after Minari and was worried whether he would be able to handle something far bigger in the technical sense and it was a relief when it was clear that he could. Not sure if we need any more if they are as much fun as this one was then I wouldn’t mind.