Lifestyle Asia rating for Twisters movie review: 4/5
Genre: Disaster, action
Twisters movie cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos
Directors: Lee Isaac Chung
Run-time: 2 hours 2 minutes
Release date: 19 July 2024

What we liked: Tornado scenes, visuals, campy tone

What we didn’t like: Goes on for a little long

Plot: Meteorologist Kate (Edgar-Jones), once a storm chaser with a gift of intuition and a plan to reduce tornado intensity using a chemical mix, left the field after two of her friends and her lover died in an EF-5 tornado. Five years later, she returns, brought back by Javi (Ramos), the only other survivor. They now face a rival group of reckless storm chasers led by Tyler Owens (Powell).

I have fond memories of watching Twister (1996) as a kid somewhere around the mid-2000s. I was on the lookout for any movie in which Michael Crichton, the author of the novel Jurassic Park (1990) and co-writer of the Steven Spielberg-directed 1993 movie adaptation, was involved in some capacity. He co-wrote Twister and was clearly fascinated by the raw, untamed power of nature in his stories. I was blown away (pardon the pun) by the tornado scenes — the giant whirling beasts of nature and monstrous funnels of destruction that almost seemed alive on the screen. Does Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters movie manage to capture the same magic? Here’s Lifestyle Asia’s Twisters movie review.

Twisters movie review: Is it worth watching?

Twisters has an exciting opening to set up the stakes and tone

From the get-go, Twisters is extremely aware of the inherent silliness of its premise. Much like, its prequel (from which it has no relation and might as well have been a remake), even the concept of storm-chasers, if it weren’t real, would seem something out of a comic book. Why would anybody in their right mind risk life and limb to test their thesis that a particular substance might weaken a tornado before it wreaks death and destruction? The answer: science demands it.

In the first scene, a college student called Kate is doing exactly that. With her are Javi, Addy (Kiernan Shipka), Praveen (Nik Dodani) and her boyfriend, Jeb (Daryl McCormack). Javi stops at a safe distance to keep watch on the tornado’s intensity and assess if their thesis is working. He and Kate are the only survivors as the rest of them are pulled into the tornado’s fury.

Kate returns to storm-chasing

Kate is traumatised and leaves field work for good, taking up a desk job as a meteorologist. She is veritably dragged into the field by Javi, who now has his own company and crew that predicts the location and intensity of tornadoes for land sharks. The future Superman David Corenswet (he will essay the Man of Steel in James Gunn’s 2025 movie, Superman) plays the role of Javi’s business partner, Scott. While chasing tornadoes, Kate spots another group called Tornado Wranglers who run a YouTube channel and shoot videos of the tornadoes for the pleasure of their subscribers. It’s all fun for them.

Both teams race to study the twisters. The competition is fierce, but the real rivalry comes from the tornadoes which seem to be getting more and more terrifying. As they intensify, both groups are caught in the middle of multiple tornadoes, converging to form one giant monster. Now, it is no longer a game, it is a fight for survival.

Twisters has its heart right in the right place

The first thing one will notice in the movie right away is that it is extremely aware of the inherent silliness of the premise. Sure, there is devastation and ruin of life and property, but a balance of tone keeps the movie right in the popcorn territory. Chung, who directed Minari (2020), easily among the best movies of the 21st century, may be treading unfamiliar territory here, but it is patently clear that he has an abiding love for the original movie. The new movie is both fresh and stays true to the tone and feel of the original.

Twisters movie cast delivers great performances

The silliness mentioned above is all-pervasive. The Twisters movie cast knows what is required of them and do their best hammy acting. I am not being flippant here when I say “best” because this movie needed over-the-top performances. After all, everything else is over-the-top.

Edgar-Jones, an actress I have loved since the 2020 miniseries Normal People, is as always luminous and provides the emotional core of the movie. The movie is, for all intents and purposes, her story. She works as a grounding force amidst the whirlwind of action and campy fun, anchoring the movie with genuine depth and vulnerability. Her portrayal balances the past trauma with her excitement about what’s to come and even a lingering hope that her college science project might still come in handy.

Powell plays a variant of characters he has played many times before: who are seemingly arrogant and cocksure but have a good heart beneath all that bravado. His arc was predictable, but I enjoyed watching him flashing his broad smiles and pithy sayings about life and everything else.

Twisters features stunning (and terrifying) visuals of destructive tornadoes

All that being said, it is the scenes of tornadoes and their path of destruction that people will really come to see in this movie. And it delivers. The CGI has advanced remarkably since the first movie (which, to be fair, still remains impressive), turning these swirling giants into mesmerising, almost sentient forces of nature, carving through landscapes with fierce elegance. They twist and roar across the screen, their cyclonic dance leaving behind a trail of shattered dreams and ravaged earth.

There is a scene where a tornado develops into a fire tornado. It lasts only for a moment, but it is a breathtaking visual — a fiery tempest, spinning and churning with dramatic intensity and its flames dancing within the vortex. It was at that moment when the scene changed to characters running around. (I realised I had been holding my breath; it really was that intense!) These visuals made me glad I was half a world away, where tornadoes are just a headline in international news. No recent film captures the sheer awe-inspiring power of nature quite like Twisters.

Conclusion of Twisters movie review: A high-octane thriller with awe-inspiring visuals

So that’s that. Twisters is a thrilling and visually spectacular experience that offers a balance of campy fun with genuine excitement. It’s a ride worth taking just for its jaw-dropping tornado scenes. And the Twisters movie cast understood their assignment. My very minor complaint is that it feels just a little long.

Movies like Twisters to watch

If you like well-made disaster movies, have I got a list for you. I would recommend the Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer Titanic (1997), the queen of the genre, but you have most likely already seen it. Contagion (2011) is very good as well; Sharknado (2013) is a fun, silly and campy movie that you will love; then there is The Wave (2015), an excellent Norwegian disaster thriller where a tidal wave wreaks destruction.

(Hero image: Courtesy of Melinda Sue Gordon/ Universal Pictures/ Warner Bros Pictures/ Amblin Entertainment/ IMDb; Featured image: Courtesy of IMDb)