In my many years in and around Oklahoma, amidst the clownish people, the histrionic politics, and, of course, my own self-made health woes, there's one thing that scares me most:
Twisters. Fucking twisters.
Especially over the last few months, it feels like I – and the rest of the state – have been constantly surrounded by them. Gale-force winds pound the farming communities where I’ve lived, the power goes out incessantly, and mindless debris swirls around us. These storms envelop small towns like Noble, Shawnee, and all those other tiny places national folks have never heard of and probably never will.
I don’t fear movie monsters because real life will always be truly terrifying!
That being said, the 30-year "sequel" to Jan De Bont’s 1996 disaster-piece Twister—now appropriately called Twisters with an “s”—offers a similar rote storyline torn from the pages of meteorological fan-fiction. But, oh boy, those are some impressive twisters on my movie screen!
Before diving into the review, let me set the stage: I was invited to the Oklahoma City premiere, and it was star-studded.
The leads Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos were there, along with director Lee Isaac Chung (of Minari fame). And of course, the real star, KFOR’s Emily Sutton, presumably tracking a high front of caustic pressure in my lower region of the state.
Even though I was seriously annoyed by the Oklahoma illiterati of flashy Boot Barn foot models, marked-down prom dresses, and all the cummerbunds the Sooner state can stand, most of the movie talent on stage were practically lilliputian. They seemed like good people, and I wish their film careers the best.
Okay…the movie.
Having nothing to do with the original film, Twister’s Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt have, I guess, retired to that great funnel cloud in the sky. Instead, we meet Kate (the impossibly British Daisy Edgar-Jones), a native Oklahoman and lifelong scientist who loses her rag-tag team of support as they are swept away by a twister.
Five years later, she now lives in New York, presumably working for weather scientists. One day, she receives an intriguing offer from an old college friend: to help develop a new mapping system that regulates airflow…or something to that effect.
Taking the offer, she returns to Oklahoma and, with her God-like powers of tornado speculation, immediately predicts one terrible twister after another. Meanwhile, she encounters and eventually becomes smitten with the outlaw Arkansas tornado wrangler, Tyler (the white-bread Glen Powell).
As odd a couple as they are, all the barometric backscatter takes a dramatic backseat to the mondo tornadic destruction, with the communities of Chickasha, Okarche, Spencer, and Cashion taking the brunt of the damage.
But it’s in the absolutely blazing finale where El Reno—the home of the Oklahoma Onion Burger Festival!—is decimated and blown to absolute hell. At least their science project works, and they kiss at the Oklahoma City airport as, apparently, a new tornado materializes in the distance.
Let’s be honest: the so-called “drama” is few and far between—it’s the tornadic action that audiences crave, and man, do they deliver! Anytime the audience is sucked up and spit out in weather-based tension and fear, Twisters is at the top of its game.
Sure, the weak story is stilted, the tired dialogue is boorish, and the few scenes of actors standing and dramatically emoting are tiring, just like the original Twister. But when the clouds rotate and the winds pick up steam, the movie becomes a true exploitation of our worst storm fears confirmed.
And, you know, that’s really all you need with a dumb movie like this. Be forewarned…for total entertainment!
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Follow Louis Fowler on Instagram at @louisfowler78.
