Twisters

Have you noticed an epidemic of movies that don't take themselves seriously? They often involve knowing looks/winks at the camera and meta-jokes that break the fourth wall. (And maybe a Ryan Reynolds appearance.) Twisters is not that. In fact, it is the opposite of that. Twisters is a throwback to when summer blockbusters just went for it, and it is ridiculous in all the best ways. This movie builds on what made the original Twister fun, dials all of it up to 11, and makes absolutely zero apologies for it. Not coincidentally, I had an absolute blast. Everybody who walked into that theater knew what they were signing up for, and we all got it. Not only that, but these characters were way more well rounded than the original, so I understood their choices and cared more when the winds started swirling. It isn't perfect, and it certainly strains credulity throughout, but it was a thrill ride that treated its setting, characters, and audience like they deserved some respect. What's not to like about that?

PS - Powell and Edgar-Jones were absolutely tailor-made for this one.

I love disaster movies and Twister (1996) is one of my all-time favourites. It embodies the 90s, and although cheesy, it's a total comfort movie.

I was really excited for Twisters and the trailers looked like it would live up to the hype. Seeing this tonight I couldn't help but compare the two movies and feel disappointed. Twisters isn't bad, it's just bland.

Jan De Bont had a captivating style of directing with big aerial shots and practical action scenes that worked with the relatively new CGI back in '96. The cast was also stellar (especially Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cary Elwes etc). Twisters at times feels like a caricature of the previous film's characters but uninteresting and not particularly likeable. Daisy Edgar-Jones does a great job and there's decent chemistry between her and Glen Powell (albeit not to the same extent of Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt).

Mark Mancina's score was one of the best action scores of the 90s and I was really looking forward to at least a reference, but unfortunately we only get a generic score from Benjamin Wallfisch. I do rate the solid country soundtrack though.

What are the good things about Twisters? The set pieces are on point - especially the rodeo and finale in the town. The effects are amazing and there's a couple moments of spectacle. I think if you haven't seen (or aren't a huge fan) of the original, you'll probably appreciate this one a lot more.

There's a reason this movie became available on stream so quickly. It simply isn't a good movie. Twister, the original was a classic which included mediocre acting but decent drama. This movie provided less of both. Many years after the first, the CGI offered nothing more and the acting offered less. It's a shame that remakes like this pay no homage to the original movie and lack the talent to improve given all the technological advantages. Powell needs to slow down his career after Top Gun and not make weak movies like this. Tornadoes are so much more catastrophic than depicted in this move and it shouldn't be celebrated in the face of cinema so poorly.

Recently saw the 90s version with the same title starring Hunt & Paxton which was an epic disaster thriller. It was better than this one in every sense be it casting, acting, emotional connect or gravity & intensity of scenes. One thing though seemed to have improved is the visual effects and why not, it's been 30 years since the previous one got released. It's the least they could have done.

Kate, a former tornado chaser is lured back to study a series of tornados expected to hit Oklahoma. Still haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years, she crosses paths with fearless Tyler Owens, a modern day tornado chaser cum blogger and his awesome team. In 1996 version they had this alert system called Dorothy which was supposed to track the nature of the tornado. In this film they go next level to mitigate the tornado itself.

Daisy Edgar Jones looks great but disappoints with her portrayal of Kate. Her performance lacked the vigor and magnitude that Hunt's character had. Glen Powell carries the whole movie with his ever-charming role. Though this movie lacked the thrill that the other Twister had, maybe because of the better cast involved in the earlier installment, current version excels in the visual department. Those Tornados looked realistically awesome on the big screen.

Twister is an almost three decades older movie yet it has unquestionably superior cinematography, editing, sound editing, surround sound mixing, score and soundtrack. It also has much more creative and visually memorable tornado sequences.

Does Twisters have higher resolution CGI? Yes, the CGI is higher resolution but it's not used right and the quality has barely improved since the one decade older tornado movie "Into The Storm".

There is zero mention of climate change and the human causes of more extreme weather.

There's a rodeo sequence (really?) that could have easily been replaced with some other activity like monster truck show or whatever.

They could have made the tornadoes more dark, ominous and violent like in Twister. It also lacks thrilling shots of crazy debris almost hitting the characters.

The could have made it suspenseful and less predictable by adding and killing off some well developed and likable characters.

High frame rate 3D would have been the appropriate choice for an action movie like this, but they cheaped out..

The budget of Twisters is double the budget of Twister. Unbelievable.

You can clearly tell that it was directed by someone who has no talent or experience with directing action.

Twisters is not a sequel to Twister. It's a pointless re-imagining of Twister.

There would have been a chance for some cinematic magic again if they hired the right people to make a sequel to Twister: Director: James Cameron or Jan De Bont Writers: David Koepp and Anne-Marie Martin.