Director Lee Isaac Chung delivers a summer blockbuster with a mix of heart, humor, and high-octane tornado action
By Dana Barbuto/Boston Movie News
Glen Powell vs. deadly tornadoes? That’s a no-brainer. Pick Powell, the Texas-bred actor with the megawatt smile and endless swagger. With a mix of Tom Cruise cool and Chris Evans earnestness, Powell exudes what the kids call “rizz,” and that charisma swirls through the cli-fi drama “Twisters” like an EF5 cyclone. If you’re craving something big, loud, and fun, buy the jumbo bucket of popcorn and follow Powell’s tornado-chasing cowboy right into the eye of the storm. Giddy up.
With “Twisters,” director Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”) shifts gears from his small Oscar-nominated immigrant family drama to orchestrate disaster movie mayhem, introducing a new crop of tornado trackers. Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Normal People,” “Where the Crawdads Sing”) plays Kate Carter, a whiz-kid meteorologist with a gift for tracking tornadoes and a plan to “tame” these tempests.
Five years after a devastating storm wipes out her crew (Daryl McCormack, Kiernan Shipka) on a research outing in Oklahoma, Kate is coaxed away from her safe desk job in Manhattan. She joins Javi (Anthony Ramos, “In the Heights”), the only other survivor from that disastrous mission, to return to Tornado Alley for a “once in a generation outbreak” to test new military-grade tracking equipment. Javi promises the work will “change the game.” Kate tells herself, “You got this.” The dialogue can be a bit cringe, but it’s summer, and living is easy.
“Twisters” will quickly be Powell’s third big hit in a row after the rom-com “Anyone But You” and the Netflix sensation “Hit Man.” The screenplay by Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”) pits the scientists against a raucous band of drone-flying “influencers” (Sasha Lane, Katy O’Brian) led by Powell’s Tyler Owens, a social media superstar who calls himself the “Tornado Wrangler.” Tyler plays fast and loose, driving his tricked-out tornado rig right into the belly of the beast and shooting off fireworks and flares while hard-rocking country music blares from the speakers. He’s the polar opposite of serious-minded Kate, who still can’t shake the nightmare from five years ago. Of course, sparks fly when the two meet. Will they or won’t they? We’re not telling.
You don’t have to have seen 1996’s “Twister,” which starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as the OG storm chasers. Chung’s movie stands on its own, with a clear vision, a sense of place, characters to care about, and a crack special effects team. Tornadoes engulf a rodeo, blow the lid off a movie theater, and spin through a motel with people taking cover in a drained pool. Wood flies. Metal rips. Trees uproot. The sequences suck you into the action. Powell and Edgar-Jones are incredibly watchable, with chemistry to burn, even when they’re pontificating about polymers and wind speeds.
Harry Hadden-Paton provides some British fish-out-of-water humor as a nervous reporter on assignment to write about Tyler’s exploits. Kate’s mom, Maura Tierney, born and raised in Hyde Park, is the welcome calm in the storm, providing the steady voice of sanity.
Commentary about Mother Nature’s beauty, power, and wrath lies under all the disaster spectacle. The phrase “climate change” isn’t said in the movie but hangs about, blowing in the wind. There are also flaming tornadoes, fast-moving vehicles, and hunky A-listers. What more could you ask for in the dog days of summer? Maybe extra butter on the popcorn.
‘Twisters’
Rating: PG-13 for intense action, peril, injury images, and some language.
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Writer: Mark L. Smith
Running time: 115 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters July 18
Grade: B+
Boston Movie News 