Twisters review: Greatest Thrill Ride of the Summer

The sensational trio of Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos combine with breathtaking visuals to make Twisters an absolute must see.

Twisters is a standalone sequel, featuring passing references to the original film but bringing something new to the table. The story centers on Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones, of Where the Crawdads Sing), An ex-storm chaser turned meteorologist. She is drawn back to her home state of Oklahoma by an old friend named Javi (Anthony Ramos, of In the Heights) who asks for her help testing a new tracking system. Once there, Kate crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell, of Anyone but You), who has made himself a social media star by documenting his storm chasing escapades. The trio and their respective teams find themselves in a fight for their lives as storm season escalates.

Narratively speaking, Twisters follows a similar formula to the original film, complete with the use of familiar 90s era clichés. It is not a direct copy though, which is for the best. We are introduced to our three leads in Kate, Javi, and Tyler, who come with their own baggage that helps you get invested in them rather than wishing you could see Helen Hunt’s Jo and the late Bill Paxton’s Bill again. Kate takes a little time coming into her own because she is like Jo, but once the character finds her groove, Daisy Edgar-Jones ensures that Kate will touch your heart by being so charming and finding an amount of humanity in someone that does not have the greatest depth on the page.

That same issue comes up with Anthony Ramos as Javi. He is giving everything he has but his character’s arc, more than Kate and Tyler’s, comes off as unearned because screenwriter Mark L. Smith does not devote enough time to him. He begins as someone audiences can relate to and will be eager to see grow but turns into a third wheel just as quickly. Since he takes this backseat to Kate and Tyler, it leaves the character and Ramos as an actor struggling to recover any momentum. He does at least get a couple of opportunities to shine before the credits roll, so that is something, I suppose.

The biggest standout of our main trio of characters is Tyler Owens, portrayed brilliantly by Glen Powell. Audiences will look back to this film as the exact moment that Powell cemented himself as the movie star of a new generation. From the minute that Tyler enters the narrative, it is almost impossible to pull your eyes away from him, his smile is alluring, which pairs well with a good ol’ boy accent and endless amount of energy. Even though Kate is the lead, it is Tyler who winds up with the best character arc. Powell’s looks play a major part of who Tyler is, but his performance along with the writing help build someone that is much more than he appears to be at first.

Powell and Edgar-Jones have great chemistry together and the relationship between their characters in Twisters wound up doing wonders for the quality of Kate Carter’s arc. Tyler proves to be a terrific foil to her upon their first meeting and becomes an incredibly supportive piece to Kate’s growth in a way that is just the right mix of cliché and genuine. Having two incredibly talented young actors take center stage can make up for a lot of the faults of the narrative simply because Powell and Edgar-Jones are thriving on screen whether they are sharing a scene or not.

Beyond the clichéd nature of the story, I will say that Twisters does not provide quality supporting characters despite having talented actors in its ensemble. Brandon Perea gets a handful of standout moments as Boone, a member of Tyler’s crew, but that is about it. Audiences will feel for the leads but are not given too many reasons to believe the characters around them are anything but cannon fodder.

There are some quality comedic moments, which came as a bit of a surprise to me considering this is a disaster film. The jokes provided a brief breather and most of them centered around Ben (Harry Hadden-Paton), a London journalist profiling Tyler. This character fills the fish out of water role that Jami Gertz held as Dr. Melissa Reeves in the original film, now that I think about it. That is a pretty clever idea on the part of Mark L. Smith.

Cinematographer Dan Mindel and director Lee Isaac Chung set a visual tone within the first ten minutes, and it is absolutely striking. One would figure that the advancements in special effects since 1996 would work wonders here but saying that feels like an understatement after seeing it. Chung and Mindel make the storms look equal parts beautiful and utterly terrifying. When you are watching this chaos unfold, it will make you tense up over and over again. Everything in Twisters looks quite real, which creates a sense of higher stakes compared to the original film. Sure, the film looked amazing for the time, but watching Twister in 2024, it can be hard to suspend your disbelief. You will not have that issue with the sequel in the slightest.

Twisters also features unbelievable sound design, particularly during the storm/action sequences. Things get so loud that you might begin to feel vibrations in your seat, I personally have not felt something on that scale since Top Gun: Maverick (2022). It not only helps immerse you in the narrative but is also likely to give you chills at least once.

The visual beauty extends to the way that Chung and Mindel capture central Oklahoma. They show audiences a lively landscape filled with majestic fields and small towns with amazing architecture. This amps up the realism and tension too, because the area looks like any old town that you could come across in real life or might even live in.

Twisters is a rousing film and one of the best offerings of Summer 2024 thus far. Glen Powell leaves no doubt that he is our next great movie star with his work as Tyler Owens. He, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos make a script riddled with clichés have a lot more energy and heart than it should. Add in the magnificent special effects and you have a sequel that vastly improves on its predecessor.

Twisters is out now in UK & Irish cinemas and will be released in US theaters on July 19, 2024.