“Twisters” was directed by Lee Isaac Chung and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glenn Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Sasha Lane & Maura Tierney. This film serves as both a standalone sequel to the 1996 film, “Twister” & a soft reboot. The film was written by Joseph Kosinski and was originally attached to direct the film but dropped out to due directing another film. Lee Isaac Chung was bought on board following his success with Academy Award nominated film, “Minari”. Steven Spielberg & Amblin Entertainment served as producers and worked with Universal, who were not involved primarily with the previous film. The original plan was to have original cast members to return including, Helen Hunt and serve tributes to the late Bill Paxton & Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
In rural Oklahoma, which is in the heart of “Tornado Alley”, a group of storm chasers are following a tornado to conduct an experiment to use a sodium polyacrylate to reduce the tornado’s intensity. Kate Carter (Edgar-Jones) and her team which include her boyfriend Jeb & longtime friend and storm chaser, Javi (Ramos). During the experiment, the tornado unexpectedly grows stronger and takes a disastrous turn. The unexpected turn led to the tragic deaths of Jeb & 2 others on Kate’s team, leaving her & Javi the only survivors. After 5 years, Kate is working in New York City at the NOAA office when she is approached by Javi, who now works for a storm radar company. Javi needs her help to test a next-gen prototype device that can scan a tornado and predict it path. If successful, this device can provide a much safer and effective tornado warning. Kate agrees to join Javi and return back to Oklahoma. There, they plan their attack but are interrupted by a local group of storm chasers, led by Tyler Owens (Powell), known locally as “The Tornado Wrangler”. Owens is a former pro bull rider & expert meteorologist. Together, Owens & his team hatch a plan that can make Kate & Javi’s device have a successful test but with the unpredictable weather condition, it becomes more a “save the world” mission than just a standard science project.
I am a big fan of the 1996 film and was very interested in a sequel. Despite this film not being connected to the other film as far as storyline, this was still a great film. It basically tells almost the exact same story just with a modern twist. That’s why I believe this movie is more of a reboot / remake rather a stan standalone sequel. The CGI & action sequences are fantastic and really bring the suspense and horrors of a natural disaster. Both, this film & the original film, have made staples to the disaster genre and really drive home the fact that mother nature can be dangerous & unpredictable. The storyline is bit bland and predictable, but it doesn’t take anything away from the film overall. The believability of the film is there just like it was in the previous film & gives a modern update to the genre. What “Jaws” did for horror movies, “Twisters” will do for disaster movies.
In 2020, it was announced that Helen Hunt was in discussion to direct & co-wrote a direct sequel to the 1996 film, but her version of the script was passed on in favor of the standalone sequel that was written by Mark L. Smith which was then green lit with Steven Spielberg’s approval and later would become a joint production with Universal, Warner Bros. & Amblin all serving producers & distributors. The film premiered in London on July 8th before hitting theaters worldwide on July 19, 2024. As of July 2024, Lee Isaac Chung has expressed interest of a sequel as well as the main cast, but no official word has been announced.