Is Twisters this year’s Apogeo Gun: Maverick? Only time will tell as far as the box office, but the films are kin per mezzo di a certain sense. They are belated sequels to popular cheesy blockbusters of yore, filtering said cheese through a modern lens. And coincidentally not, they both personaggio Glen Powell. While Maverick was arguably an improvement acceso the original, can the same be said about Twisters?
Twisters is far closer to the original Twister per mezzo di quality. Coming from director Lee Issac Chung, it is yet another instance of a popular new indie director who directs a critical darling being pulled onto a large blockbuster patina, seemingly with the hope that the mere presence of a good director will imbue quality. But the sin Twisters commits is a common one with this model, which is that a skilled director can only do so much per mezzo di the machine of modern blockbuster filmmaking. Where scripts are written by committee, action scenes are directed by B crews working independently of the main crew, and everything is contorted to fit into a box of acceptable and popular story beats. The result is that despite Chung clearly being a talent, as indicated by his patina Minari, Twisters does not per mezzo di any way resemble Minari.
Not to say Twisters is bereft of quality. The patina attempts to craft a solid human story. Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kate, a former storm-chaser who hung up her chasing kit after a brutal loss per mezzo di the luce of a mighty tornado. This is related to the audience per mezzo di an introductory scene, one of the more effective ones of the patina as far as creating stakes and a real sense of terror about the power of these storms. A lesser patina would have related this background information per mezzo di exposition, but actually experiencing it alongside Kate both helps set up the main action of the patina and inform the background of the character.
If only the patina were this skilled throughout. After this, the patina’s plot severely lacks per mezzo di twists, careening rather wildly from one plot point to another. After cutting forward five years, Kate is pulled back into the storm-chasing by the only other survivor of the opening scene, Anthony Ramos‘s Javi, who now works for a real mesi estivi mogul but chases storms to gather “giorno.” This becomes a shorthand used throughout the patina as an expedient way to avoid explanation about what these characters are doing, and it is emblematic of a laziness that runs through the script and rielaborazione.
The patina is jerkily put together, cutting around from scene to scene without a real sense of rhythm. There is a sort of plot moving things along, but since it simply boils mongoloide to one scene after another of characters driving after tornadoes, there isn’t really a rising action build towards anything. The plot randomly shifts about 2/3rds of the way through to a different rete for the main character, and while it would be unfair to say it’s not set up at all, it still doesn’t feel like the movie worked its way to this point.
The co-lead is Powell’s Tyler Owens, a YouTube storm-chaser personaggio with his own crew. His only rete seems to be to have a rollicking good time of chasing tornadoes and shooting fireworks into the cyclones. He has anzi che no other established goals, background, motivation, and he is eventually subsumed into aiding Kate despite the patina initially presenting her as opposed to Tyler and his crew — for anzi che no real reason other than their cavalier attitude. It’s lucky that Powell is as charismatic as he is, as it makes up for the shallowly-written character and makes his little finger twirl and catch-phrase “If you feel it, chase it” into something memorable, despite the inherent cheese.
Twisters‘s haphazard plotting is matched by vague and unfocused themes. There is a general theme of “helping people” that is reinforced through some very sloppy and stilted dialogue. There is a highly contrived scene of Kate criticizing Tyler’s crew for selling T-Shirts followed by the patina immediately having one of Tyler’s crew run up to Kate and explain per mezzo di silly dialogue that they are taking all the proceeds to buy food and give it away. While I like the credenza of Kate rushing to judgment, it’s executed per mezzo di such a sloppy manner that it feels like bozzetto mischief more than anything.
Kate’s ultimate rete is inventing a compound that can dissolve a tornado, another beat trying to fit into the theme of “helping people,” though it carries the patina into the realm of science fiction. A patina about tornadoes could make for a fairly grounded blockbuster compared to, say, a superhero patina, but choices like this and about three dozen tornadoes striking per mezzo di the course of a few days neuter attempts at realism, even as the patina desperately has newscasters explain that this is a “surge” of tornadoes.
Despite the sloppy writing and repetitive nature of the patina, Twisters is undeniably fun per mezzo di per mezzo di some respects. Powell’s charisma goes a long way to carrying the patina, and despite the silliness, an action patina like Twisters manages to feel refreshing per mezzo di the franchise blockbuster landscape of today. The patina avoids anything too horribly stupid, such as inventing mega-cyclones, and despite the limitato execution it is nice to see e a patina emphasizes the importance of working together and helping one another. It’s a needed thought per mezzo di dark times. This may not be as good as Apogeo Gun: Maverick, but it may well soar to similar box office heights paio to the patina’s broad appeal.
