By Laura BennettFriday 12 Jul 2024Hope AfternoonsMoviesReading Time: 3 minutes
The supposed “death of cinema” has been spoken about a lot in recent years.
Key Points
- Ladies and gentlemen, the real – and surprising – rescuer of cinema, is Twisters.
- Twisters isn’t about philosophising and debating the cause and consequence of tornadoes.
- You’ll have a flipping lot of fun and be unexpectedly glued to the disaster drama.
We’ve got used to hibernating at home with our streaming platforms, and there’s little appeal to leaving the comfort and cost-effectiveness of our couch.
Hollywood thought it would be Christopher Nolan’s Tenet that revived cinema post-lockdown, then we got Top Gun: Maverick, Oppenheimer and Avatar’s next instalment. But ladies and gentlemen, the real – and surprising – rescuer of cinema, is Twisters. (Let’s be honest, Barbie was amazing, but no less so at home).
Ladies and gentlemen, the real – and surprising – rescuer of cinema, is Twisters
Glenn Powell (Anyone But You, Hit Man) is back to what he does best as the All-American “tornado wrangler” Tyler Owens. He, and retired meteorologist Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) are part of a number of tornado chasers wanting to confront, and sometimes control, one of nature’s fiercest weather events. Their motivations come to blows, as Kate’s convinced Tyler’s there for daredevil thrills and fame, while she’s trying to help the communities they effect.
Twisters isn’t about philosophising and debating the cause and consequence of tornadoes – no climate change conversation here – but is willing to critique developers cashing in on crisis and how funding scientific progress can be comprised.
Twisters isn’t about philosophising and debating the cause and consequence of tornadoes.
If you’ve watched the 1996 original, you’ll recognise some re-worked elements of the classic, but Twisters isn’t so much of a remake or sequel, but a blend of the two.
Director Lee Isaac Chung, who was behind the multi-award-winning foreign language film Minari, might seem like an unusual choice for a blatant popcorn-munching blockbuster, but having grown up as a Korean immigrant on a farm in Arkansas his first-hand experience in Tornado Alley fits perfectly with Twisters.
The film also benefits from advancements in CGI-technology, scaling up the intensity of the storms and how real they feel in a surround sound setting. Which, mind you, allows Twisters absolute ripper of a soundtrack – yes, I said it – to get the attention it deserves.
You have every reason to go into Twisters hesitantly: is it going to ruin my 90’s childhood? Will Glen Powell be as ill-fitting as he was in Hit Man? But the good news is, ‘no’ on both counts. You’ll have a flipping lot of fun and be unexpectedly glued to the disaster drama.
You’ll have a flipping lot of fun and be unexpectedly glued to the disaster drama.
Twisters works because it’s entirely watchable, while also prompting you to think about the limits of human control, how we face loss and where morality fits in disaster recovery.
If Hollywood can maintain versions of that overlap, it’ll be alive for years to come.
Twisters is in cinemas now.
Article supplied with thanks to Laura Bennett. Laura is the host of Hope Afternoons and producer of a number of our podcasts, including UNDISTRACTED with Laura Bennett.
All images supplied by WarnerBros MediaPass and used with permission.