Note: Starting in January 2025, we began publishing long-form DVD reviews written by GFPL staffers. The DVDs are all available to check out at the Library, or from one of our Partner Libraries. We post a new review each month! Come back next month to find the next review.
‘Twisters’ is a fun, thrilling film with
high-stakes action and characters you’ll love
Review by Autumn, Library Specialist
Twisters starts off with a pretty intense scene, throwing you immediately into the deep end with the deadly stakes of storm chasing and experimentation. Because of this, our main character, Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones), loses confidence in herself, and her drive to help make a change. But when the past comes back to offer her a job, she can’t help but feel the same pull she did five years prior.
Kate goes back to her home state to help an old friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos), and in doing so she meets quite the cast of characters. Tyler (Glen Powell), also known as the “Tornado Wrangler”, and his group of friends are their own proverbial tornado when they blow into town. Tyler is a storm chasing influencer and has a huge group of fans that follow him wherever he goes. At first he seems to be pretty full of himself, but we will learn later that he’s not at all what his persona claims to be.
Kate and Javi realise that they will be competing against Tyler and his crew if they want to complete their goals. But Kate soon finds that Tyler’s head isn’t as big as it seems on the t-shirts he sells, and he might just be a welcome breath of fresh air. They get to know each other and while Kate gets the upper hand a few times in their competition, she realizes that her and Tyler’s goals aren’t so different.
After a tragic destruction of a nearby town that Kate and Tyler are visiting, Kate runs away back to her family home to think through the decisions that led her to where she is now. Tyler finds her, they have a moment and he agrees to help her with the experiment she has been working on since college. A way to lower the intensity of a tornado, making it so there is less destruction in its path. She realizes the fault in her experiment and with Tyler’s help, she feels confident enough to try again.
By the climax, the stakes have never been higher. The intensity is a callback to the beginning of the movie, but this time you’ve gotten to know the characters, you care about them. And when we finally reach the end, the breath you’ve been holding can finally slip free.
The movie ends on a happy note, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
From the start of the movie to the end, Twisters is a high energy, wild ride dripping in fun, serious, and silly moments. While there is a small connection to the 1996 film Twister, this is its own movie. Viewers do not need to have watched Twister to understand Twisters. Even with a nod to the 90s film, the 2024 film explains the necessary information to the audience in a way that feels natural and not forced.
Kate and Tyler’s relationship is magnetic and their shared final goal is compelling, leaving you caring about the characters. Both characters feel real thanks to the incredible chemistry between Edgar-Jones and Powell and the realism presented in the script. The secondary characters, however, are kind of forgettable. Most of Tyler’s crew does not make a huge impact, and I honestly can’t remember most of their names aside from Dani. Javi’s actions are forgiven because of one quick turn around that doesn’t feel completely natural. And then we are also left wondering about what is going to happen to Scott and the rest of StormPAR due to a few plotholes.
The action scenes are tense, although sometimes some effects feel overused, but what can you do when the main villain of the movie is tornadoes. The CGI feels very real, enough so that I found myself thinking, “Oh yeah, I guess that was CGI, wasn’t it?” The sound design also gives you the feeling of being in Oklahoma right alongside the characters.
All in all, throughout the movie, I was entranced, and by the end, I was left wishing I could keep watching. Twisters isn’t an objectively great movie, but it sure is fun, and sometimes, that’s the best kind of movie to watch.