Twisters Review: A Crowd-Pleasing Disaster Film That Knows Exactly What It Is
Lee Isaac Chung's soft sequel to the 1996 classic is unpretentious summer entertainment — big, loud, and tremendously fun when it works.
Twisters
As storm season intensifies, the paths of former storm chaser Kate Carter and reckless social-media superstar Tyler Owens collide when terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed. The pair and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.
There is something refreshing about a summer blockbuster that knows exactly what it is and commits to it without apology. Twisters is not trying to be the next Oppenheimer. It is trying to put impressive tornadoes on screen and give audiences a good time. On those terms, it mostly succeeds.
Daisy Edgar-Jones Anchors the Storm
Daisy Edgar-Jones brings unexpected depth to meteorologist Kate Cooper, a scientist haunted by a past tragedy who is drawn back into tornado chasing by the promise of new technology that could save lives. Her internal conflict — between scientific obsession and self-protective withdrawal — gives the film more emotional grounding than its premise strictly requires.
Glen Powell, playing a social-media-famous tornado chaser named Tyler Owens, is pure charisma. His easy physicality and comic timing provide essential counterpoint to the film's more earnest moments, and his chemistry with Edgar-Jones is strong enough to elevate what might otherwise have been a rote romance subplot.
The Tornadoes
The practical and visual effects work is consistently impressive. Director Lee Isaac Chung — somewhat surprisingly, given his background in intimate drama with Minari — stages the set pieces with confidence and scale. The film's centerpiece sequence, involving a massive tornado descending on a rodeo arena, is genuinely spectacular cinema.
The film is shot with clarity that makes the action geography comprehensible even during its most chaotic moments — a virtue not to be underestimated in contemporary blockbuster filmmaking.
Genre Pleasures, Genre Limitations
Twisters has the weaknesses inherent to its genre. The screenplay relies on familiar types and situations; the villain is underdrawn; certain plot developments are telegraphed well in advance. But the film moves quickly enough that these issues rarely become distracting.
The Verdict
Twisters is exactly the kind of unpretentious summer entertainment that cinemas were built for. Go for the spectacle, stay for Edgar-Jones and Powell's chemistry, leave satisfied.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Edgar-Jones and Powell have genuine chemistry
- ✅ Spectacular tornado sequences
- ✅ Moves quickly and never overstays its welcome
- ✅ Better character work than the genre usually delivers
- ❌ Screenplay relies on familiar genre tropes
- ❌ Supporting characters are thinly drawn
- ❌ Nothing here will surprise you
Twisters
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