Rating: ***
Review Date: 7/21/24
Producer: Steven Spielberg
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Kiernan Shipka
"Hillbillies with a YouTube channel."
This remake/update of the original "Twister" (1996) serves up a hearty dose of terror and destruction, and hits all of the same beats, but lacks the warmth and chemistry of the original. After a college science experiment goes horribly wrong and leaves three of her friends dead, a traumatized and guilt-ridden Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) moves to New York to become a desk jockey meteorologist. A friend with access to military grade equipment convinces Kate to chase some tornadoes with his data collection team, but she ends up siding with Glen Powell's group of reckless thrill seekers after learning about her friend's shady corporate sponsorship. Once again, people with money and technology are branded as evil, while the scrappy and subversive underdogs become heroes.
It's an innocuous and fast-paced action film full of tension and dread, but the characters aren't very deep or likable. Daisy Edgar-Jones gives a fantastic performance as an emotionally tormented scientist and is charming throughout, but she's nearly upstaged by the impossibly adorable Kiernan Shipka in the film's opening sequence. It's a shame that she gets written off so quickly. Glen Powell is absolutely perfect as an obnoxious, egotistical hunk of man candy who just radiates charisma, regardless of how detestable he is. However, once you get past his character's annoyingly brash public persona, he turns out to be a decent guy and the only one who can match wits with Kate. It's an interesting twist (ha!) to watch Kate's loyalties shift after she sees past everyone's exteriors. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast are just caricatures who have more attitude than personality, and are neither interesting or likable.
As you would expect, the visual effects are excellent and the destruction is extreme. The film includes several clever nods to the original, but no flying cows. While it's certainly a big budget, crowd-pleasing, summer popcorn film, I still walked away feeling unsatisfied, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps I let nostalgia influence me too much. Or perhaps it was the tacky and needlessly silly ending, which left a bad taste.