2024-08-13T15:24:00+00:00
I watched it the other night. While the flick had some entertaining moments, "Twisters" felt like a forgettable rehash that paled in comparison to the original.
The plot followed a very similar trajectory to Twister - Kate loses someone close to her in a tornado at the start, gets lured back into storm chasing years later, and teams up with a cocky chaser to try and gather data on/interfere with massive twisters threatening communities. Beyond that, the character's motivations and developments felt at the surface level. Plus, the chemistry with the actors was so painful to watch.
In Twister, Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt's characters went on a compelling journey as they rediscovered their passion for chasing while unraveling scientific mysteries about tornadoes. Twisters lacked that soul - Kate and Tyler seemed to exist more as attractive props going through generic disaster movie plot points than fully fleshed-out people I was invested in. Their relationship also lacked the nuanced charm and witty repartee of Jo and Bill.
Visually, the tornado effects were definitely more detailed than 1996 CGI. However, something about the cinematography made the storms less terrifying than they could have been. Twister director Jan de Bont knew how to frame shots that put you right in the intense, unforgiving force of nature. Twisters opted more for quick-cut, dizzying chaos without being quite as immersive or scary.
The pacing in Twisters also dragged in parts. While Twister took its time to let characters breathe, Twisters crammed in too much meaningless padding like a manufactured drama with a shady corporate team. These distractions took away energy without adding real substance.
Perhaps most disappointingly, Twisters didn't seem to have much new or interesting to say about tornadoes, climate change, or human resilience in the face of disaster. Twister was ahead of its time in sparking public fascination with storm science - I hoped Twisters could have similarly pushed the conversation forward meaningfully, but it settled for generic disaster flick tropes.
Ultimately, Twisters felt like a lazy cash grab without respect for its predecessor or urgency to progress the genre.
Goodnight!
