Twisters (2024)
July 19, 2024 1:03 PM - Subscribe

A retired tornado-chaser and meteorologist is persuaded to return to Oklahoma to work with a new team and new technologies.
posted by TheophileEscargot (22 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Solid movie with a decent plot, decent acting, decent action, decent effects. Nothing really exceptional here but a good two hours entertainment. Plenty of twisters but could have done with some twists.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 1:05 PM on July 19 [1 favorite]


OK, spoil it a little for me: is there a cow?
posted by SPrintF at 2:16 PM on July 19 [3 favorites]


There are cows and bulls, but all remain earthbound.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:58 PM on July 19 [1 favorite]


There are some chickens that don’t fare so well.
posted by Pryde at 7:13 PM on July 19 [1 favorite]


Does Helen Hunt show up?
posted by guiseroom at 12:01 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]


I thought this was a solid summer movie. Just a fun time.

No appearances by the former film’s cast.
posted by jeoc at 5:12 AM on July 20 [2 favorites]


have to admit I am excite!
posted by supermedusa at 9:13 AM on July 20


I had a really good time watching it yesterday! Definitely one to see in the biggest, loudest theater you can.

While no cast returned, I did like that they did use the same containers of flying sensors in the beginning as a nod to the first movie, with the implied continuity with the original.
posted by Pryde at 9:20 AM on July 20


There are cows and bulls, but all remain earthbound.

Apparently the vfx team snuck a picture of a cow onto a flying piece of debris that's visible for a second near the end of the film.
posted by mediareport at 1:39 PM on July 20 [2 favorites]


"Everybody wants the cow," Chung told the outlet, before correcting himself: "They think they want the cow. But I promise you, you would be disappointed if there was a cow."
Given that take, I would of course be delighted if there was a hidden cow. Would be even better if the same cow was seen multiple times (that's when you know you are in real trouble, apparently).
posted by rongorongo at 11:57 PM on July 21


I'm a big fan of the first but I'm really pleasantly surprised how much this is as good in a different way that meets its self-directed brief, which is to be a standalone sequel or even a reimagination of the story. There's a super strong sense of place and people here that I'll be honest the 1990s version didn't have - watching Minari, I totally can understand why this is the movie Lee Isaac Chung wanted to do (and evidently allowed to do).

The other thing it kept up with the original is the soundtrack - I used to listen to the old album repeatedly. This movie's soundtrack is my personal favourite for the year, next to Road House.

This isn't Glenjamin's movie but damn if he didn't sell the hell out of his role so we all know it's Daisy Edgar Jones's movie.

(If anyone likes watching movies like this on your local theme park option, I'll only rate it a so-so, but I might try one in the Atmos theatre.)
posted by cendawanita at 2:40 AM on July 22 [1 favorite]


Embarrassed to realize two days after I saw the movie that apparently I've had Glen Powell mixed up in my head with Glenn Howerton for as long as I've been aware of both actors, mainly from people talking about them without me ever seeing them in anything.

Anyway, the movie was pretty fun, not especially deep but I appreciated seeing how Lee Isaac Chung brought a little social realism and visual lyricism to a remake-quel of a sorta dumb summer movie I remember from when I was a teenager.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:23 AM on July 22


Now I would like to see Dennis Reynolds leading the team of tornado chasers, using the T.W.I.S.T.E.R method.
posted by emelenjr at 11:35 AM on July 22 [4 favorites]


We saw a preview of this last Wednesday and I was also pleasantly surprised. I'm a big fan of Twister, but recognize it's one of those lightning-in-a-bottle films where everything clicked to make it far more than the sum of its parts. Twisters is not on the level of Twister, but as a summer blockbuster it delivers the goods without breaking a sweat. It's a really good roller coaster ride of a movie with a cast that has charisma to spare.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 8:05 PM on July 23


I really enjoyed this. It’s a romp, as they say. Two excellent and charismatic leads (Glen Powell swoon), fun special effects, a barebones plot that’s mostly predictable but perfectly serviceable and fine.

I actually saw this in a 4X theater, and it was a great use of that technology. More like a theme park ride for two hours! It seems made for this type of movie, so I was happy - even though my tail bone was sore from bouncing around, lol.
posted by gemmy at 5:16 AM on July 24


I thought it was pretty good too, for a fun summer movie. A suprisingly high death count though. And the interest in science (I have no ability to say if any of it was real) by so many of the characters was kind of refreshing.

One thing I find kind of ironic: (hopefully not a huge spoiler) the 'villain' is buying out people's whose homes have been destroyed by climate change (implied many times but not said outright in the movie) and the heroes consider this to be immoral. Hopefully people don't actually feel that way when the greater fool (as they say) truly comes for climate change impacted properties.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:54 AM on July 24


The implied villainous part was how little he was paying for the properties, because he was taking advantage of the immediate desperation of the people whose homes had just been destroyed. One would hope it doesn't work out for him in the long run, because he clearly wasn't doing it out of altruism.
posted by Pryde at 7:28 PM on July 24 [2 favorites]


The implied villainous part was how little he was paying for the properties, because he was taking advantage of the immediate desperation of the people whose homes had just been destroyed. One would hope it doesn't work out for him in the long run, because he clearly wasn't doing it out of altruism.

Well unfortunately that's going to be the reality, as climate change-impacted properties are not going to go for top dollar without massive amounts of subsidy. And yeah, it's like buying beachfront property in some place that's about to subsume to the ocean, and I'm really surprised all the scientists didn't mention that. I'm not saying it's rational or fair - I'm just saying it's interesting.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:29 AM on July 25


‘Twisters’ Director on Not Mentioning Climate Change: Movies Shouldn’t “Preach a Message”

But the one thing Twisters doesn’t have: a reference to climate change. This is rather surprising. The possible impact of climate change on tornadoes is complicated and still being figured out, but scientists seem to agree tornado patterns are changing (with more tornadoes happening on the same days and more tornadoes happening outside of Tornado Alley, even if the number of tornadoes overall is unchanged)...

So if you’re making a 2024 movie about a tornado outbreak the likes of which have never been seen before, there’s a rather convenient raison d’etre sitting right there...But to hear director Lee Isaac Chung tell it, even such a throwaway reference would be like beating red state moviegoers over the head with a DVD copy of An Inconvenient Truth.

“I just wanted to make sure that with the movie, we don’t ever feel like it is putting forward any message,” Chung told CNN. “I just don’t feel like films are meant to be message-oriented...I wanted to make sure that we are never creating a feeling that we’re preaching a message, because that’s certainly not what I think cinema should be about. I think it should be a reflection of the world.”

Or, at least, a reflection of studio caution during polarized times when looking for a summer movie hit.

posted by mediareport at 8:37 AM on July 25


I hate that "hey we are dying out here, and would like a stable future" is now a 'message'

I mean c'mon, you could just take 30 seconds of how the team has come back from Louisiana, which Is strange because it s not as core a part of Tornado alley as Arkansas, and it s good to be back in Arkansas, less than a minute of acknowledgement is not too much
posted by eustatic at 2:53 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]


Wait, when were they at Louisiana?
posted by cendawanita at 5:31 PM on July 29


Just saw it and loved it! Big fan of the original and weather disaster movies in general so this was perfect!
posted by ellieBOA at 12:08 PM on August 4


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