In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that this long-delayed sequel to its 1996 blockbuster predecessor is not nearly as awful or hokey as I thought it would be. As a prototypical summertime popcorn movie, director Lee Isaac Chung’s latest hits every item on the checklist of requirements for what such a release should do, and, in that sense, it’s admittedly rather fun – to a point. With that said, however, there’s only so much belief that one can realistically suspend while watching this often-preposterous tale, one that frequently pushes the limits of silliness and credibility. As expected, the tornadoes are the real stars of this picture (and, arguably, justifiably so), while the film’s clichéd, largely monodimensional characters and often-clunky, highly implausible narrative take a dutiful back seat to what clearly (and deservedly) lies front and center. That’s not to say these other elements are completely overshadowed, but their inherently predictable qualities and general lack of imagination fail to set this film apart as something genuinely different, particularly from its precursor. That dearth of innovation is especially apparent, for example, where good ole boy storm chaser Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) is concerned, whose testosterone-soaked persona makes him look more like a reckless, simple-minded yokel than a character to be legitimately taken seriously as someone who might actually know something about cutting-edge meteorology. At the same time, though, by employing these qualities where Powell’s character is concerned, I’d contend that maybe the film should have played them up more, transforming this offering into more of a campy romp, an approach that might have helped to distinguish the picture more than haplessly trying to make it into something to be taken so seriously. In any event, “Twisters” may not be the disaster that it could have been, but, as disaster movies go, it could have been better with a little less predictability, a lot less cliché and considerably more originality.
A tragedy forces meteorologist "Kate" (Daisy Edgar-Jones) back into the office where she spends her days monitoring weather events and advising on whether or not twisters may emerge and issuing any necessary alerts. Another of her erstwhile coleagues, "Javi" (Anthony Ramos) shows up with some military-grade technology that can be used to 3-D plot the phenomenon and that gets her back out into the field. That's where she encounters "Tyler" (Glen Powell) - he's a "tornado wrangler" who uses his guts to drive as close as he can to get great images for his lucrative You Tube channel. Her designs are more altruistic, though. She wants to map the things so she can develop a plan to seed them with super-absorbent polymers that will hopefully stop them in their tracks. A gently competitive scenario now develops between the two, but that is soon changed when she discovers that one of their backers in really in it for the fire-sale value of properties devastated by the sheer power of the twisters, and - of course - the remainder of the plot follows lines way more predicable than that of the whirlwind. It's really more of a whirlwind of another sort that takes over and that's a bit of a shame as it shows up the limitations Powell as an actor. Sure, he's the boy next door you wouldn't kick out of bed for eating Pringles, but here he's about as wooden as a washboard. Edgar-Jones isn't a great deal better and the writing seems uncertain as to whether we are to watch an action-packed adventure film or a cheesy romance with some contrived moralising thrown in for good measure. To be fair, there is an attempt at bringing some science into the story and the visual effects are genuinely exciting to watch as these amazing forces of nature wreak their havoc despite man's best efforts. It's a bit on the long side, but it's still perfectly watchable especially if you can appreciate the visual on a big screen. It's just a bit disappointing.
