“Twisters” is the blockbuster this summer needed

Twenty-eight years later, a classic of commercial cinema returns with a sequel that, although not directly connected, is still set in the same franchise universe. Twisters is the disaster movie by Lee Isaac Chung, director of Minari, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, who take the place of Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in a film that holds its own against the dangers and fury of tornadoes. In an Oklahoma where disastrous weather phenomena are increasingly frequent, the protagonist Kate (Edgar-Jones) returns to the field after a five-year hiatus to help her old friend Javi, who has found a way to photograph the enormous cyclones in 3D. For the young woman, it’s tough to get back into the groove after facing a loss she feels responsible for. As she tries to find the courage to chase tornadoes again and rekindle her dream of helping people, she will encounter Tyler Owens (Powell), a cowboy scientist with a YouTube channel who, to satisfy his million-plus subscribers, runs directly into the heart of the storm, trying to tame it.

With traditional writing that features ultra-technological instruments named after characters from The Wizard of Oz to keep the film anchored to the classics of the past, Twisters is among the modern entertainment films that have skillfully taken from the formulas of its reference genre to revise and modify them to its liking. It applies well-known cinematic codes, combining them with ingenuity and attention to a completely new story that chases adrenaline and successfully transmits it to the viewer. A work that, taking from a real threat, plays with our fears in the face of the restlessness of Mother Nature, but also admires its irresistible charm. This is the same charm that Tyler describes to Kate, recalling the first time he faced a tornado: a sense of fear, yes, but also an attraction, as if he were hypnotized. The same goes for the audience, launched together with the protagonists into the sweeping whirlwind of Twisters, frantic and electrifying in every sequence (especially the one in the movie theater), particularly when it pushes on the action.

Thanks also to the charm of the protagonists, whose chemistry is palpable. Daisy Edgar-Jones, known to most for the series Normal People, confronts the regrets of an incident that cannot be undone (shown to the viewer in an impressive prologue), yet does not lack in spirit. Glen Powell, her co-star, is now Hollywood’s new star, the most mischievous smile in the entire star system. A character who, hat on head and belt on waist, hides a good heart beneath his brash exterior, making it impossible to remain indifferent. Taking the audience into the eye of the tornado and leaving them disoriented and happy, Twisters is the best blockbuster offering of this summer that studio cinema can offer. And there was little doubt about this given the presence of a veteran like Steven Spielberg in the production.