Hey everyone!

This week I went to the theaters with my family to watch Twisters, the sequel to the 1996 film Twister. 

 I had no idea what to expect going in to watch this movie. I haven’t watched the first movie and I forgot to watch the trailer beforehand. And as you guys probably know, there haven’t been too many good reviews about a lot of recent movies. (That does mean that there haven’t been any good movies obviously, but generally what I’ve heard has been negative). So going into this film without any idea of what it was about besides, y’know, twisters, my expectations weren’t too high. I expected it to be more about the twisters than the characters, and it’d be one of those movies where I’d think “eh, alright”, and then never think about it again. 

 Then I watched it, and honestly I was pleasantly surprised. 

 Obviously it wasn’t the best movie of all time, but it was a whole lot better than I expected it to be. It was an entertaining movie that actually cared more about its protagonist than I thought it would. I’ll try to keep my review (including future ones) spoiler-free, but before I get into it, here’s the synopsis for the film: 

 “Haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado, Kate Cooper gets lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi, to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. She soon crosses paths with Tyler Owens, a charming but reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures. As storm season intensifies, Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves in a fight for their lives as multiple systems converge over central Oklahoma.”  

 Characters

 I liked Kate as a protagonist. She’s determined, sassy, and confident. She has a natural gift for storm-chasing, but she also has fears and a deeply rooted guilt that drove her away from it. But she also genuinely cares for people and wants to help them. 

 Kate wasn’t exactly a unique protagonist, but she was believable and it was easy to sympathize with her throughout the movie. I liked how they showed her trauma of surviving a massive tornado and the impact it had on her, and how it made her conflicting reluctance to go back to storm-chasing and desire to help those in danger convincing. I appreciate that they didn’t just show her trauma when it was important for the plot, but you could see it throughout the story. 

 Besides a couple others, the movie didn’t focus a whole lot on any of the other characters which was a bit of a shame. But they did well with making you care enough about most of the characters that you’d hope they’d survive. I also liked the relationships in this movie— even though there’s only a couple significant ones worth noting, I thought they were developed pretty well. 

Plot

 I never really thought I’d find a film about people chasing after tornados interesting, but here we are. Honestly I expected the constant threat of tornados to feel repetitive, but it never did. It’s definitely an on-the-edge-of-your-seat movie, but it’s not constant to the point of exhaustion. And it isn’t slow either. It has its intense moments, but it also has its quieter ones so you have enough time to relax and focus on the characters before the intensity crashes right back in. Despite being a two-hour long movie about tornados, it’s paced well enough that it isn’t boring but it also isn’t throwing everything in your face in one tornado-filled blur. 

 Final thoughts

 Besides some strong language and, obviously, character deaths via tornado, this was a pretty clean movie. Honestly I can’t think of any major complaints I have about it. The visuals were impressive, the actors did a really good job, and I enjoyed the soundtrack. 

 But the biggest thing I appreciated about this movie is that it didn’t feel like a cash-grab film. I could tell that the people who made this movie made it because they wanted to, not just for the money or good ratings. They made it to entertain, and in my opinion it did exactly that. And as someone who didn’t watch the first movie, I appreciate that I didn’t have to know what the first one was about to enjoy this one. It felt like its own movie and honestly I keep forgetting it’s supposed to be a sequel.

 So would I recommend it? Yes! It’s worth watching at least once, and honestly I would watch it again. Is it for everyone though? No, of course not. I don’t think this movie was trying to be something for everyone to enjoy. But if you like disaster movies with likable characters and intense scenes that’s fun to watch, I’d definitely recommend giving this a try! 

 Thanks for reading! – Em