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In a quintessential Republican country in the Midwest US, ordinary White folks making a living with their hands, grounded in American values of the rodeo, baseball and the national anthem, are facing a “tornado outbreak”.
If the timing of Twisters seems pretty propitious, being bang in the middle of a US presidential election where winning the Midwest is crucial for who gets to the White House, the makers have an alibi. The film, directed by Chung of the Oscar-winning Minari fame, is officially a stand-alone sequel of the 1996 hit that went by a singular Twister.
Now the storms are getting worse, more frequent and deadlier, and hence the addition of ‘s’, one presumes. But the weather lovers who abound in the film don’t ever whisper ‘climate change’. What they do, incessantly, is drive right into one tornado after another, where they are pushed or flung about, for no clear or coherent reason why.
All that destruction and all those visuals are spectacular alright, especially the first. However, you have to be really invested in a whirling funnel of wind to care so much – with no flying frightened cow around to grab your attention, as in the 1996 film – even if the actors do sound super-impressive with all the talk of moisture, wind shear, cloud gazing to help them fathom where a tornado will form.
As a PhD-aspirant student, Kate (Edgar-Jones) once thought she could tame the tornadoes by sucking their moisture out, using stuff that literally goes into making diapers. After an experiment goes horribly wrong, and results in the death of three friends, she is scarred but still gets into a job in the New York weather station where her word remains final about any building storm.
Now, the past has come calling in the form of a friend who was part of that diaper experiment, Javi (Ramos). He has access to some new high-resolution radars which can help capture a 3D image of a tornado right from the centre of it. Kate takes some persuasion but not much to get on board, as Javi promises this can help.
The Oklahoma tornado country where they land up also has a band of rag-tag storm chasers gathered from all over – the loudest, most flamboyant among them being Tyler (Powell), leading a team whose recklessness can only pass off as daredevilry in the movies or on YouTube, where their channel now has a million-plus subscribers.
Of course, the tornadoes will throw Tyler and Kate together – in this case again and again, as separately and then together, they keep driving into the eye of every storm, towards a purpose that remains fancy at best and foolish at worst.
The two also repeatedly assert that their goal is helping people, by which they mean landing up at towns full of people struck down by a tornado and screaming at them to “take shelter”, “run”, “hide”, “look for a basement” etc etc, or handing out food and water.
Wouldn’t the job be better done by these two storm whisperers by warning these towns in advance? Or ensuring that the tornado country builds more and accessible storm shelters?
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No one asks those questions. And while Powell’s unruffled charisma survives this wrecker, the talented Edgar-Jones is too placid for the gathering storm hinted at in their relationship.
For the other hints, brush up on your Wizard of Oz.
Twisters movie cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos
Twisters movie director: Lee Isaac Chung
Twisters movie rating: 2.5 stars
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