Twisters (2024)

Sometimes, making movies is really simple; all you need is Glen Powell, tornadoes, and a tiny sprinkle of trauma. Twisters takes everything that works from the original—the cheesiness, the epic scale, the bombastic technical elements—and amplifies it with a modern twist. While it's far from perfect (that kiss being cut from the ending is inexcusable), Twisters is a lot of fun, and Lee Isaac Chung gives the story his trademark dose of societal themes to elevate this above your standard disaster movie fodder. Did I also mention Glen Powell? Here, he proves once again he is a bona fide star!

What blew me away most about Twisters wasn't those titular tornadoes or even Glen Powell's sunbeam charisma that cascades out of the screen in relentless waves of Hollywood dazzle. No, what blew me away most about Lee Isaac Chung's follow-up to Minari is that it's actually a decent remake of a 90s blockbuster classic. No one's pretending the original Twister was a full-blown masterpiece, but we've been burnt a lot recently in the remake department, so it knocked the wind out of me to discover that Twisters is actually a lot of fun. Just pretend the romance isn't happening and you'll be fine.

You won’t find any legacy characters in Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters aside from the destructive meteorological wonders themselves, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of things for fans of the 1996 original to enjoy. The rag-tag gang, unlucky movie theatre, and “Dorothy” are all present here, but Chung falls just short of reviving the disaster movie genre. Instead, Twisters works best as a vehicle for Glen Powell—a man seemingly on a mission to revive the rom-com, one tight-fitting T shirt at a time. Even without a kiss, the actor’s chemistry with co-star Daisy Edgar Jones is undeniable.