There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about “Twisters.” Coming from many of the same creatives that made “Top Gun: Maverick,” one of the most popular films of the decade, it bears many of the same marks that made it successful. It’s a grand spectacle, its performances are huge, and it is unconcerned with pushing social messages. Most importantly, it has one of the most believable romances in recent film history.
Much of this is likely a symptom of trying to make the “Twister” lightning strike twice. The original 1996 film is dated. But it made quite an impact and brought on some of the largest filmmakers of its time — Michael Crichton, Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Bill Paxton, and Helen Hunt — to craft a genuine spectacle. Coming at the height of culture’s fascination with disaster movies, it became one of the largest blockbusters of a decade that produced dozens of them.
That said, it is also not nearly as frightening after three decades. Its silly story, primitive CGI, and heavy-handed melodramatic themes about thrill-seeking and trauma make it feel goofy in hindsight. It feels mostly like a lighthearted roller coaster that occasionally dips into death-defying and unrealistic danger.
With 28 years between the original “Twister” and its legacy sequel, many lives have come and passed. I distinctly remember having nightmares after watching the original film as a child. It seems to have given an entire generation a deadly fear of tornados.
This makes it both potent and bizarre as fodder
