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<\/a><\/div>\nTwisters<\/i> arrives with a fun, yeehaw love letter to the Tornado belt of Oklahoma from resident Lee Isaac Chung, director of Oscar winner Minari<\/i> and the latest indie director to make the jump to franchise following that of A Quiet Place: Day One<\/i>\u2019s Michael Sarnoski and The First Omen\u2019s Arkasha Stevenson. It\u2019s an odd choice given the family-centric story of Minari but Chung tackles it with audacity, recruiting Normal People<\/i>\u2019s Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, everyone\u2019s favourite movie star and Tom Cruise\u2019s heir apparent, to play what essentially amounts to a couple in a hallmark disaster movie \u2013 with this film borrowing many tropes from the hallmark films in its structure and set-up of the characters\u2019 romance, right down to the full airport sprint at the end of the film, maximising the chemistry between the two actors with gusto, in part due to Powell and Edgar-Jones\u2019 natural ability to develop chemistry with anyone they\u2019ve partnered with.\n<\/p>\n The film is entertaining enough to keep you occupied for its runtime but when you peel back the layers and provide a bit of depth to it it falters; chief among its lack of ability to make tornadoes scary. They never feel like a threat because you know our main characters will pull through, they\u2019re too big a stars not to, and there\u2019s no real risk no matter how absurd the situation gets. From the off, potshots are taken at Man of Steel\u2019s tornado scene where the film goes out of its way to state that underpasses are the worst place to hide, and that is proven right as Edgar-Jones\u2019 storm-chaser Kate watches her friends get taken by the tornado one by one in a ruthless fashion. Innocence lost, she moves to the city to work for a weather company in New York \u2013 but is called back home by a fellow survivor of their encounter, Anthony Ramos\u2019 Javi, now working for a big-tech firm, both haunted by scars of their past and now find themselves face to face with a bigger threat of tornadoes on a scale like never before seen.\n<\/p>\n Climate change feels like an easy point-scorer to make here, doesn\u2019t it? An increase in tornado incidents coupled with the growing change in the extremity of weather worldwide should\u2019ve been a topic that could\u2019ve been addressed with ease, right? Disaster films have a history of raising awareness of climate change; even the loud, bombastic Day after Tomorrow<\/i> raised awareness to the many that watched it. Yet Chung goes out of his way to say this film won\u2019t cover that subject, in a bizarre turn of events \u2013 choosing instead to focus on a love letter to small-town Oklahoma and the rejection of big-city idealism in favour of stubborn small-town independence and free-thinking. We\u2019re quickly swept up by the allure of Glen Powell\u2019s superstar YouTube sensation the Tornado Wrangler; whose team reject the ideas of smart thinking in favour of giving Tyler, a hunk with a heart of gold, and his sensationalist showboating. It\u2019s the kind of movie that can\u2019t commit to anything in its need to appeal to everyone, and as a result, lacks the fun and charm that it needs \u2013 Mark L. Smith\u2019s script gives its cast nothing to work with.\n<\/p>\n Seeing this movie directly after Longlegs<\/i> didn\u2019t help but I\u2019d already forgotten it by the time I was back on the Jubilee line, it doesn\u2019t stay in your mind and doesn\u2019t linger around long after the credits have rolled. There\u2019s a core respect for humanity and the heartfelt need for team-bonding at its centre; the movie\u2019s biggest strengths, and the assumptions that Kate makes about Tyler\u2019s team of YouTubers is quickly proven wrong when she finds that they\u2019re giving away his merch for free to rather than using the opportunity of a disaster to capitalise on their appeal. Sasha Lane has developed a reputation of starring in these sort of things \u2013 check out her performance in ecological thriller How to Blow Up A Pipeline<\/i>, and whilst underutilised here, rounds out a strong ensemble which also includes Love Lies Bleeding<\/i>\u2019s breakout Katy O\u2019Brian.\n<\/p>\n Powell\u2019s energy and excitement is infectious and he\u2019s more McConaughey than Cruise here; the versatility in his role showcased by just how different his turn here is than Hit Man<\/i>. But he lacks the ability to give the meatier scenes depth \u2013 his energy here is all about his charisma and little else. We see the roles of the characters around him reduced to stereotypes \u2013 there\u2019s a British Journalist \u2013 another one who comes from a weirdly specific place of residence \u2013 South London this time, as though every British character in American films has to point out what borough or county they\u2019re from (see Joseph Quinn\u2019s Kent-hailing lawyer in A Quiet Place: Day One<\/i>) \u2013 the villain-turned love interest, the jock nerd, and more stereotypes across the charts like someone threw a dart at a board of character tropes.\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n