1996’s Jan de Bont action-drama Twister changed a lot of lives. Led by Bill Paxton (True Lies) and Helen Hunt (Cast Away), the film would be responsible for endless quotes when a storm would hit (“Cow.”), when folks are hungry (“Red meat. We crave sustenance.”), and a curiosity for storms that would inspire countless future storm chasers and meteorologists. Some 28 years later, audiences are invited to return to the world of Bill and Jo with an offshoot tale involving new characters in this evolved, though not necessarily matured, universe. Almost like a prequel with its central love story mirroring what we imagine Bill (Paxton) and Jo (Hunt) to have experienced while also existing within the echo of the prior tale as two bands of chasers battle it out amid life-threatening touchdowns during a once-in-a-generation storm outbreak, director Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters rides the line of legacy sequel while also being its own thing. After impressing audiences for months in theaters, Chung’s Twisters is now available to enjoy at home with over an hour of bonus features available on specific formats. Chasing this one really does depend on whether or not you feel it.
If you’re interested in learning about Twisters in a more spoiler-free capacity, head over to the theatrical release and initial digital release review from EoM Contributor Gabe Lapalombella.
L-R: Daisy Edgar-Jones and director Lee Isaac Chung on the set of TWISTERS. Photo Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures; & Amblin Entertainment. © Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.
After storm chaser Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) loses two friends and her boyfriend while testing a hypothesis to stop a tornado in its tracks, she retreats from that part of her life for five years, eventually working for the National Weather Service New York City-based office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tracking storms. Found by her fellow survivor and friend Javi (Anthony Ramos), she’s convinced to join him in Oklahoma for one week in order to help him test equipment he wants to repurpose from the military in order to save lives. Reluctant, but willing, Kate reenters the storm chasing world, which means facing her fears as well as the seemingly adrenaline-junkies calling themselves “Tornado Wranglers,” led by the brash-yet-charming Tyler Owens (Glen Powell). What she thinks is a temporary return to help a friend will transform into an all-out battle between her desire to help others and to keep herself 100% safe, two things that are nearly impossible in the world of storm.
L-R: Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kate and Anthony Ramos as Javi in TWISTERS, directed by Lee Isaac Chung. Photo Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures; & Amblin Entertainment. © Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.
Written by Mark L. Smith, Chung’s Twisters is a totally worth-watching disaster flick for the ways it’s different from the original film, even as it remains tethered to it. Kate has the traumatic incident that propels her story (away from storms, not toward them like Jo); Tyler is the fellow scientist running off instincts (being a Tornado Wrangler is a lot like being “The Extreme,” no?); and poor Javi is basically Jami Gertz’s Melissa except he’s part of the team and equally science-minded. Couple that with a few “storms of the century” and competing chaser outfits and it bears all of the same DNA markers. There’s no replicating the chemistry between Paxton and Hunt nor that of the original storm chasing crews, but Smith’s script doesn’t try to replicate that. Instead, it shifts the story so that, through Kate, we, the audience, come to better understand Javi’s Storm Par separately from Tyler’s Wranglers. Through Kate’s return to duty, being able to face her failure and the subsequent human loss that she can’t shake, Smith is able to thread the needle so that Kate, and us, is able to pivot in order to better recognize who Storm Par and the Wranglers are as organizations. More than that, what the influence of a true believer can be on those tempted by money (Javi) and risky behavior (Tyler). Javi doesn’t change too much through the course of the film, his path was always as a scientist looking for funding, he was just willing to go to the folks that would benefit the most from said research (real estate developers) and not those whose lives are turned upside down by the storm; Kate helps him remember what matters about their work together and the thing he dangled in front of her to convince her to join him for a week. Similarly, Tyler, we come to learn, is an educated man who studied meteorology, but opts for a thrill-seeking lifestyle as that enables him to face the terror of the tornados while also raising funds to help those hurt. Through Kate, he learns another way to do put it all together and make his passive behavior into something more active: working to save lives so that the money need not be raised (or as much). This film is neither as neat or straightforward as the first film, but it’s structure and staging of things (even it’s wibbly science for the sake of drama) is thoughtful, purposeful, and following a vision that, ultimately, satisfies — explaining the willingness by audiences to visit again and again.
L-R: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and director Lee Isaac Chung on the set of TWISTERS. Photo Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures; & Amblin Entertainment. © Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.
If this film speaks to you like it does this reviewer, then the bonus features available on the home release are where you should head upon purchasing. There’re two minutes of deleted scenes (which one can seen why they were cut for pacing or that their purpose was better served elsewhere), a four-minute gag reel that highlights just how much fun the cast and crew had while making the film, and, to great delight, a full-length feature commentary track with Chung. As discussed elsewhere in the bonus features, Chung is from Oklahoma, so the feature commentary affords an opportunity to get his unique perspective, not just on the making of the film, but the ways in which his personal experience help shape the film and its many challenges. Building off of that, there are four widely available featurettes and a fifth not available on the DVD that dig further into the making of the film that’ll tickle Twisters fans, weather nerds, and movie geeks. For example, one nice homage to the original film is the red truck that Tyler drives, a nod to Bill’s brand-new truck. The “Tricked-Out Trucks” featurette explores Tyler’s truck and the Storm Par crew vehicles, going over everything from the actual steel framework that reenforces the outside of the truck to the working machinery on the Storm Par roofs which mirror actual NOAA equipment. “Front Seat to a Chase” not only covers the research that the cast of Twisters did with actual NOAA scientists, but the work that the production team did ahead of shooting with footage from two of the meteorologists attached to the project. Of course, building off that Powell Momentum from his fellow 2024 releases Anyone but You and Hit Man, there’s a brief solo featurette, “Glen Powell: All Access,” which allows him to show off his Oklahoma digs, a snippet of his phone call with a rodeo expert ahead of shooting the rodeo sequence, and a bit of time with his parents who cameo in the film. It’s cute and adorable (as is his dog Brisket, who he adopted during the shoot and we meet here, showing up in Daisy’s lap frequently elsewhere in the bonus features). Only available on the 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and digital edition is a six-minute “Voice of a Villain” featurette where we get to learn from the sound design and foley teams about the post-production work done to bring the storms to life. It’s a little like how Dune: Part Two included a dive into the sounds of the two films, so if you’re an audiophile or curious how they made the storms sound so authentic, this is where you want to go.
L-R: Glen Powell as Tyler and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kate in TWISTERS, directed by Lee Isaac Chung. © Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.
Incidentally, it’s because of all the bonus features that are included on the 4K UHD disc that the film itself is oddly less impressive visually. With over an hour of 4K bonus features, a lot of data is taken up leaving less for the film itself. While it looks pretty solid, especially during the sunny daytime sequences where you can really notice how Dan Mindel’s (Spy Game; Star Trek; Star Wars: The Force Awakens) cinematography brings out the natural vibrancy of the greens of grass, blues of the sky, and browns of mud that give Twisters a beautiful earthy energy, the bitrate doesn’t support evidence that the picture is as lovely as it could be. … For instance, especially in the heavy CG sequences, the bitrate on the disc drops heavily. So, in the scene where Kate is testing the wind using a dandelion (a small bit of CG), the bitrate is bounces in the 70s-80s Mbps range, indicative of a good quality picture (128 is the max Mbps); but then it drops to around 40s-50s during sections of the storm (40 Mbps is standard HD quality). It’s not necessarily something that will distract from a home-viewing experience, but it’s frustrating considering how good the film looks in the theater that the home watch isn’t going to be as good thanks to less room on the disc. Soundwise, however, one feels entirely immersed when viewing the film in a 5.1 surround setup, especially in the sequences where Kate and Tyler are dealing with the tornadoes being right above them. Sure, it’s chaos, but it’s a precise chaos that leaves one feeling the intensity.
L-R: Director Lee Isaac Chung, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos on the set of TWISTERS. Photo Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures; & Amblin Entertainment. © Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.
Twisters is far more of a disaster flick than the first, which leaned more on interpersonal drama and character work, making it far more of an action drama. But, with the groundwork laid in this film, with Kate now back on the scene and with a group of people that are much like those she lost, there’s a fantastic opportunity to tell another story that could ingratiate original film characters while telling their own more unique tale. This cast is so good together, even the small pieces with other members of the Wranglers making an impression, that another adventure would be, by this reviewer, welcomed, should a story that makes sense get cracked. Until then, at least we have this. But make sure you know what you’re getting into and have considered the version that’s right for your viewing enjoyment as sometimes less gives you the same as more, and saves some coin at the same time.
Decisions, decisions.
Twisters Special Features*:
- Feature Commentary with Director Lee Isaac Chung (2:02:15)
- Tracking The Fronts: The Path of Twisters – Trace the trajectory of Twisters from its earliest inception to production and get to know the cast as they lead this look into creating their characters, using science to add authenticity, and working through extreme weather wreaking havoc on set.
- Into The Eye Of The Storm – Discover how Twisters blends practical and visual effects to turn nature’s most destructive forces into entertaining thrills.
- Glen Powell: All Access – Glen Powell provides a private tour of a day in his life on the Twisters set.
- Front Seat To A Chase – Strap in with the cast and professional storm chasers as they brave the elements to track tornados in Oklahoma.
- Tricked-Out Trucks – Buckle up for a wild ride in the film’s custom vehicles fitted with unique features ranging from rocket launchers to advanced radar tech.
- Voice of a Villain* – Hear the creation of the film’s deafening howls with a seat in the studio where the audio team mixes unexpected sounds to give the storms a new dimension of depth.
- Gag reel
- Deleted scenes
* On 4K UHD, Blu-ray™ & Digital only
Available on digital-to-own October 8th, 2024.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD October 22nd, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Universal Pictures Twisters website.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: Home Release, Recommendation
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