Twister’s Far-Fetched Ridiculous Plot Won’t Work in 2024

The mid-’90s was a very specific moment for the summer blockbuster when natural disaster films were seriously en vogue and comprised many of the era’s big-budget summer features. This half-a-decade-ish period consisted of some of the most eminently re-watchable action movies ever — but for all their staying power, entertainment-wise, their attempts at providing scientific support for far-fetched plots have grown almost laughable three decades later. Twister was no exception, being the big-budget 1996 mega feature that dared to introduce us to the “suck zone.”

Twister grows more paradoxical with every passing year and every re-watch, with an exceptional cast comprised of the ultra-lovable everyman star Bill Paxton, the about-to-be Best Actress Helen Hunt, and a supporting cast that included generational talent Philip Seymour Hoffman. Nostalgically speaking, it’s everything we miss about the ’90s — a period when screenwriters clearly weren’t concerned with a modicum of real-world grounding, and their onus was focused completely on fun. Nowadays, however, such reckless disregard for reality may not fly — meaning the forthcoming reboot, Twisters, won’t be able to take quite the same amount of artistic license with facts.

Increasing Climate Change Has Created a New Context for the Twister Franchise

In the intervening decades since the original Twister, natural disasters like super-tornadoes have become all too common, and the topic of climate change is hotly debated. Still, films like Top Gun: Maverick have ushered in a new era of reboots and sequels, where ’80s and ’90s nostalgia makes for a built-in audience — one that warrants a big budget that isn’t required to be a superhero property. Enter Twisters, which promises to preserve all the fun of the original but will be required to give us a much better science around its deadly whirlwinds.

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In charge of the story is Joseph Kosinski, who proved his audience-friendly chops beyond doubt when he helmed Top Gun: Maverick, but now is only responsible for the story-writing credit on Twisters. Top-billed on the cast is Daisy Edgar-Jones, who, up till now, was arguably most famous for having her body parts packaged into saran wrap in Fresh, and the uber-affable Glen Powell in the other lead role as Tyler Owens. Powell is on an absolute heater at the moment after showing his acting range in the highly enjoyable Hit Man and proving his bankability (even in the fraught rom-com market) with Anyone but You.

Some of the Original Film’s Content Won’t Fly Nowadays

Here’s the problem: one look at the latest Twisters trailer, and it’s clear that not much has changed since the original. The tornado tracker, Dorothy, still looks like a Sputnik-era pork smoker. The new film’s protagonists are still driving a Dodge Ram truck that looks a heckuva lot like Bill Harding’s in the original, and despite a $200 million budget and two decades worth of CGI innovations since 1996, the tornadoes still look kind of fake. Watching the original Twister, we can still enjoy a laugh when a cow flies in front of the truck while the Dodge still inexplicably grips the road, but that may not be the case with the new version.

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Hopefully, director Lee Isaac Chung, who made the near-perfect film Minari in 2020, can inject some much-needed realism into the action, but now that he’s been working on two Star Wars series, do we really expect that? Also absent from the new film is the fantastic supporting cast of the original, which included Cary Elwes of The Princess Bride, Alan Ruck of Ferris Bueller fame, and the peerless Philip Seymour Hoffman. Having Hoffman play Dusty Davies in Twister was like casting Sir Laurence Olivier in a supporting role in Independence Day. But guess what? It worked!

Duplicating Amblin Entertainment’s Filmmaking Machine Won’t Be Easy

In 1996, Amblin Entertainment was at its peak, creating films that blended in enough practical effects wizardry to offset the lagging CGI. These films were experiences, as Steven Spielberg’s company also produced theme park attractions in the ’90s and understood what audiences wanted from a natural disaster movie. It’s hard to see Twisters living up to those lofty heights, and it certainly won’t incorporate enough practically-shot effects to re-produce the original films’ charm, which was a bit like one of those rides at Universal Studios.

Where it can outdo the original is incorporating the boots-on-the-ground reality of our planet today, where natural disasters seem to increase every year, disproportionately affecting the poor, and new tornado-predicting technologies are being deployed (that don’t look like a toaster with marbles inside). Twisters still has plenty of promise, with Glen Powell hitting his prime as the current male action star of choice and Lee Isaac Chung continuing his unique skill for storytelling. When Bill Harding poured dirt from his hand to predict the direction of a coming tornado in 1996, we somehow bought it. Now, that won’t be quite as easy. Stream Twister on Max. Twisters in theaters June 17, 2024.