“Twisters” Review: An Ode to Tornado Chasing Culture

When Twisters was first announced I saw a lot of people say “who even asked for this?” Well, I did. I asked for this. And it was everything I could have wanted from the film and more.

I’m a tornado nerd. And that might be selling myself short a bit, actually. I’ve watched hundreds of hours of tornado footage, can rattle off records (both settled and disputed), and can craftily navigate around one of the most contentious topics in the tornado enthusiast community – why does the EF scale measure based on damage indicators and not wind speed or size? In fact, I spend more time on r/Tornado than any other subreddit, and that includes all the geeky stuff I usually talk about here. Even Marvel stuff. Shocking, I know!

Perhaps that sounds like it’d be hard to disappoint me in regards to a tornado film, but it’s quite the opposite, actually. I’ve sat through at least a dozen B-movie-level tornado films that are complete garbage and I have no problem calling them garbage.  I sit through them anyway, because the pickings are slim and I’m desperate for content. I was fully prepared for this to be just another lifeless sequel trying to capitalize off established IP without much care, but no, friends, this film is good. 

Right out of the gate, I know that the people who made Twisters have done almost as much reading about tornado history as I have. The main group of chasers takes shelter under an overpass, which in the 1990s was a commonly known tactic thanks to some viral footage of people doing it. But it was proven during the infamous 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado to be an absolutely terrible choice. The repercussions the characters face for this decision are taken right out of the history books. The things that happened to the people in the film are almost word for word what happened to people then.  

Just a few minutes into the film and I knew these writers had done their research and I was immediately won over. Great start!

The characters also reflect real-life chasers that those of us who engage with the community can probably recognize. Tyler Owens (Glenn Powell) is clearly similar to Reed Timmer, who has a reputation for screaming with excitement during live streams and coming off as perhaps insensitive to the danger and tragedy these storms can cause. However, like Timmer, Owens has a degree, knows his science, and is willing to give up a chase to help those left behind in the devastating aftermath. Some of those hundreds of hours I’ve watched have been seeing him and others doing just this very thing. It’s a core part of the ethics of people who engage in this activity and those who don’t consider the aftermath aren’t held in very high regard. 

(Timmer seemed to enjoy the film, which is a great cherry on top, for me, personally). 

The climax of the film also takes place in a town called El Reno, which is perhaps meaningless to most people reading this review, but hugely important for people like me. The fields just south of El Reno were the location of one of the most infamous tornadoes of all time. At 2.6 miles wide, the 2013 El Reno tornado is the widest ever recorded (though some people dispute this). It expanded fast and made a turn as it did so, resulting in the death of the professional Twistex team and an amateur chaser, Richard Henderson.

The Twistex team – Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young – were the first professional chasers to lose their life in a tornado. Despite the dangers of the profession, these people are typically fairly safe and make good, quick decisions that keep them out of harm’s way. When they do make poor choices, they are often the first to call themselves out on it – sometimes in a humorous callout video of themselves. 

There’s now a memorial to them at the spot where they lost their lives, which many people in the tornado-chasing community journey to pay their respects. So needless to say, when I saw “El Reno” on the water tower in the trailer, we were almost equal parts intrigued and worried. If you’re going to reference such a monumental event in storm-chasing history, the film better be good.

And it was.

Yes, just like in the first film, some of the physics get spun through a Hollywood lens, but for the most part, you can just shrug it off as action film nonsense and enjoy the rest of it. The rest was well researched, realistic to the community it’s paying homage to, and humorous at just the right moments (sometimes the stressful moments surrounding a tornado event can be funny). It has an extremely similar tone as it’s predecessor and while it may never be able to live up to the original’s iconic status, it’s a film that’s worthy enough to be called a proper and satisfying sequel. 

This is going to earn many repeat viewings from me. The original Twister just went up on Max this month and I’ve already watched it twice, and I know I’ll be playing them back-to-back when Twisters joins it. I hope to spot even more references to the film, even though there were plenty to spot on the first viewing already. Dorothy made an appearance, we got a Suck Zone reference, and a tornado rips a movie screen apart. Wonderful homages that can fit into the plot without feeling shoehorned in. 

And, while the physics did get a Hollywood makeover, the weather-related science was pretty solid, just like the original film. The major difference this time being that we use the Enhanced Fujita Scale now (F5 vs EF5), but they explained how that scale worked succinctly just as the first film did. It uses a lot of jargon, which I was able to follow thanks to my obsession with these things, but the film takes a moment to explain the words you need to know to follow the plot.

Perhaps the rest will fade into the background for some of you, or maybe you’ll go home and Google what an inflow is and start down a new path of hyperfocused research. 

I give this film 5 out of 5 EF5’s.

It’s a specific scale used specifically for tornado movies and tornado movies alone. Perhaps this is a controversial rating system, just like the EF scale itself, but it’s what we’re using here. It is a worthy successor to the original and I can’t think of a single thing I’d change about it.

An actually good, fun, and competently researched tornado film is incredibly hard to find. Only two of them have ever earned 5 out of 5 EF’s: Twister and Twisters. But Sharknado is a 3 out of 5, so adjust your expectations accordingly. 

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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