As Ricky Bobby once said, “Hang on, Baby Jesus… this is gonna get bumpy.” The good news is thatTwisters’80% Rotten Tomatoes score far surpasses the rating received by the original film, 1996’sTwister.Glen Powell’s“Tornado Wrangler,” aka Tyler Owens, is ready to chase thunderstorms and dodge debris on the big screen, and in a few short days, he’ll get his chance asTwistersstorms into theaters on Friday. But it’s not all good news for the latest big-screen effort from Warner Bros.
The reviews of the new film are a mixture of stormy and sunny critiques. And, at the time of this writing, those reviews have givenTwistersan 80% rating on the Tomatometer based on 40 reviews.William Bibbianiof The Wrap is one of those pleased with the swirling and twirling disaster film. He reports:
‘Twisters’ miraculously stands out against the modern blockbuster landscape. Just like ‘Twister’ did back in 1996. It’s the rare legacy sequel done right.
A follow-up to the 1996 original film Twister, Twisters is a sequel set years after the original, said to be fast-tracked by Steven Spielberg and Mark L. Smith, with Frank Marshal as producer. Little details exist about the film, but Helen Hunt is expected to reprise her role as Jo, with the film likely to pay homage to the late Bill Paxton.
Jordan Hoffmanof Entertainment Weekly concurs:
Just about as good as a summer movie gets.
Back in the summer of 1996, the late Bill Paxton and co-star Helen Hunt led an all-star cast inTwister. However, their film only registered somewhere between an F1 and an F3 with the critics, resulting in a lackluster 63% rating on the Tomatometer. Nonetheless,Twisterscertainly isn’t immune to naysayers.Nicholas Barberof BBC.com says:
Twenty-eight years on from the release of Jan de Bont’s Twister, Hollywood’s powers-that-be have decided that this lucrative piece of intellectual property should be taken out for another spin, but they haven’t done anything surprising with it.
Twisters Touches Down with Some Critics, Fizzles Out with Others
First reactions toTwisterswere quite promising when they hit the internet, but depending on which reviews cinephiles choose to read, the Glen Powell-led disaster movie is either hit or miss.Jeff Ewingof Collider enjoyed director Lee Isaac Chung’s big-screen adventure and gave it an 8-out-of-10 score. Ewing writes:
The film packs a stunner of an intro, high stakes, charismatic characters, and memorable set-pieces intended for massive screens, making for a satisfying follow-up to the original.
Robbie Collinof the United Kingdom’s Daily Telegraph took his praise a step further and gaveTwistersa perfect 5-out-of-5 rating! Collin says:
A film many might have written off as a faintly desperate revival of an aging blockbuster brand is in fact the most wholehearted, warm-blooded, meticulously crafted good time at the movies since Top Gun: Maverick.
How Is Twisters Connected to the 1996 Original?
Discover how Twisters relate to the original 1996 disaster film and which characters return.
Meanwhile,Damon Wiseof Deadline didn’t feel the Earth shake quite the same way The Telegraph’s writer did whenTwisterstouched down at his screening. Wise reports:
It’s hard to imagine who Twisters is actually for. The dialogue is creaky, whenever it’s not Satnav-speak, and the bad behavior of rapidly spinning air isn’t really something to invest in.
Owen Gleibermanof Variety adds:
Twisters, fun as parts of it are, is a movie where reality ultimately takes a lot of the wind out of its gales.
While the critics can’t seem to agree on whether Powell’s tornadic film is worth chasing after or not,Twistersis expected to make $45 million to $50 milliondomestically over its opening weekend. ButTwistersis up against a $200 million production budget, to say nothing of its marketing and advertising costs.
