Twister Vs. Twisters
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| Image by Twister and Twisters |
If you’ve kept up with movie trends in the past couple decades, you’ll have noticed that many movies have been receiving sequels or remakes. Many of these newer projects seem unneeded or unfaithful to the legacies of the originals. Fans are often left disappointed over poor story writing, CGI, music, or other parts of the films. When I first heard that the movie Twisters was being released in 2024, I worried that it would follow the same path. To any weather enthusiast, 1996’s Twister was the staple for weather movies. It was a cultural phenomenon and brought massive attention to storm chasing. Finally, I decided it was time to take the plunge and see if the remake could rival the original.
The Cast
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| Image by Twister |
Twisters (2024) has a much smaller cast, yet still maintains a variety of characters. This movie focuses on three main characters, however this time, they are not in a love triangle. The first two, Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Javi (Anthony Ramos), are the only survivors of their young adult storm chasing crew and deal with heavy PTSD from it. When Javi comes back to ask Kate to join his new crew, they maintain a friendship throughout the film, although with emotional baggage. The third main character, Tyler (Glen Powell), is the leader of the rival storm chasing crew. When he and Kate meet, they treat each other as obnoxious competition. In this reimagined movie, Javi’s storm chasing crew reflects the antagonist team from the original, all being PhD’s from major scientific organizations and have corporate sponsors with their own agenda. Meanwhile, Tyler’s rival team reflects the original protagonist team, being a group of colorful hillbilly storm chasers who run a YouTube channel called Tornado Wranglers. They use their popularity and funds to help impacted communities after disasters..png)
Image by Twisters
The Opening Scenes
Twister (1996) immediately sets the tone of the movie by opening with eerie wind howling as the opening credits punch through storm clouds. The first scene shows the core of Jo’s trauma, a violent midnight F5 tornado that rips her dad from their storm shelter. The scene is very terrifying, and instills the fear and power of twisters in the viewer.
On the other hand, Twisters (2024) takes a while before showing the core of Kate’s and Javi’s trauma. It first starts with a cheery and optimistic group of young adults. Kate playfully wakes them up and they all joke with each other as they record a video explaining what their goal is. Even in this short time, the film endears the viewer to the team, which makes it even more gut-wrenching when they are torn apart.
The Plot
The main plot of the original Twister (1996) is that Bill and Melissa are trying to get Jo to sign her divorce papers. At the same time, the tornado outbreak of the century is beginning, and Jo’s team want Bill to join them. Their goal is to use the instrument that Bill and Jo came up with to deploy sensors into a twister. Unbeknownst to Bill, his rival has stolen his idea, producing a corporate knockoff version. Throughout the story, the rival team proves to be nuisances, purposely copying Bill because he has a sixth sense about storms.
The main plot of the remake is that after Kate and Javi lose their entire friend group, they split ways. Kate goes to New York and becomes a meteorologist, while Javi joins the military. After 5 years, Javi tracks Kate down and explains that he has a new plan to study twisters using military radar and he wants her on his team. Reluctantly, she says yes. Soon after meeting Javi’s corporate team, the rival team is introduced. At first, their goals don’t directly interfere with Javi’s goals, except that Javi can’t get good readings if the Tornado Wranglers are getting in the way first. It’s only after each team’s true colors are revealed that the struggle comes to the front.
Twisters (2024) isn’t a plain remaster of Twister (1996); rather, the new movie spins the narrative, creating compelling characters and plot twists that aren’t completely black and white.
Exposition
A main point of discussion for many movie critics is how the film explains the science, history, and goals of the plot to the audience. If done poorly, it could unnerve the viewer or make them ask why they are explaining things that, sometimes, the person they are talking to already knows or why they know that in the first place. Ultimately, poor exposition pulls the viewer out of the immersion. However, successful exposition keeps the viewer engaged and pushes the story along.
In Twister (1996), nearly all the science and history exposition is given to Bill’s fiancé. As the only one in the group who isn’t immersed in tornado science, she takes on the role of the audience, allowing the main characters to explain everything the viewer needs to know to her. While this method is effective in explaining things to the audience, it breaks up the pacing and limits Melissa’s meaningful screentime.
In Twisters (2024), however, exposition is given rather naturally, utilizing several methods rather than just a single character who is out of the loop. Some of these methods include Kate explaining her former team’s goal to a camcorder or Tyler explaining how tornadoes work for his livestream audience. Twisters (2024) uses multiple methods throughout the movie to offer fluid exposition that builds the characters and supports the plot development.
Cinematography and CGI
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In 1996, Twister pushed the limits with its camerawork, CGI, and special effects. Due to the scale of the project, they could do no less. The tornadoes look relatively real for their time, however, they were still quite blurry and undefined. Most of the debris was included by being dropped by cranes or sliding down cables. These methods reduced the amount of CGI, but also often made the debris move unnaturally.
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Image by Twisters
By 2024, CGI has drastically improved, allowing tornado footage and debris to be integrated more smoothly. The tornadoes and debris look and act much more realistically than in the original. While some viewers may complain that there’s too much CGI, I appreciate it and marvel at how well-done it all is.
Tornado Realism
It’s really difficult to successfully depict the power and awesomeness of a tornado. Sometimes in films, debris doesn’t act the way it should, or the wind doesn’t properly affect the characters or props. In Twister (1996), That was a major problem simply due to the technology at the time. Most of it has to due with the wind field of twisters not being accurate, debris flying too precisely, and precipitation being inconsistent. The biggest laughingstock of the movie, though, would have to be the scene with three twisters. While it is a documented phenomenon to have two tornadoes at once, they always spin opposite directions, with the clockwise one being weaker. Never before has there been three tornadoes near each other at once.
However, Twisters (2024) has 25 more years of study than its predecessor. Tornadoes aren’t completely opaque, even showing mini vortexes inside a few times. Debris behaves much smoother and precipitation is much more consistent. The firenado is correctly shown to be a tornado with some fire in it rather than a tornado of fire. However, there are still several parts that are unrealistic. Once again, twin tornadoes don’t act properly. Some debris still behaves questionably. People still look odd when they’re picked up and thrown. The biggest laughingstock of this film, has to be how close characters stand to the twisters. In one moment, the Tornado Wranglers get out of their car seconds after a twister passes over them without even waiting for it to move further away. Even though the remake has better CGI and more information, it’s still has flaws.
Score
Whether one enjoys music or not, no one can deny the power music has in a movie. I’d argue that most of the sense of adventure in Twister (1996) is carried by its soundtrack. Overall, the score can be divided into three main groups. The first and easiest is the traditional action music, championed by stirring strings, marching drums, and strong brass. This group adjusts to match most of the emotions of the story: adventure, curiosity, tension, and melancholy. Next, we have the tornado music. This group always appears when the film focuses on the majesty of a twister. It’s mainly carried by soaring strings and a majestic choir, often in a minor key. This music is superb at creating awe for the viewer. Finally, there is the diegetic music. Diegetic music is any music that plays in-universe of the characters. Throughout the movie, these moments are carried mostly by Dusty, blaring his rock-and-roll music from his truck. However, diegetic music also carries some emotional moments such as a break-up song playing from a radio at a concession stand.
However, Twisters (2024) rarely lets the music lead the emotions at all. About half the movie doesn’t have music; when it does, the music is mixed behind everything else and doesn’t shine. Twisters uses only two main groups of music, the traditional orchestral and diegetic. In this movie, most of that diegetic music is country music and is usually played by the Wranglers.
Tornado Myths in Movies
Throughout history, there has been a lot of fascination with tornadoes, and as such, there were a lot of myths regarding them. As a product of its time, Twister (1996) included several false myths such as green skies predicting tornadoes, taking shelter under bridges or in a car, and the insides of a twister being clear like the eye of a hurricane. However, Twisters (2024) is much more intentional about correcting those mistakes, such as characters acknowledging that hiding under an overpass is a horrible idea, but it’s better than staying in the car. They still include the insides of a twister being clear, though.
Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoyed both movies. The main characters were intriguing, the side characters were entertaining, and for the most part they all had characterization. The action sequences were thrilling and the emotional scenes admittedly almost had me outright laughing or crying. The original Twister was more plot-focused, while the drama between the characters felt like a side plot. Twisters the remake, however, was more character-driven, in which character arcs naturally develop and influence how they approach storm chasing. Both stories were rather predictable, but often, I enjoy that in a movie. Not every movie needs twelve and a half plot twists. I think both movies are definitely worth a watch. Ultimately, if I want a movie focused on thrilling severe weather action, I’ll watch Twister. If I want a fulfilling character-driven weather movie, I’ll watch Twisters.
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| Image by Greg Johnson on Unsplash |
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