July 23, 2024
TWISTERS (Lee Isaac Chung / 2024)
Well, I don't really have much to say beyond the fact that I enjoyed it, and I had fun.
:
I saw the original 1996 Jan De Bont
Twister only
once in my lifetime, during its original theatrical run (a
loooooooooong time ago!
), so I don't really remember that much about it. Not that it's particularly relevant in the case of this sequel, because it's a standalone film that's not really dependent on one's having seen the '96 original.
No spoilers, but a few observations:
1) If you've seen the trailer, you will recall the character of Boone (Brandon Perea) screaming
"We've got twins! Twins!!" In the actual movie, it's a scream of joyous amazement, not terror.
And the twin tornadoes come fairly early on in the movie, and it's mainly a plot device to split the characters up, in terms of
"Which one do we chase?"
2) This is one of those increasingly rare Hollywood blockbusters which
does put a lot of destruction and devastation onscreen,
but which is also actually quite mindful of the real-life human cost of such destruction and devastation. A couple of times in the movie, we are shown the destruction of entire neighborhoods and communities, and we see the main characters coming to the aid of people in the aftermath of a tornado, and during the film's intense climax (quite well-executed, I might add) they help to get the townspeople into a movie theater. (BTW, remember
The Shining playing at the drive-in during the '96 film?
This time it's the original
Frankenstein with the famous line
"It's alive! It's alive!!" coming just before the screen gets ripped away!) These days, when
Godzilla and
King Kong beat the crap out of each other (or other monsters) and smash each other into buildings, nobody ever talks about or mentions whether or not people are actually
in those structures or if everybody got evacuated when they received word that the "Titans" were in town. The difference is, Godzilla and Kong are
not real and tornadoes very much
are, and I'm pleased that this movie - while primarily seeking to thrill and entertain - is astute enough to take the human factor into consideration. In addition, there's a little subplot about how information about tornadoes is being fed to a local real estate mogul and developer who uses the information to profit from the destruction, and how this creates a minor conflict between two of the characters and a crisis of conscience for one of them. (No prizes for guessing which way this character will fall.)
In short, not exactly
great, but I would still classify it as a superior example of Hollywood franchise filmmaking, which by my reckoning tends to be not all
that superior these days. I'm thinking that this is the kind of movie that the late Roger Ebert would have described as a
Bruised Forearm Movie (and he also puts the best
Indiana Jones and
Lethal Weapon movies in this category),
"the kind of movie where your date is always grabbing your forearm in a viselike grip, as unbearable excitement unfolds on the screen. After the movie is over, you've had a great time but your arm is black-and-blue for a week."