WARNING: This article contains spoilers for both Twister (1996) and Twisters (2024).
In maybe the greatest publicity stunt of the whole summer, Twisters (2024) was released soon after tornadoes struck in Upstate New York. A standalone sequel, the film follows Twister (1996). Due to the films’ similarities and glaring differences, fans and critics alike are comparing the duology harshly. But, while the tone seems to shift entirely from one to another, the two films have many of the same victories and problems.
Both movies are centered around storm chasers, specifically scientists attempting to implement new technology to find out more about tornadoes. Twister follows Jo (Helen Hunt), a storm chaser who is motivated to research tornadoes because she lost her father to one. In their race to be the first to deploy new technology they pick up Bill (Bill Paxton), Jo’s estranged husband, and his fiancée Melissa (Jami Gertz). Twisters, on the other hand, is about Kate (Daisy Edgar Jones), a prodigal storm chaser who gave it up after witnessing the death of her three closest friends. In it, she is convinced to return to chasing with her old friend Javi (Anthony Ramos), who is now attempting to help communities damaged by tornadoes. Kate soon finds out that their rival, Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) (with whom she has extreme romantic tension) is trying to help, and that Javi’s company is capitalizing on people in need. The two plots are different and seem to only share constant tornado appearances and scientists with a dream.
In Twister, the characters are extremely flat and Jo’s whole team is built of characters only slightly relevant to the plot. Phillip Seymor Hoffman’s character, Dustin, was the only side character of any material and only seemed to be there for comedic relief. The movie was fairly easy to predict, but the romance was even worse, a Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama-esque love triangle that only left me feeling bad for Melissa. Still, Twister was the perfect example of a fluff-filled action movie. The tornadoes seemed real, and the CGI was impressive for how old the movie is.
Twisters was similarly trope-y and easy to predict, but the characters were better established and there was more variation in the plot. Still, large “chaser” teams made it difficult to get connected to any of the characters. It was easy to watch Kate outsmart Tyler until she switched sides, and even easier to support the lively thrill-chasers with hearts of gold when she finally did. Twisters easily had better CGI than Twister, and went overboard with thrilling tornado-based destruction. The cows flying around in Twister didn’t stand a chance against the firenado at the climax of Twisters.
Where Twister was flashy and dramatic, Twisters tried to be more mature while keeping the classic action movie feel. In Twister, Bill and Jo drive into twin tornadoes, but in Twisters, Kate directs Javi away from the twin tornadoes because she’s afraid of losing another friend. Her resulting guilt that they weren’t able to gather data to help those affected adds another level to the story, whereas in Twister, it is more of a device to show how Bill and Jo are back in the game.
The difference in tone is shown again in the romance storylines of the two movies. At the end of Twister, the guy gets the girl, ignoring his traumatized ex-fiancee. I was left feeling like I cared more about Melissa’s feelings than Bill did, because he was almost unaffected, sharing a kiss with Jo in the final shot of the movie. At the end of Twisters, however, Kate and Tyler’s relationship is left open-ended. Rather, the final scene of Twisters focuses on Kate and Tyler continuing their storm chasing together, alluding to a relationship while focusing on their scientific goals.
Certainly, Twisters has gotten its flowers as the summer blockbuster, but whether that is only due to Glen Powell’s charm is up for debate. It almost seems unfair to compare the two films, as they are each valuable for different reasons. Still, I preferred Twisters over its predecessor, although it depends on personal tone preference.