Film

Twisters

Name: Twisters
Genre: Action, Thriller
Released: 2024
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney

Twisters is a spectacle-first action thriller that pairs a cautious scientist with a daredevil influencer into competing storm-chasing teams. It's fundamentally a vehicle for tornado sequences—massive, noisy, visually inventive—rather than character depth or scientific accuracy. Perfect if you want to be battered by weather for two hours and don't mind the plot getting in the way.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love big practical-feeling disaster spectacle where the thrill of the chase matters more than the characters, and you don't mind a breezy, crowd-pleasing sort of fun with a sweaty summer-blockbuster energy.

Skip it if you want subtle, slow-burning character drama or realistic meteorology; the plot leans on rousing set pieces, bravado and a fairly predictable romantic-rivalry thread.

What it asks of you: Two hours of mostly nonstop motion, with the tension climbing in sweeping bursts rather than quiet stretches, so settle in for a loud, kinetic ride and let the wind-and-rain sequences carry you.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Top Gun: Maverick2022

The same formula: veteran caution meets reckless charisma, tense training montages, stunning action sequences, and a climax where they have to work together. Maverick executes it with precision and genuine emotion underneath the spectacle.

But It's earnest and sentimental in ways Twisters never quite commits to. If you want pure dumb fun without the sentiment, this might feel overwrought.

The Meg2018

Another Jason Statham vehicle pitched at the same frequency: big prehistoric threat, expert teams scrambling, jokes that don't always land, and a climax engineered for maximum destruction. It leans into its own absurdity with confidence.

But The script is thin and the acting is aware of it. Some find that fun; others find it exhausting.

Jungle Cruise2021

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt sparring over a deadly jungle, mixing action setpieces with personality clashes and easy chemistry. It's comfortable in its own skin as a summer adventure that doesn't take itself seriously.

But The romance subplot is aggressively will-they-won't-they. If that dynamic irritates you, it's woven through the whole film.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Twisters

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Into the Storm2014

Both fetishize the tornado itself as a character, but Into the Storm makes the destruction feel random and terrifying rather than choreographed. It's the register flip: Twisters is an action film that happens to have storms; this is a disaster film that happens to chase them.

A found-footage disaster film about tornado chasers and a high school documenting a superstorm. It sounds gimmicky, but the handheld format creates visceral, disorienting chaos—you feel the storm's power differently than in traditional action filmmaking.

But Shaky-cam and found footage exhaust some viewers immediately. If that format makes you queasy or irritated, no amount of spectacle will save it.

San Andreas2015

Dwayne Johnson racing through earthquake devastation to rescue his family, with the same emphasis on destruction spectacle over realism. Efficient, unpretentious, and genuinely committed to its disaster sequences.

But The emotional beats are stolid and the characters are sketches. It's all logistics and rubble.

Geostorm2017

Gerard Butler versus a satellite weapon controlling weather itself. It shares Twisters' earnest belief that you can technobabble your way through implausibility, and commits fully to the destruction.

But This film is genuinely poorly constructed, even by action-thriller standards. The plot collapses repeatedly and the dialogue is difficult to endure.

Twister1996

The obvious ancestor: Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt chasing actual tornadoes, competing teams, a plot about obsession and forecasting. It's why this exists. The 90s effects are charming now and the pacing is tighter.

But It's dated in every visual way. If you need modern spectacle to stay engaged, the original will feel quaint.

Fast X2023

Pure kinetic action stripped of pretense, with squabbling teams who bicker and reunite in increasingly ridiculous scenarios. It's the same energy—spectacle as the main character, plot as scaffolding.

But At two and a half hours, it's bloated. The humour is broad and the emotional beats feel obligatory.

Deepwater Horizon2016

Mark Wahlberg in an oil rig disaster, all practical chaos and genuine tension. It finds real stakes in a catastrophe film without leaning on romance or absurdity as a crutch.

But It's darker and more sobering than Twisters. If you want fun, not documentary-style survival drama, this undercuts the mood.

Vertical Limit2000

Chris O'Donnell and Scott Glenn on a mountain rescue, teams and egos clashing against an indifferent disaster. It has the same melodramatic structure and the same 'let's get together and overcome this' arc.

But It's dated, corny, and takes itself far too seriously for its own good. The earnestness tips into unintentional comedy.

The Perfect Storm2000

Both films structure themselves around a convergence: multiple systems/teams/agendas colliding. But The Perfect Storm is elegiac about disaster—it assumes people die—while Twisters is celebratory. Same idea, opposite moral register.

George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in an ensemble cast battling a convergence of weather systems at sea. It's built from the same DNA—teams of professionals, competing egos, nature as an implacable antagonist, and spectacular sequences of destruction.

But It's melodramatic and slow-paced in ways modern action films avoid. The emotional beats dwarf the action, and some threads never resolve.

Chasing Ice2012

Both obsess over capturing nature's power on camera, but Chasing Ice reframes the impulse: why do we chase destruction? What does it cost? Where Twisters celebrates the spectacle, this film questions the watching itself. The wildcard isn't thematically opposed—it's using the same obsession to ask harder questions.

A documentary following photographer James Balog as he documents glacial collapse. It's gorgeously shot, conceptually stunning, and has genuine stakes—not fictional danger, but the slow-motion catastrophe of climate change captured with operatic beauty.

But It's a documentary and it's climate-focused, which means the pacing is contemplative and the ending is bleak. There is no triumphant team victory here, only loss.