TWISTERS : Tuesday 16th July 2024.

I saw the M Rated 'TWISTERS' at my local multiplex this week, and this American action adventure disaster film is Directed by Lee Isaac Chung who rose to fame and recognition with 'Minari' in 2020 which went on to collect 122 award wins and a further 245 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. This film is a stand alone sequel to the 1996 film 'Twister' which starred Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, was Directed Jan de Bont and grossed US$495M against a production budget of US$90M. This film had a production budget of about US$180M and was released stateside this week on 19th July, has so far grossed US$31M and has received positive critical acclaim.

The films opens up with a team of storm chasers in Oklahoma, led by Kate Copper (Daisy Edgar-Jones), her love interest Jeb (Daryl McCormack), Javi (Anthony Ramos), Addy (Kiernan Shipka) and Praveen (Nik Dodani) as they battle against all odds to suck the energy out of a category EF5 tornado armed with barrels of a compound akin to what they make disposable nappies from. Initially expecting the said tornado to be a category EF1 or EF2 it quickly spirals into a category EF5 leaving the gang of five to attempt to take shelter under a road bridge, only for Praveen to be sucked into the vortex followed quickly by Addy and then Jeb while he is trying to protect Kate who is clinging onto a railing for dear life. In the heat of the moment Kates leg is badly slashed by a piece of flying debris. She emerges sometime later to a countryside laid to waste.

We then fast forward five years and Kate is seen working at a New York meteorology office and has seemingly settled into her new life and far away from chasing down twisters in Oklahoma's Tornado Alley. Into the office that same day sidles Javi who is now a well meaning entrepreneur with a plan to lure Kate back to Oklahoma by using some of the latest 3D image capturing devices to gain a far better understanding of what makes tornado's tick. Javi meanwhile seems to be on the payroll of a morally corrupt real estate agent wanting to purchase the land for a song from the victims of the tornado's devastating impacts and when they are at their most vulnerable. Kate is initially dismissive of Javi's suggestion, but soon comes round and takes a week off work to study tornado's up close and personal as storm season ramps up across Oklahoma. 

Arriving in Oklahoma at a meeting point with a rag tag bunch of other amateur storm chasers, Kate meets Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) who goes by the moniker of 'Tornado Wrangler' - a seemingly charming but often reckless social media superstar who thrives on posting to his own YouTube channel his storm chasing exploits and has had over one million views. On Tyler's team there is also Boone (Brandon Perea) the videographer, Lilly (Sasha Lane) the drone operator, Dexter (Tunde Adebimpe) and Dani (Katy O'Brian) a mechanic, as well as Ben (Harry Hadden-Paton) a south London journalist who is profiling Tyler. We are also introduced to Scott (David Corenswet) - Javi's business partner. 

What follows is a series of twisters that both Javi and Tyler compete for to get there first before said tornado's slice a swathe of destruction through central Oklahoma leaving levelled towns and villages in their wake. In the meantime, we have Javi and Scott coming to blows over Javi's steadfast belief in Kate's ability to locate the next twister just by looking at the cloud formations, the direction the wind is blowing and how much precipitation there is in the air; plus Javi's belief that they should stop and help the clean up efforts at the devastated towns they pass through rather that Scott's POV that they should call in their unscrupulous real estate business partner.

And then there is the interest that Kate and Tyler are developing for each other. Kate decides to look up her Mum, Cathy (Maura Tierney) whom she hasn't seen or spoken to in a long while and who lives on a farm a couple of hours drive away. The pair reconnect and the next day Tyler rocks up unexpectedly and is invited to stay overnight by Cathy. In the shed on the farm property lies Kate's mock up of small town with a large fan placed underneath with which she used to create her own indoor tornado's as part of her scientific experiments, plus all of her note books journalling her theories, successes and failures. All of this leads Tyler and Kate to contact Javi and ask him for the hard-drive of the 3D images that they had so far captured from targeting a twister. This data in turn enables them to determine with greater accuracy the validity of Kate's earlier hypothesis. Armed with this data, and about a dozen barrels of sodium polyacrylate (the super absorbent compound found in those disposable nappies), the pair venture out to locate the next twister and release the stuff. 

The pair arrive in El Reno, Oklahoma and can see that a twister is already forming and making its presence felt on the outskirts of the town. The local townsfolk all begin to scatter and panic as the tornado forms into an EF5 and so begins its destructive force on the town. Javi and Scott are in hot pursuit and observing that a desperate situation is about to unfold on El Reno, Javi says that they need to go and help while Scott is adamant that they need to give their real estate contact the heads-up, and to forget about the people of the soon to be flattened town. Javi wins the day and leaves Scott abandoned on the side of the road out of town. 

With a tornado bearing down Tyler, Kate and Javi corral as many of the townsfolk as they can into a local movie theatre for protection from the storm, however, the roof gets ripped off as does the outer wall in front of which is the cinema screen, with Tyler barely clinging on to Lilly from being sucked out into the vortex. In the meantime, Kate has driven Tyler's truck into the base of the tornado and has successfully launched the sodium polyacrylate into the heart of the twister, with it having the desired effect and effectively drying out the tornado from within. Within a couple of minutes the storm has eased, and so Tyler and Javi run across the field to Kate's aid.

In the closing scene Javi drops Kate off at the airport to catch her return flight home to New York. Tyler pulls up in his truck and the two men bid an uneasy farewell to Kate, with Kate's closing words to Tyler being his own credo 'if you feel it, chase it!' Standing at the departure gate Kate hears a message that her flight has been delayed due to a severe weather warning at which point Tyler emerges by her side and the pair leave the airport together.

'Twisters' is certainly worth the price of your cinema ticket, and for all the expertly rendered CGI effects this film makes for compelling viewing on a big screen as the cloud formations, the swirling violent vortex of the twisters themselves, the flying debris and the destruction on the ground in the aftermath are writ large on a grand scale. Both Powell and Edgar-Jones give convincing performances which helps in carrying the storyline forward in a grounded and realistic manner, although a little bit of a romantic relationship between the pair would not have gone amiss either. Whilst it is more than likely to cement its place as one of this season's blockbuster offerings, I couldn't help feel that the plot was a little predictable, and just a rehash of the 1996 original brought up to date with modern day effects and lots of scientific mumbo jumbo that you have to take with a handful of salt. That said, Director Lee Isaac Chung has crafted a film that is sure to please fans of the disaster genre, and offer up something new to those fans unfamiliar with its predecessor.

'Twisters' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 11th July 2024.

Well hello again to all you movie goers, you cinephiles and you film fanatics the world over, I'm back after a five month hiatus from bringing you Odeon Online at least twice a week. Normal service is resumed and it's good to return to your screens with all the latest goings on at your local big screen Odeon, so stay tuned, locked in and online for more of the good stuff from across the world of cinema.

So getting straight back into it, this week there are four new movies coming to your local Odeon, all of which hail from the US. Launching with a stand alone sequel to a hugely successful 1996 film that this time around sees a retired tornado-chaser and meteorologist persuaded to return to Oklahoma to work with a new team and new weather-alert technologies. Then we turn to a triptych offering that are loosely connected that sees a man seeking to break free from his predetermined path; a cop who questions his wife's demeanour after her return from a supposed drowning; and a woman in search for an extraordinary individual prophesied to become a renowned spiritual leader. This is followed by a romantic dramedy that sees a marketing maven and a by the book launch director who must team up for a mission set against the high stakes backdrop of NASA's 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing; and wrapping up the week we have a horror slasher movie that is the reported third and final outing in this trilogy set this time in 1980's Hollywood when an adult film star and aspiring actress finally gets her big break, but, as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'TWISTERS' (Rated M) - this American action adventure disaster film is Directed by Lee Isaac Chung who rose to fame and recognition with 'Minari' in 2020 which went on to collect 122 award wins and a further 245 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. This film is a stand alone sequel to the 1996 film 'Twister' which starred Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, was Directed Jan de Bont and grossed US$495M against a production budget of US$90M. 

Still wracked by a devastating encounter with a tornado, Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is lured back to the wide open plains by her friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos), to test a groundbreaking yet experimental weather alert system. She soon crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a charming but often reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures. As the tornado season intensifies, Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves in a fight for their lives as multiple storm systems converge over central Oklahoma. This film had a production budget of US$200M and is released stateside next week on 19th July. 

'KINDS OF KINDNESS' (Rated MA15+) - labelled an absurdist black comedy anthology film this is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by the acclaimed Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos whose previous film output includes 'The Lobster', 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer', 'The Favourite' and 'Poor Things' most recently. Structured as a 'triptych fable', this film comprises three distinct but loosely connected stories, titled 'The Death of R.M.F.' which follows a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; 'R.M.F. is Flying', about a Policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and 'R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich' about a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader. The films stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn and Mamoudou Athie, saw its World Premiere screening at this years Cannes Film Festival, was released in the US on the 21st June, in the UK on 28th June and this week here in Australia, having so far grossed US$6M off the back of a US$15M production budget. 

'FLY ME TO THE MOON' (Rated M) - this American romantic dramedy is Directed by Greg Berlanti whose prior feature film output takes in 'The Broken Hearts Club' in 2000, 'Life as We Know It' in 2010 and 'Love, Simon' in 2018 as well as creating, writing and producing numerous successful TV shows and series. Set during the 1960's Space Race between the USA and the USSR, a relationship develops between the NASA Director in charge of the Apollo 11 launch, Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) and the marketing specialist, Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) brought in to fix NASA's public image and stage a 'back-up' fake Moon landing in the event that the real mission fails. Also starring Woody Harrelson and Ray Romano the film is released this week in the US and Canada too and had a production budget of US$100M.

'MAXXXINE' (Rated MA15+) - is an American slasher action thriller film Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Edited by Ti West and is the third film in the 'X' series which kicked off with 'X' in 2022 and was quickly followed by 'Pearl : An X-traordinary Origin Story' also in 2022. Those first two films in the series grossed a combined near US$30M off the back of a total budget of just US$2M and both were also critically lauded. Here, Maxine (once again played by Mia Goth) sets out for fame and fortune in 1980's Hollywood while being targeted by a mysterious killer, after being cast as the lead in a new horror film being helmed by Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki), in spite of the fact that all of her previous film credits were in adult films. Also starring Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, Lily Collins, Halsey, Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan. The film was released in the US last week and has so far grossed US$8M. 

With four new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-