‘TWISTERS’ (DUBBED) REVIEW | 18 July, 2024

Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company’s Twisters (dubbed from the Hollywood film of the same name; UA) is the story of storm chasers.

Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is fascinated by storms since childhood and, as a grown-up, has been trying to tame storms in a scientific manner. In one such storm chasing operation, her miscalculation about a tornado costs her her entire team including boyfriend Jeb (Daryl McCormack), Addy (Kiernan Shipka) and Praveen (Niko Dodani). She has since quit storm chasing but is lured back to the job by her friend and former colleague, Javi (Anthony Ramos), to test a new ground-breaking tracking system. She meets Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) in her new stint. Tyler is a social media superstar who enjoys posting his storm-chasing videos. As the storm season intensifies in central Oklahoma, Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves in a life-defying situation where they have to save lives of commoners while also trying to themselves stay alive.

Based on characters created by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, Joseph Kosinski’s story is interesting and also very exciting. Mark L. Smith has penned a screenplay which involves the viewers and, at the same time, offers them absolutely edge-of-the-seat thrills. The sequences of the storm-chasers braving the storms are so hair-raising that the weak-hearted could miss a heartbeat or two. It would not be incorrect to say that the drama completely sucks the audience in and often leaves them staring open-mouthed at the screen. The climax is exhilarating while being very scary too.

Daisy Edgar-Jones is fantastic as Kate Cooper. She plays the storm chaser so wonderfully that it is delightful to see her genius. Glen Powell looks charming and enacts the role of Tyler Owens with conviction. Anthony Ramos is natural to the core as Javi. His sudden appearance in the pre-climax, when Kate is trying to save Tyler’s life, is clapworthy. Harry Hadden-Paton is adequate as journalist Ben. Maura Tierney lends decent support as Kate’s mother, Cathy Cooper. Brandon Perea has his moments as videographer Boone. Sasha Lane makes her mark as Lilly, a drone operator in Tyler’s crew. David Corenswet leaves a fine impression as Scott, Javi’s business partner. Daryl McCormack (as Jeb) is endearing. Kiernan Shipka is natural as Addy, a member of Kate’s team. Nikhil Dodani is alright as Praveen, another member of Kate’s team. Tunde Adebimpe (as Dexter, a scientist in Tyler’s crew), Katy O’Brian (as Dani, a mechanic in Tyler’s crew), Paul Scheer (as the airport traffic police officer) and James Paxton (as Cody) lend able support. Others do as desired.

Lee Isaac Chung’s direction is fantastic. Benjamin Wallfisch’s music and background score are lovely. They greatly add to the drama without appearing intrusive. Dan Mindel’s cinematography is outstanding. Terilyn A. Shropshire’s editing is super-sharp. Dubbing is proper.

On the whole, Twisters is a beautifully made thriller. It will score in English more than in Hindi because the concept of tornadoes is quite alien to the Hindi film-going audience while the English film-going viewers are more receptive of even concepts which they may not have experienced.

Released on 18-7-’24 at Gemini (daily 4 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Warner Bros. Pictures (India) Pvt. Ltd. Publicity: limited. Opening: dull (because of the odd-day release). …….Also released all over. Opening was below the mark.