Lee Isaac Chung, the director behind the Oscar-nominated drama Minari, might seem an unexpected choice to helm a big-budget disaster flick. But that’s exactly what he’s done with Twisters, a standalone sequel to the 1996 film which followed a group of storm chasers trying to gather useful data about why tornadoes are so devastating.
Chung brings his signature character focus to the action extravaganza. The film follows Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a woman haunted by a past tornado encounter, who gets drawn back into storm chasing. She clashes with the thrill-seeking social media star Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) as they navigate increasingly intense storms while realising they might both be “chasing” the same things.
Kate devised a system that would disrupt the dynamics of a tornado to decrease its intensity.
Climate change is a constant presence in the film, though not through heavy-handed speeches.
Instead, it’s woven into the characters’ world and the extreme weather they face. This subtle approach lets the audience feel the urgency of the situation without interrupting the thrills.
“I feel that we are losing our understanding of where we are in our relationship with nature,” Chung told The Hollywood Reporter. “I would love to see more stories in which our identity is defined in relation to the Earth, and I felt like this film was a chance to do that.”
“Anytime Hollywood is doing anything with climate change, I think we have to stay positive and let people have fun,” he says. “As a production, we want to inspire people to embrace the natural world. That can go quite a long ways toward influencing people to make good choices in their relationship with nature, to study what’s happening on this Earth and to figure out how can we become better caretakers of the planet.”
The production of the film was one of the first to use Universal’s GreenerLight Sustainability Program. The new initiative will embed eco-conscious measures across the studio’s entire filmmaking process, from the script phase to shoots.
Chung has struck a successful balance between heart-pounding action and emotional depth.
The film’s stunning visuals showcase the beauty and power of nature, a landscape we might be losing due to climate change. It also demonstrates natures powerful force, in a sense putting us in our place. The fearsome, heart pounding sequences in Twisters recall the set pieces from the original. Everyone remembers the flying cow!
Twisters is poised to be the hit cinemas need at the moment.
