“Twisters” (Warner Bros. Korea)
This summer Korean American movie director Lee Isaac Chung brings us “Twisters,” an entertaining disaster flick inspired by the 1996 summer blockbuster "Twister."
Chung, the director of “Minari,” chose not to make “Twisters” a direct sequel, but its plot mirrors the original, incorporating an old-fashioned rom-com revolving around tornado chasers, and even Dorothy, a technology designed to study tornadoes.
While paying homage to the original 1990s blockbuster, Chung also embedded modern effects, devising scenes which include buildings getting peeled open like tuna cans. He told Korean media during his visit on Aug. 8 that he even invited some important team members behind the camera, such as the VFX supervisor who was part of the original “Twister.”
“Twisters” (Warner Bros. Korea)
“Twisters” actor Glen Powell (left) and director Lee Isaac Chung (right). (Warner Bros. Korea)
Despite the floating bodies, whooshing wind and tumbling houses on screen, the movie's true focus is on the brave souls who, spending their lives chasing tornadoes, are shaped by love and loss.
That is, the director’s move from a relatively small, semi-autobiographical film straight to an extravagant, large-scale movie continues to show his signature cinematic element – humanism.
“Twisters” follows the story of retired tornado chaser and meteorologist Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who is persuaded to return to Oklahoma to work with a new team on testing a groundbreaking Tornado tracking system.
Edgar-Jones’ depiction of a midwestern farm girl Kate, who has a sixth sense when it comes to tornadoes, reveals how her agony, hesitation and worries following a tragedy that took her friends’ lives drove her away from storm chasing.
Back in Oklahoma, Kate discovers that there are rival storm chasers, and the cocky, muscled-up YouTuber Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) is one of them. While their first impressions of each other are not great, the audience already knows that they’re bound by their shared obsession with tornadoes.
Chung approaches tornadoes by positioning them as something for his characters to tame rather than confront, which helps the audience to enjoy this meteorological mayhem from a not-too-far, not-too-close distance.
The fact that the tornado chasers were not just chasing a natural phenomenon, but joining hands to help save people in the regions where the tornadoes hit, once again highlights director Chung’s cinematic theme of humanism.
“Twisters” opened in local theaters on Aug. 14.
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