Twisters: A New Movie For You!

"Twisters" the 2024 film starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos.

Take it from three generations of flat-landers who saw the new "Twisters" movie on opening day in Wichita, Kansas.  It's a great disaster film with plenty of action and a bit of romance.  We think you'll like it.  

As an Oklahoman, I thoroughly enjoyed the on-location scenes created under the watchful eye of director Lee Isaac Chung.  Whether in Oklahoma City, Okarche, Midwest City, Cashion, Chickasha, Yukon, or the surrounding countryside, the landscape suited the time and place of the story:  contemporary Oklahoma in a wild spring season of exceptionally strong tornados. 

Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as the leading lady, Kate Cooper.  This young and idealistic savant storm-watcher and chaser wants to change the world by discovering a way to stop a tornado in its tracks.

Can anyone do that?

Is it possible to tame a tornado?  Short answer:  No.  A NOAA scientist explains why."
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--​National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
U.S. Department of Commerce

When calamity hits Kate Cooper, she retreats to a desk job in meteorology far from Tornado Alley.  (Clever movie makers turned a section of Oklahoma City into the Big Apple for those scenes.)

In time, Kate's good friend Javi (played by Anthony Ramos) invites her back to Oklahoma to work with him and his team for a week (just a week, he promises) to fine-tune a new technology they are developing to save lives by snuffing tornadoes before they inflict destruction and death.

Javi is surprised when Kate shows up in Oklahoma.  Not all of his team are pleased to see her.

Enter Tyler Owens, (played by Glenn Powell), a hot-shot storm chaser and "YouTuber"  who leads his team of unconventional storm-chasers.

And the race is on. 

As a viewer, it won't take long for you to realize "Twisters" is not a remake or a reboot of the blockbuster 1996 film, "Twister."  

"Twisters" is not "the next chapter" of the 1996 "Twister."  It's a stand-alone brand new story with new characters and nearly thirty years of technological advancement in tracking severe weather.

Where did the movie makers learn about tornados?

• The cast and crew attended a "tornado boot camp" at the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, to learn technical terms, tornado culture, storm spotting, and safety.

 

• Meteorological consultants played a key role in contributing to the accuracy and authenticity of the film.

 
Final script.

• The final script, of course, was up to the movie makers, not the consultants. Consequently, the exaggeration of the lack of preparation for storm weather among the fictional townspeople of the movie requires moviegoers to engage in a robust "suspension of disbelief."  Oklahomans--and everyone else accustomed to the Great Plains--keep an eye on the sky, especially in tornado season.  
  • People pay attention to weather alerts via computer, television, radio, personal telephone calls, sirens, and/or standing in the front yard assessing wind, wall clouds, green-colored skies...
  • Family members keep in touch, and everyone knows where they should go when the sirens ring. 

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Tornado Alley and me.

• I grew up in Oklahoma's Tornado Alley and never saw a tornado.  I returned to finish undergraduate school and never saw a tornado.  I lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, while my husband was stationed at Fort Sill--and never saw a tornado.  
  • I've heard lots of tornado sirens in Oklahoma and Kansas,  but I never saw a twister until I moved to Kansas.  

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Would you like to learn more about tornados?
Visit the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce at www.noaa.gov for articles and videos.

Or maybe for fun, do as the youngest generation did:  watch "Twisters" a second time on the big screen!

"Twister" the 1996 film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.

Notes:  
1.  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. www.noaa.gov/twisters-noaa-tornado-science-behind-the-scenes (accessed July 20, 2024)

2.  Brandy McDonnell, ​"First Trailer for 'Twisters' Debuts During the Super Bowl:  Watch," The Oklahoman, February 24, 2024.  
​​https://www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/2024/02/12/twisters-trailer-drops-  (accessed July 20, 2024)

3.  "The Science Behind 'Twisters,'"  Oklahoma City News - 4, KFOR - Oklahoma City,  July 19, 2024.   https://kfor.com/video/the-science-behind-twisters/9882604/ (accessed July 20, 2024)