Don Shanahan
Earlier this year during the summer blockbuster season, Twisters blew through theaters for a heap of nostalgic box office success. The long-distance spiritual sequel earned over $370 million worldwide, with more than $267 million of that total coming domestically through the same heartland the VFX artists tore up with their simulated tornadoes. The movie caught fire to ride the white-hot Hollywood popularity energy of Glen Powell and vaulted Daisy Edgar-Jones to action heroine status. Film Obsessive reviewed the film in full back during its theatrical premiere run, but now the crowd-pleaser has arrived on disc shelves for our “Off the Shelf” series.
THE MOVIE
Directed by the initially-unlikely choice of Minari‘s Lee Isaac Chung,Twisters returns to the Great Plains of Oklahoma for a new batch of digitally-enhanced meteorlogical phenomena and the eclectic scientists who chase them. Ever since a devastating tornado encounter, Kate Carter (Edgar-Jones) gave up chasing storms to safely study them on screens as a weather analyst in New York City. She is cajoled back to the field by her friend and former work partner Javi (Anthony Ramos of In the Heights) to help with a new project of capturing new views of tornados by way of triangulated radar set up its path.
Working with Javi and his business partners (including future Superman star David Corenswet), Kate crosses paths and catches the eye of Tyler Owens (Powell). The studly thrill-seeker is a YouTube superstar and self-proclaimed tornado wrangler. As a particular week of summer storm weather intensifies, the competitive and goal-orientated squads chase science and destiny through a gauntlet of destructives whirlwhinds. When it’s all said and done, Twisters honorable succeeds as the standalone sequel to up the spectacle and introduce new characters we hope to see again rumbling down another country road of cinema for potential continuation.
THE DISCS
Twisters hit store shelves on October 22, 2024 on 4K-UH, Blu-ray and DVD formats. It previously was available for digital rental and purchase earlier on October 8th. Courtesy of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, the disc editions for the action-packed adventure are packed with a handsome amount of exclusive behind-the-scenes bonus content featuring the cast and crew. The features are also available when Twisters is purchased on Apple TV, Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu), Comcast Xfinity, Cox and Microsoft Movies & TV platforms.
FEATURE COMMENTARY: Director Lee Isaac Chung hosts a solo audio track offering stories and testimonies to how this big move got made. In pulling back the curtain, you can hear his strong connection with the characters he wanted to create, as well as little moments of geeking out over the sizable action sequences of the film.
GAG REEL AND DELETED SCENES: One one hand, leave it to smiling ham like Glen Powell to make a gag reel appointment viewing on this Twisters disc. Secondly, the disc shows the wise trims and cuts to bring the film’s running time down to a more manageable, tolerable, and marketable 122 minutes. No big losses appear in this section, but enjoy a taste of the gag reel here:
TRACKING THE FRONTS: THE PATH OF TWISTERS – This featurette touts the audience’s opportunity to trace the trajectory of Twisters from its earliest inception to lengthy production on-location and massive sets. The cast are the primary storytellers and talking heads of this piece as they lead the look and offer the notes of authentic science for extreme weather that join the science fiction of the fictional movie.
INTO THE EYE OF THE STORM: Celebrating the technical side of Twisters, “Into the Eye of the Storm” shows viewers how practical and visual effects where blended for the film. Echoing the 1996 original, it’s great to see how much mayhem they put on camera before the computers took over. Those actors were troopers!
TRICKED-OUT TRUCKS: Being a trooper is sometimes easy when you look rough and tough doing it. The tricked out rides of Twisters added to that swagger. “Tricked-Out Trucks” shows the conception and the wild rides capable of the movie’s custom vehicles and how they were fitted with unique on-camera features ranging from rocket launchers to advanced radar tech for the quests of the characters behind the wheel.
VOICE OF A VILLAIN – Not far away from “Into the Eye of the Storm” and its emphasis on the visual side of Twisters, sound was just an important to the movie’s exciting edge. This production diary allows us to hear the creation of the film’s deafening howls. The camera crew takes a seat in the studio where the audio team mixes unexpected sounds to give the storms a new dimension of depth. Much like the feature film itself, these elements of visual focus and audio acuity look and sound outstanding on 4K-UHD.
GLEN POWELL: ALL ACCESS – Universal Pictures knew they had a budding new star on their hands, so they have gave him a place to show off. In this little nuggest, Glen Powell provides a private tour of a day in his life on the Twisters set.
FRONT SEAT TO A CHASE: Beyond the movie, the studio was keen to brag about the real-life heros and specialists who do the real thing not in front of film crews. “Front Seat to a Chase” straps in with the cast joining the professional storm chasers braving the elements to track tornados in Oklahoma. Personalities sure meet more personalities for a fun final feature of the disc.
