Twisters touches down in theaters this week and fans of the original movie are plenty excited about what it has in store. The original 1996 movie, directed by Jan de Bont and starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, is beloved for being a big, fun popcorn movie with some gnarly tornado CGI that still holds up today. The terrifying visuals of the monster F5 tornado, and the funnier one of the poor cow floating along while caught up in a smaller twister are iconic.
The new movie, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, features an all-new cast starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell. The story follows Edgar-Jones’ Kate Carter, a former storm chaser and meteorologist who gave it up after a tragedy that unfolded the last time she was caught in a tornado. An old friend (Anthony Ramos) convinces her to return to Oklahoma for one last go thanks to new technology that can break the storm business wide open. While there, they butt heads with a hotshot, self-taught storm chaser named Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), and they have to combine their operations to deal with a once-in-a-lifetime mega weather event.
Even though it’s a new team, however, that doesn’t mean Twisters has completely forgotten the original Twister. It makes sure to honor it in small but significant ways while being its own standalone movie.
Twisters Has A Few Respectful Nods To The Original Twister
Of the ties Twisters has to the original Twister, none is more poignant than a cameo appearance by James Paxton. James is the son of the late Bill Paxton, who tragically passed away in 2017 from a stroke following emergency heart surgery. The late Paxton is one-half of Bill and Jo Harding, whose relationship was the beating heart of the first movie.
Paxton was beloved for so much more than Twister, having starred in any number of well-loved and classic movies and TV shows over the years, including Aliens, Apollo 13, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Big Love, Tombstone, and so many more. To say he was a legend of the everyman role would be an understatement. Still, he was just as loved for playing Bill Harding in Twister, and it’s a lovely gesture that the new movie includes his son as a link to the late actor.
Another connection with the first movie is not a person at all, but tech. Director Lee Isaac Chung has confirmed (via Inside Total Film) that “Dorothy,” the original technology pioneered by Jo Harding in the first movie, will be name-dropped in Twisters. While he promises a whole new science experiment this time around, the technology of the sequel will have been developed from the original Dorothy, which is a cool concept. Considering the above, it seems Twisters is striking the right balance between respecting what’s come before without being overly devoted to treading the same path.
