Summary
Warning: This article contains spoilers forTwisters.
From Tyler’s hilarious one-liners to Kate’s quippy retorts,there are a ton of great lines inTwistersthat make it one of the most quotable movies of the year.Although it’s set in the same world as the 1996 original,Twisterstells its own standalone story about the thrill-seeking adventures of storm chasers.Twistersreplaces the estranged marriage of Bill and Jo Harding with the burgeoning will-they-won’t-they romance of guilt-ridden meteorologist Kate Carter, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, and charismatic storm-chasing YouTuber Tyler Owens, played by Glen Powell.
The screenplay forTwisters, written byThe Revenant’s Mark L. Smith,maintains the same snappy screwball comedy aspect that made the originalTwisterso much fun.Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin took inspiration from the classic romcomHis Girl Fridaywhen they were writing the firstTwistermovie, which made it play more like a divorce farce disguised as a disaster movie than a straightforward, spectacle-driven disaster movie. Smith has kept that spirit going in the sequel, andTwistersturned outjust as quotable as the originalTwister.
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10"We Got Twins! Twins!"
Boone
This line was featured all over the trailers forTwisters, mainly because it demonstrates that the film lives up to its pluralized title – there are, indeed, multiple twisters in this movie, sometimes at the same time. It’s uttered by Tyler’s cohort and cameraman Boone asthey drive up to a tornado site and find that there are two tornadoes tearing through the land side-by-side.
This twin tornado sequence feels like a callback to the sister tornadoes featured in the original movie. Boone gets even more excited by tornadoes than Tyler does. When a pair of twin tornadoes show up, Boone is ecstatic, because twice the tornadoes means twice the excitement. Whereas Kate has a hint of terror in her voice as she declares, “They’re combining!,” Boone sounds like a kid on Christmas morning when he announces, “We got twins!”
9"I Don’t Chase Anymore."
Kate
Inthe jaw-dropping opening scene ofTwisters, Kate and her team drive out to the last tornado of the seasonto test their weather-controlling technology.The plan is to release chemicals into the eye of the tornado that will bring the storm grinding to a halt. However, the plan goes awry when the tornado starts to pull the car up into the sky. Kate and her team flee from the car to a nearby shelter, but they’re all yanked away and killed except for Kate herself.
After a time jump,it’s revealed that Kate has moved far away from the danger of tornadoes to the supposed safety of New York City.The impact that losing her team had on her spirit is summed up in one key line: “I don’t chase anymore.” This sets up Kate’s arc; by the end of the film, she’ll be back to chasing.
8"That’s Tyler Owens. Calls Himself ‘The Tornado Wrangler.'"
Javi
Javi tells Kate that Tyler calls himself “The Tornado Wrangler.” Kate hilariously asks, “What does that even mean?”Tyler has built up this air of mystique around himself as the cowboy who goes after tornadoes, and in five words, Kate completely deflates that mystique. The nickname might sound cool, but it doesn’t make any sense. Does Tyler throw a lasso around the tornadoes?
7"A Tornado Rating, It’s Not Based On Size Or Wind Speed – It’s Based On Damage."
Tyler
Twistersisn’t just about the spectacle of tornadoes; it also digs into the devastation that they can cause within communities. After the high-octane thrills of a storm-chasing sequence,Twisterstakes the time to explore the wreckage that the tornado left in its wake. Kate, Tyler, and their respective teams sift through the rubble of a town to find lost pets and recover damaged property. Tornadoes are a destructive force of nature that leave pain and loss in their path.
This is summed up perfectly when Tyler explains that tornado ratings aren’t based on the size of the twister or the speed of the wind; they’re based on the damage they cause.Initially, Kate assumes Tyler doesn’t care about the damage caused, because he sells his merch in the rubble.But then she learns that he uses the proceeds from the merch to buy food and water for the survivors.
6"You Can Always Trust A Guy Who Puts His Face On A T-Shirt."
Kate never misses an opportunity to make fun of Tyler’s penchant for merchandising himself.Whenever he shows up at the site of a tornado, his team sets up a merch shop and starts selling t-shirts with Tyler’s face on them. SinceKate is a hard-working scientist who takes her research seriously, she rolls her eyes at Tyler’s showboating and merchandising. When Tyler comes over to talk to her, she jokes, “you may always trust a guy who puts his face on a t-shirt.”
There’s a hilarious ironic bite in this line. Just because someone sells a t-shirt with their face on it, it doesn’t necessarily make them untrustworthy. But Kate couldn’t pass up the perfect chance to poke fun at Tyler’s merch. It’s so vain and self-centered that it’s an easy target for lighthearted mockery.
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5"Boring Is Not Usually A Problem For Me, Kate."
The snappy screwball interplay between Kate and Tyler – one of the main reasons whyTwistersis so much fun – is introduced from their very first conversation together.Kate is dismissive of Tyler at first, because she just sees him as an arrogant, self-serving celebrityexploiting tragedy and destruction for views and likes. No matter what Tyler says to try to charm her, she has a biting retort up her sleeve.
When Tyler introduces Kate to Ben, the British journalist writing a profile on his storm-chasing exploits, she tells Tyler that he wouldn’t want Ben to think he’s boring. Tyler quips that being boring is “not usually a problem for me, Kate.”He’s clearly full of himself, but it’s also worth admitting that he is right.Of all the words that could be used to describe this character, “boring” isn’t one of them.
4"Whatever’s In There, It’s Big And It’s Moving Fast!"
Kate isn’t the only character suffering from survivor’s guilt inTwisters; hercolleague Javi survived the opening tornado massacre, too. Whereas Kate feels responsible for her team’s deaths, Javi simply mourns them. He was nowhere near the tornado that killed the rest of the team; he was their eyes and ears, operating from a safe distance.
In disaster movies likeTwisters, the most ominous thing that can happen is a character safely away from the danger warning their colleagues that danger is fast approaching them.Javi’s job is to watch the area, sense when a tornado is coming, and caution his friends.But when the massive storm approaches the team in the opening sequence, he can’t identify it. All he knows is that it’s big and it’s moving fast, so Kate and her team need to move.
3"If You Feel It, Chase It!"
Any self-obsessed celebrity worth their salt has a catchphrase that they can repeat in front of legions of braying fans. Tyler’s slogan is, “If you feel it, chase it!”Every time he arrives at the site of a tornado, he yells this slogan to his fans, who all chant it back to him.On a literal level, this means that if a storm can be felt in the distance, people should chase it instead of fleeing from it. But on a deeper metaphorical level, it’s good advice for life.
This catchphrase gets a heartwarming callback atthe end ofTwisters. As Tyler and Kate’s romantic tension comes to a head,Kate repeats Tyler’s catchphrase in a flirtatious context.She’s telling Tyler that if he can feel their chemistry, he should pursue a romance with her.
Twistersis the third biggest opening of the year with $80 million at the box office.
2"I’m Not Back."
The sequel toTwisterdoesn’t have quite as many references to the original 1996 movieas some fans were hoping. Bill Paxton’s son James Paxton has a brief cameo appearance as an embittered motel guest and there are a couple ofEaster eggs referencing the originalTwister, like the weather-sensing equipment dubbed “Dorothy.” But the sequel doesn’t bring back Helen Hunt, despite having the perfect opportunity for a cameo with the reveal of Kate’s mom.
However,Twistersdoes recycle one of the most memorable lines from the original movie. In the original movie, whenBill reluctantly returns to storm-chasing, he insists, “I’m not back.” Kate uses the same linewhen it’s suggested that she has made a similar comeback in the storm-chasing world. Kate is this generation’s Bill, just like Tyler is this generation’s Jo.
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1"You Don’t Face Your Fears – You Ride ‘Em."
If there’s one line that sums up the story and themes ofTwisters, it’s this one. After the initial contention between them, Tyler brings Kate to a rodeo, where they get to know each other better. Since she’s seen him drive his truck right into the eye of a tornado with a smile on his face,Kate assumes that Tyler is fearless. But as he opens up to her, he reveals that he’s not as fearless as he looks.Tornadoes do scare him, but he chooses not to let that fear control him.
Tyler tells Kate that the old adage, “Face your fears,” isn’t accurate: “You don’t face your fears; you ride ‘em.” Ever since losing her team to a vicious tornado in the opening scene ofTwisters, Kate has let her fear get the better of her. Tyler inspires her to confront that fear and overcome it.
Twisters
Cast
A follow-up to the 1996 original film Twister, Twisters is a sequel set years after the original, said to be fast-tracked by Steven Spielberg and Mark L. Smith, with Frank Marshal as producer. Little details exist about the film, but Helen Hunt is expected to reprise her role as Jo, with the film likely to pay homage to the late Bill Paxton.
