Twisters · reception & legacy

2024 · Lee Isaac Chung

How Twisters has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Landed in summer 2024 as the legacy sequel that actually worked — a $370M+ crowd-pleaser nobody expected from the Minari director — and it's since settled into fond memory as the moment Glen Powell's movie-star coronation felt official.

What's debated

The ending kiss that never happens: film Twitter is still split between 'the restraint is the point' and 'two years of build-up for a handshake,' with a side debate over the film's choice to never say the words 'climate change.'

Its footprint

'If you feel it, chase it' became the film's calling card, Glen Powell soaked in the rain became a thirst-post staple, and the Luke Combs-led country soundtrack ('Ain't No Love in Oklahoma') gave it a life on radio well past its theatrical run.

Where it stands

A beloved comfort-blockbuster rather than a canon entry — the Letterboxd review section is half sincere storm-chaser joy, half jokes about the kiss that got away.

★ Did you know? A final kiss between the leads was actually filmed — executive producer Steven Spielberg suggested cutting it after a screening, and Lee Isaac Chung agreed the ending played better without it.

Named by the director

Influences Lee Isaac Chung has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Twister (1996) — Chung has said seeing the original as a teenager in rural Arkansas was formative — one of the films that made him want to make movies in the first place.