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randomfandomblabdom · 4 months ago

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Okay, so, I have one really annoying criticism about the film Twisters and you can call me nitpick-y all you want, I don't care, I need to talk about it.

I'd like to say right off the bat that I really like this movie. I saw it three times in theaters and I'd happily pay to see it on the big screen again, this criticism doesn't deter my enjoyment of the film at all, it's just something I've noticed and it lowkey drives me a little bit crazy. When I say it drives me crazy I mean that it's such a simple continuity thing that they still somehow managed to kind of mess up a little and I wouldn't have any issues with this at all if the film itself didn't handle it remarkably well for the first half only to just absurdly drop the ball on it in the second.

Twisters attempts to do a similar thing with Kate's character that the original Twister did with Bill Paxton's character in which it states a time limit for how long she's planning to work with these storm chasers. In Twister, Bill (Paxton) makes it abundantly clear that he's giving Jo and her crew 24hrs to get 'Dorothy' to work before he's gone and over the course of those 24hrs, he becomes far more emotionally invested than he intended. The night of the iconic drive-in tornado sequence, his fiancee leaves him, the 24hrs end, and a new day begins (which is kind of insane when you think about the fact that that entire movie apparently takes place in less than 48hrs...). The first act of Twisters does a similar thing albeit a little later in the narrative. We are informed that Kate only plans on being in Oklahoma for exactly one week. That is how long she's giving her time to Javi and Storm Par and this was absolutely meant to be a cemented plot point as it's brought up multiple times in the first act. Javi asks her to give him one week in Oklahoma, (in a deleted scene where he picks her up from the airport, it is stated again), Javi informs the Storm Par crew upon introductions that they'll only have her expertise for a week, and it's once again reiterated when Javi and Kate say goodnight at the motel. A week being what I feel like I can safely assume is seven days so we will be looking at this as a seven-day time-frame. Pretty simple, right? Apparently not.

As mentioned prior, the first half of this film - give or take - handles this timeline continuity really, really well. Like, this is a time frame they are actively keeping track of. You are being shown clear cut days and nights that signify the obvious passage of time and the change in costumes perfectly indicate those individual days. It's fantastic continuity and suddenly... you're not being shown clear days and nights anymore and there's more costume changes than there should be. Suddenly you're left doing guesswork as to what day it is and how much time is left or even just how long Kate's been there. Granted, it's far from the most egregious continuity I've ever seen which is why it doesn't bother me that much but at the same time, it's such an easy timeline. Genuinely, how did they somehow mess this up?

(I'm not a fashion expert, so if I call a shirt the wrong design name or wrong color... sorry).

DAY 1:

Tyler is dressed in a deep red flannel, Kate is dressed in a white turtle neck and blue and white-striped button-up.

DAYTIME:

Kate arrives in Oklahoma and meets the Storm Par crew.

Tyler Owens and the Wranglers are introduced.

Kate has a panic attack mid chase and ruins StormPar's potential data collection.

Tyler shoots fireworks up a tornado's ass as one does.

NIGHTTIME:

Kate has a conversation with the Wrangler's outside of the motel.

Tyler is still dressed in that deep red flannel, Kate is still dressed in that white turtleneck and blue and white-striped button-up.

DAY 2:

Tyler is dressed in a lighter red flannel, Kate is dressed in a white shirt and light brown button-up.

DAYTIME:

Kate meets Riggs in the diner and offers to buy Tyler an iced tea.

The twin tornado sequence.

Tyler and Kate get into an argument over misunderstood motivations.

NIGHTTIME:

Kate does research about Riggs' business.

Tyler takes Kate to a rodeo and they end up fending for the lives against a tornado in an empty swimming pool.

Kate drives to her mother's house after some choice words from Javi.

Tyler is still wearing that lighter red flannel, Kate is still wearing that white shirt and her brown button-up is now tied around her waist.

(including this gif to show that her button-up is in fact tied around her waist as a homage to one of Helen Hunt's looks in the original Twister).

DAY 3:

Tyler is dressed in a grey-ish, green-ish button-up, Kate is dressed in a graphic tee with a green button-up that sports an American flag design on the back.

DAYTIME (or evening in this case):

This entire day takes place at the Carter residence.

Kate reminisces in the barn.

Tyler shows up.

They all have dinner together.

NIGHTTIME:

Kate breaks down in front of Tyler.

Tyler is still dressed in that grey-ish, green-ish button-up and Kate is still dressed in that graphic tee with the green button-up that sports an American flag design on the back.

DAY 4:

Tyler is dressed in a white t-shirt with a brown jacket, Kate is dressed in what looks to be a brown button-up sleeveless shirt. As an aside, this is also when their clothing colors start matching pretty consistently because they're now on the same page.

DAYTIME:

The day begins with Tyler leaving the Carter residence and we get the now-famous wet white t-shirt sequence before Kate stops him.

They run a computer test and find that Kate's experiment should have worked all those years ago.

They plan to give her experiment another go.

NIGHTTIME:

............??????????????..............

This unfortunately is where this absolutely PERFECT timeline so far just...stops being perfect for some reason. After this exact scene, we are no longer shown clear days and nights and there are more costume changes then there should be all the while there is absolutely no indication that Kate's Oklahoma time-frame has changed. I'm not kidding when I say we're shown zero night scenes after this. Night scenes that, so far, have been crucial in defining what day we're on. Let me show you what I mean.

DAY 4 or 5:

After Tyler and Kate run their little computer model, the film immediately cuts to them storm chasing as a means of testing it out again. As you can see, their clothing has changed. In this sequence, Tyler is now dressed in a light orange-ish flannel and Kate is dressed in a red graphic sleeveless tee.

The problem with this is that the film, up to this point and as I've already shown you, has been so particular about costumes lining up with individual days so it'd be safe to assume this is the next day but we are given absolutely no context as to how long it's been since the previous scene and there was no night scene to tell us either way. So... is this meant to be later that same day or the day after?? We know, based on one line of dialogue from Tyler, that they're supposed to be near Enid, Oklahoma which is near 2hrs away from Sapulpa. So, I guess depending on how long it took them to set up the barrels and rig the truck and get their asses out near Enid, I could honestly see arguments for both. This could be either later on DAY 4 or DAY 5.

After their attempt at Kate's project fails, they have lunch and Kate decides to call Javi to get more data from Storm Par that could be useful. In the next scene, Javi shows up and we are given another costume change.

DAY 5 or 6:

I've seen a lot of people assume this is the same day as the storm chase and trust me, I think I strained my eyes trying to figure this out but I'm pretty confident in saying that is NOT the same flannel Tyler was wearing in the storm chasing scene prior. It's now a more white and brown striped one and Kate has also changed into a brown-ish v-neck type shirt which, bear in mind, is a different shirt than what she was wearing on the morning of DAY 4.

These are also the same outfits they're sporting in the scene after when they test her model using Storm Par's data. So... this is exactly why the costume change during their storm chasing adventure bothers me because unless they changed after storm chasing (which we have not seen them do before so why would they do it now?) this right here is clearly a different day but because it's not made clear whether the storm chase was the same day as or the day after the wet white t-shirt day and because we're also given no context for whether this is a different day from said-storm chase, this is either DAY 5 or DAY 6. Bear in mind, Kate's only supposed to be there for a week and we are given absolutely no indication that she has extended her stay or changed her plans and frankly, all of this probably wouldn't matter if we'd just gotten one line of dialogue or one scene that gave some indication that she did because at least that would mean we could stop keeping track but that never happens so we're still stuck in the 7-day time-frame and no, I do not count Kate choosing to try her experiment again as her choosing to extend her stay, those are two different things. If that's what that was meant to signify, it was a crappy way of doing it in my opinion.

You know what's even more annoying is the original script actually had a few short lines that acknowledged her time-frame and swiftly ended it:

Tyler: We could probably still find all this shit around town.

Kate: I'm heading home in the morning.

Tyler: New York will still be there in a couple days.

(cut to a montage of them working on her project)

THAT is a heavy implication that Kate actively chose to extend her trip, ending the week-long time-frame at the same time. Those lines were unfortunately cut...

DAY 6 or 7:

In the next scene, Tyler and Kate are leaving the Carter residence and we are, once again, provided with yet another costume change. Now Tyler is dressed in that same grey-ish, green-ish flannel he was in on DAY 3 and Kate is dressed in brown coveralls - with a grey-ish, green-ish tank top underneath that we'll see in the next scene.

This is when they meet up with the Wrangler's to buy supplies in order to test Kate's project once again. So... how long was Kate specifically at the Carter residence? As far as I can tell, most people seem to think all of act two (everything at her mothers farm) takes place over two days - probably strictly because there are no night scenes differentiating them - but depending on how you choose to count the days here with the information we're almost too subtly provided with and assuming that she's still planning on being there for only a week, it was either four or five nights which... is A LOT longer than we're led to believe in the film because it all goes by so quickly and is no longer showing you the distinct days passing like it was earlier. Yes, to all the fanfiction writers out there, that means Tyler would have spent either three or four nights at the Carter farm.

I have two things to say about this:

Everything at her mothers house after DAY 3 is basically a kinda poorly done time jump that I've since learned was pretty heavily rewritten. The original script involved a montage of Tyler and Kate doing experiments to find the correct 'dosage' of chemicals to tame a tornado, some of those experiments would've been done using her middle school science fair project. This, in my humble opinion, would've been a better way of showing the passage of time at her mothers house while simultaneously showing the dynamic between Tyler and Kate growing and acknowledging the amount of time they're spending together.

If they'd been more clear that multiple days are passing here I think test audiences would have reacted better to the so-called Kiss Cut because if you understand that they just spent most of the week living in her mothers house together, a kiss wouldn't feel so redundant and rushed because at least you'd subconsciously understand that they probably just spent a shit ton of time together. Montages are sometimes a very good way of getting important details like that across without having to do or say too much.

Anyway...

Oh look, we didn't get another costume change, so this is later that day (still either DAY 6 or DAY 7). Tyler is still in his grey-ish, green-ish flannel, Kate is still in her brown coveralls just with the top tied around her waist now.

I also just want to point out that the lighting in this scene actually really bothers me because I genuinely can't tell if it's supposed to be morning or evening. If I had to take a wild guess, I think it's supposed to be early morning but that doesn't correlate at all with the lighting of the previous scene. It doesn't help that I still can't tell if it's supposed to be morning or evening when they leave her mother's house. Again, I think it's supposed to be morning but...Kate said she lived a couple hours from where the rodeo was and we have no idea where this meet-up point is so... whatever, this doesn't really matter, I guess.

(Actually... I went total nerd here and decided to look up the distance between Sapulpa, OK and El Reno, OK. Depending on traffic, it's a little over two hours by car so... do with that what you will cause even with that information, this scene could still be either morning or evening lol).

DAY 7 or 8:

We've now hit the day of the climactic finale EF5 tornado that Kate goes all Suicide Sal on and oh, would you look at that. It's ANOTHER COSTUME CHANGE. Tyler is dressed in what I believe is the same deep red flannel from DAY 1, Kate is dressed in a red tank top.

Do I need to keep repeating myself here? Like, do ya'll understand why I find this so incredibly annoying? The film was doing such a great job at showing the passage of time as it correlated to the amount of time Kate was going to be spending in Oklahoma until it wasn't. At this point, we're on either DAY 7 or DAY 8 which would be the start of a new week but remember how I said there are more costume changes than there should be? Based on the costume changes alone, this would be DAY 8. Again, we've been given zero indication that Kate has extended her stay or that she's even been there for longer then planned but either way her week is officially UP and this is where we reach the most annoying part of all of it...

DAY ??? - WHO THE FUCK KNOWS, SURELY NOT ME:

The airport. The fucking airport.

The costumes don't even matter at this point cause the week-long timeline is very much over.

Full disclosure, I really don't like the ending of this movie and hilariously enough, it has nothing to do with the lack of a kiss. It's too damn quick and this is the one scene in a film that's all about taming tornadoes that feels like it genuinely insults the audience's intelligence. It's weirdly jarring seeing Kate getting pulled out of a turned-over truck after a near-death experience only to have her being dropped off at the airport in the next scene like everything's all good and seemingly being on time for her previously scheduled return-flight. Or is she...

How long has it been since the tornado? Not a clue. How long has she stayed past her initial planned week? We literally have no idea but she's obviously been there longer than a week at this point. She seems injury-free, everyone does, and honestly, I don't think I'd have much of an issue with this scene... if Tyler's truck was not fully functional...

Fixing that amount of damage on that truck would not have been a fast process - it literally took about a month after an accident for fairly minor damage to the front of my truck to be fixed, Tyler's damage would have taken MONTHS for parts alone. Yes, he might be a YouTuber who probably makes decent money but it still would have taken a substantial amount of time to get it fixed. Not to mention all the fancy extra shit he has on it that also got damaged but now looks to be in full operating order. Did he just buy everything brand new and make it look exactly the same? Did he have extra stuff just lying around? Did he have a whole other replica truck just chilling in a garage somewhere?? Did a fan of the channel straight up donate all the money or all new parts? I don't know, I could not tell you because we are given zero information. I don't care how much protective gear he decked that thing out with, it would not have come out of that tornado looking scratch-free and perfect.

I don't care about realistic accuracy in movies. Where's the fun in that? One of my favorite films of all time is Armageddon and everybody knows that's the absolute pinnacle of scientifically accurate film-making. Like, there's movie magic and then there's expecting me to believe this is either the next day or a couple days later with no further clarification as to how long it's been because context clues are telling me that it's obviously been longer and yet... somehow some of the context clues are also pointing in the opposite direction considering Javi's Storm Par truck is still fucked up and he's talking about the EF5 as if it was yesterday. As far as I can tell, most people seem to assume this ending is the day after the EF5 because the audience still subconsciously knows Kate had a deadline for herself and most likely a scheduled flight and they haven't been told any differently regarding her plans so this must be that flight...even though there are conflicting context clues here.

Context clues that point to some sort of time jump:

Tyler's truck somehow being peachy keen even after being in the middle of an EF5 tornado.

Everyone seemingly being injury-free.

The indication of a previous conversation between Tyler and Kate that took place off-screen in which she wouldn't tell him when she's possibly coming home again - he also specifically uses the word 'still' as in "still not telling me when you're coming back?" which could imply they've had the conversation more than once/he's asked her multiple times but that's up for interpretation, I suppose.

Context clues that point to this being the next day:

Javi's truck still looking like shit.

Javi talking about the EF5 as if it were yesterday.

Javi indicating Kate's method has only ever successfully worked once considering he only mentions the EF5.

Javi saying, "I told you I'd get you back here in one piece," (or something along those lines) which seems to imply they're still within her week-long time limit.

The fact that Tyler and Kate's dynamic isn't any further along/different than where we left them previously.

See what I mean? Conflicting context clues that I personally find really annoying, especially given the amazing continuity the film had in Act 1. There's a reason so much of the fanfiction for this movie is written around this ending, especially regarding what took place before and after.

I'm not kidding when I say Tyler's truck being absolutely fine in this scene bothers me more than the 'why didn't they just train the astronauts for drilling in Armageddon?' argument. It feels like we're missing an entire scene, whether or not a scene like that was either written or filmed is a different story. Honestly, if his truck wasn't in this scene at all, it might've been fine but because his truck is fully functional, we suddenly have no choice but to ask... wait... how long has it been??? I know, I know, they wanted the ole romantic airport ending or whatever and the joke with his augers but it just messes with the timing. If you're gonna have Tyler's truck in this sequence looking like it wasn't just rolled to hell during a tornado, you need at least one line explaining how long it's been since the EF5.

You know what it genuinely feels like? Because Tyler's truck is so much of a character in this film in its own right, it feels like a character just died a gruesome death and then was brought back to life between scenes with no explanation given. Yes, Tyler literally digging his truck into the concrete and running after Kate is very cathartic but the whole damn time, I'm just shouting at Tyler's truck:

I know people are gonna say I'm over-analyzing or "it's not that big of a deal" or "the EF5 could technically be on DAY 7 so that was a week" but when the film was so precise about showing you the timing to the point that it was perfectly keeping track of days and suddenly stopped for seemingly no narrative reason then I need to beg the question of... this is such an easy, basic timeline to keep track of and it was doing great, what the fuck happened??? It's like they suddenly forgot their own plotpoint. Dare I say it, it feels like the second and third acts were possibly rewritten? (edit: I've since read the original script but yes, they were, especially the second act). I'm not against rewrites at all but it's kinda bad that I can tell... Hell, even the films use of songs dies down in the second and third acts but that's a whole different topic, so I digress and similarly to how I don't consider Kate choosing to try the barrels again is her choosing to stay longer (especially because she clearly has every intention of leaving still at the end of the movie...), I don't consider her leaving the airport with Tyler as her choosing to stay either. That choice is completely taken away from her by the weather delay announcement.

After all of that gibberish, I guess my main complaint here is there was no reason to provide the audience with that week-long deadline if it wasn't going to be brought up again or have any significance to the plot whatsoever. That and I really don't like the ending mainly because of the inclusion of Tyler's truck.

If you made it this far, thank you kindly and see you next time.

*gif credit to @austinbutlermischief and @keery*

#twisters #twisters 2024 #tyler owens #kate carter #tylerkate #tyler x kate #twisters meta #i guess?#me bitching about continuity #mine

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