So we have Steven Spielberg to blame for that Twisters ending

An EF 5 of bad advice led to a deeply unsatisfying ending

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  July 22, 2024 | 7:41pm
Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon
Film News Glen Powell
So we have Steven Spielberg to blame for that Twisters ending

[This article explains the ending of Twisters. Reader discretion advised.]

Over the weekend, Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters swept up an astonishing $80 million at the domestic box office, shattering expectations and providing movie theaters with the audiences they need. Following the success of Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4, and, presumably, the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, summer 2024 hasn’t been the disappointment many expected and certainly not the disappointment that was Twisters’ ending.

Anyone who’s seen Twisters knows what we’re talking about. After two hours of thrilling storm chases and red-hot romantic chemistry between stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, we’re left with bupkiss. Nada. Nothing. It begins in classic rom-com form: Tyler (Powell) drops Kate (Edgar-Jones) off at the airport without telling her how he feels. At the behest of his chief love triangle rival, Javi (Anthony Ramos), Tyler decides to take a risk and go for it. With Paul Scheer’s parking enforcer yelling at him to move, Powell drills his truck into the ground and rushes into the airport as Chung prepares the audience for a climactic goodbye kiss, a satisfying conclusion for the crowds of people who paid $28 to see the movie in IMAX. Instead, the moment hangs there; Tyler and Kate look at each other for what feels like an eternity and leave. Of course, that left audiences to wonder where the hell the kiss went. Was the movie missing reels? As far as we’re concerned, Twisters still hasn’t ended. Kate’s story continues in endless Sysphysian punishment, forever pushing Dorthy into tornadoes but never kissing her man.

Twisters’ ending is deeply unsatisfying, primarily because of how hard the film works to get us into the love triangle at the center of the thing. Instead, all that tension never reaches catharsis because Steven Spielberg told them to cut it. Is Spielberg feeling okay?

Speaking to Collider, Edgar-Jones and Powell blamed arguably the world’s best filmmaker, an executive producer on Twisters, calling it a “Spielberg note” before coming up with some excuse about it “actually” being a good move. “I think it stops the film feeling too clichéd, actually,” Edgar-Jones said as she defended the catastrophic misstep. “I think there’s something really wonderful about it feeling like there’s a continuation. This isn’t the end of their story. They’re united by their shared passion for something.” Is she really saying we have to wait until the sequel?

Powell agrees, saying he believes the movie is about Kate returning to what she loves, “which is storm chasing,” and not accepting love in her life again after the death of her boyfriend. “So that’s what you have at the end of the movie,” Powel said. “They share this thing, and her passion is reinvigorated, and her sense of home is reinvigorated.”

Hmmm…yeah, we’d prefer they kiss. Thankfully, they shot it, someone posted it, and we can gaze upon this forbidden expression of love that would’ve made Twisters feel less like french fries without ketchup.

 
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