I just watched “Twisters” in 4DX – something you all should be doing right now – and I wholeheartedly loved the movie. Everything about it screamed summer blockbuster fun, but something I really appreciated was the references to the 1996 original (one of my favorite films of all time). It had just the right amount of callbacks to the first movie, avoiding the issue that movies like “Star Wars” fall into where every two seconds a reference to the original story is flashed on screen. In a word, it was perfect.
Quick Note: There are spoilers ahead, so don’t complain if you read something you didn’t know before seeing the movie.
There were lots of great little callbacks, like the red Ram Heavy Duty pickup truck, Daisy Edgar-Jones’ character affirming that she’s “not back” and a movie screen being sucked into a twister. However, one callback stood above the rest to me, and if you blinked you may have missed it. Baby, there’s a Jeep J10 in “Twisters,” and it’s driven by none other than James Paxton – son of the late great “Twister” star, Bill Paxton.
It’s the exact same model truck that Helen Hunt’s character drives in the first “Twister” movie – and much like that truck, the new one also gets sucked up into a tornado. However, this time, Paxton and his girlfriend are inside. Tough luck. Unfortunately, it’s not the same color as the original Hunt’s J10 – which was yellow with blue stripes. It’s sort of hard to tell because it’s a night-time scene, but this J10 is either black or another dark color. I’ll allow it. Having a yellow truck would have been too on the nose.
I can’t say for sure that this was on purpose, but it would be a hell of a coincidence if it wasn’t. There aren’t exactly a ton of Jeep J10s left in this world, so I have to assume this was a conscious choice.
I especially liked this reference because it was so quick. The truck was only on screen for a couple of seconds before it was sucked up into the tornado. That means only really Twister-pilled people like me are going to notice.
Anyway, you folks should really go see “Twisters.” It’s not the best movie ever made, but it is the perfect summer blockbuster disaster flick. If you can, see it in 4DX at a Regal Theater too. You’re going to get bounced around and a bit wet, but that’s all part of the fun.