"Twisters" and "Rebel Ridge"

Catching up on summer action movies.

"Twisters" is the kind of simple, old fashioned disaster movie that is designed from the ground up to be a crowd-pleaser.  You've got Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell as the photogenic leads, Lee Isaac Chung directing - seemingly an odd choice until you remember "Minari" was about living in the American Midwest - and the best inclement weather that ILM can provide.  In addition to the disaster sequences and the obligatory romance, "Twisters" also features a plot that panders shamelessly to Middle America.  The well-funded scientists Edgar-Jones initially teams up with are positioned as the baddies, while the ragtag, thrill-seeking gang of storm chasers, who cultivate a social media following, are positioned as the heroes.  And to the credit of the filmmakers, it mostly works.        

There's been a lot of attention around Glen Powell's participation in "Twisters," since his star is on the rise and he has the showiest part, but the main character is Kate Carter, the meteorologist played by Daisy Edgar-Jones.  I'm more impressed with her than with Powell, as she has no trouble carrying the film and holding my attention, despite being saddled with a pretty dull trauma recovery arc.  I wish the film had made more use of its supporting cast, which includes Anthony Ramos, Sasha Lane, Brandon Perea, and Katy O'Brian - most of them in bit parts.  However, a big mark in the film's favor is that it has no overt connection to the 1996 "Twister" film, and I wouldn't even treat "Twisters" as a direct sequel.  There are a couple of common elements and homages, like the Dorothy doppler device, but otherwise "Twisters" wastes no time on nostalgia.  

And now for something completely different.  "Rebel Ridge" is possibly the most un-Jeremy Saulnier movie that Jeremy Saulnier has ever made.  The director is best known for slow-burn thrillers like "Blue Ruin," and "Green Room" - always very grounded narratives with realistic violence and consequences.  "Rebel Ridge" is designed to be a subversion of one-man-army films like the original "Rambo," or more recently the Amazon Prime "Reacher" series.  However, while it's shown that a single, righteous man on a mission can't defeat a corrupt police force on his own, "Rebel Ridge" makes one big concession to Hollywood-style fantasy.  Terry Richmond, played by Aaron Pierre, is a man of superhuman competence who makes for an incredibly appealing action hero.  I've liked Pierre in other roles, and it's great to see him in a fantastic part that makes him look like the coolest man alive.   

 

"Rebel Ridge" is slow paced, and more concerned with making its case against police abuses and civil forfeiture laws than delivering big action sequences.  The initial transgression against Terry involves two police officers running his bike off the road, and then seizing the cash that Terry intends to use to bail his young cousin out of lockup.  Still,  the action that we do get, and more importantly the long lead-up to that action, is very effective.  The confrontation scenes between Terry Richmond and the cops are tense and engrossing.  Fine one-liners abound.  Saulnier makes sure that both sides get their say, and we're made to understand the systemic incentivization for police misconduct before Terry makes the wrongdoers pay for it.  Those wrongdoers include the Chief of Police, played by Don Johnson, and officers played by David Denman and Emory Cohen.  Anna Sophia Robb shows up as one of Terry's few allies, Summer, a law student who helps him dig into the legal record.

Not everyone will have the patience for "Rebel Ridge" or appreciate its insistence on de-escalating most bad situations instead of going for the big payoff.  There are definitely politics and social commentary in play - economic, governmental, and of course racial.  Quite a lot of "Rebel Ridge" is actually an investigation story, and it zigs where you'd expect it would zag.  The ending will likely infuriate some as much as it satisfies others.  Frankly, I'm pleasantly surprised that the movie is as entertaining as it is while not being subtle at all about its messages.  I hope Saulnier has a few more movies like this in him.

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