theredsox-24635

I had a fun time, don't get me wrong. However, practically nothing about this sequel's production nearly 30 years later was better than the original... crazy and depressing. Lee Isaac Chung has never directed an action film and that sorely showed. The action scenes were awkwardly staged and transitioned into. They also feel very hollow, fake. Not enough debris, real physical objects, and at least at the theater I went to insanely poor surround sound FX. Also a nothing of a soundtrack and score.

Twisters also fell into the sequel trap. While they kept the references to the original nice and non-obvious for the most part, they were just fake and out of place. The most glaring for me were the two chase teams nearly colliding on the road. In the original you have that great scene with the main crew shortcutting through a farm field straight onto the road and nearly hitting their competition. In the sequel they used this near-hit approach twice, but didn't frame either instance of it in a way that made sense for it to happen at all. Also the 3rd wheel "love interest", Ramos' character, to parallel with the original was just terrible and awkward.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I will buy a physical 4k copy. I will watch it multiple times I'm sure. Just a shame the production really didn't come through. For $200m, this should have delivered better VFX, SFX, and basic production elements.

This is the follow-up to director Mark Neale's Faster films from a few years earlier. Technically way better and it appears to have been re-released in 2020. Not sure if they remastered it or not, but the video quality was noticeably better than the films from a few years earlier. Also they modified a bit at the end to update the story which was nice.

What also made this film special for me is that it was centered around the return for Moto GP to Laguna Seca, my favorite race track to sim on. I've been out in that area twice in my life and unfortunately never coincided with any track days open to the public. I'd love to drive around there for real some day, certainly a bucket list item. Or at least catch a race there. It's also a bit frustrating because none of the major series I usually follow visit the track. So it's rare to catch any racing there on the TV.

Especially if you are a US motorsports fan, this one with the great title should go on the watchlist. It often follows a few US riders that were in the series at the time, on one of the top tracks in the country. Would be hard pressed to not enjoy it.

Some will point to bad acting, but I really don't think the cast was given anything to work with. Terrible script, directing, and editing. The pace of the episode felt all wrong. The dialog, voice overs, and rants. Bad paid product placement. Poor scene transitions and forced intensity that just came off as rushed. It was like they thought they were shooting an action movie. I thought this episode was worse than all 6 from last year.