Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters movie, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, withholds a grand gesture final kiss, but what we get between Kate and Tyler is still very much a romance. They have all the comforting tropes readers adore, starting with stolen glances and quiet moments that lead to the realization that they care about each other far more than they thought conceivable. The film might orbit around tornadoes, but there’s still a solid relationship building amid the whirlwinds.
A few scenes throughout the film actively give viewers unmistakable signs that there’s more brewing under the surface of their tornado-focused banter. But what screams romance quite like when one character is gazing at something beautiful while the other’s eyes are fixed solely on them? The second this scene happens, Twisters goes from a disaster film to a gripping (and hot) love story.
Okay, fine, really, it starts earlier than that, but this moment makes you kick your feet in the air while your heart squeezes inside your chest.
Part of this moment’s appeal is Glen Powell’s irresistible charm and the detail that he might actually have chemistry with every living organism or inanimate object. But another factor is that the film clearly takes us through casually intimate moments where the characters get to know one another. No matter which of their scenes we look at, there’s something inherently romantic about it—her childhood home visit, longing looks, sharing comforts—but this scene marks the change in Kate and Tyler’s dynamic. For a brief moment, he’s no longer the social media infamous tornado chaser but rather a man who realizes that the woman in front of him is everything he’s been missing out on in life.Â
He doesn’t even have to say it aloud because Powell shows us every bit of Tyler’s heart locked in his eyes. Damned be the tornado behind him, Kate is the perfect one. Kate is the gorgeous one. So much of the reason we romance authors include a scene like this in our books is to showcase that no view or seemingly massive detonating thing could compare to the love interest. It’s about both the character and the audience realizing that everything they thought they knew was building up to this moment. For Tyler, storms are now secondary. Kate is the one he’s going to focus on when everything hits. She’s the one he’s going to try to protect and look out for. And he does—he chooses her again and again, dramatic airport chase included.Â
I don’t know of a single person who could come out of this movie without seeing the signs of their burgeoning romance, and this scene is the most obvious of the film’s subtle exhibitions. We won’t get into the debates about how the film cut the kiss between them because, frankly, it doesn’t change the fact that Twisters explicitly alludes to a romantic arc. As much as the film explores Kate’s grief and how she finds herself again after trauma, the love story is just as crucial for healing. When Tyler focuses on her instead of the tornadoes in front of them, he shows the audience that in challenging times, he’s going to be looking out for her. She isn’t walking this path alone anymore, even if she believes that she’s responsible for her friends’ deaths. Here, we see proof of the fact that Kate and Tyler are a team. He’d happily pursue every storm with her, for her, and because of her.
It’s not merely a superficial moment to remind us Daisy Edgar-Jones is gorgeous because we know that. It’s about the evident shift in his priorities. It’s proof that he sees her for everything that she is. And it’s so perfectly romantic that kiss or no kiss, no one could take the facts away from us.Â
Twisters is now available for digital rent or purchase.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Universal Pictures