If you asked anyone, including myself, who Glen Powell is, they probably couldn’t give you a direct answer. Save from an overshadowed role in “Top Gun: Maverick” – courtesy of Miles Teller and his show-stealing performance in the volleyball scene, – Powell has remained an actor known only to “Scream Queens” superfans and modern rom-com enthusiasts. That is, until his lead role in Isaac Lee Chung’s standalone sequel to the 1996 film “Twister,” aptly named “Twisters.” In this film, Powell proves that not only does he have the personal charisma but also the acting skills to be the next big movie star.  

It’s a bit of an open secret that Powell brings his A-game to creating chemistry with his co-stars, so much so that for his latest rom-com, “Anyone But You,” he and Sydney Sweeney admitted leaning into rumors that they were having an affair. And while propagating any iota of romantic tension between two leads in a romance movie is hardly anything novel, Powell differs in his ability to have chemistry with just about anyone. In Claire Scanlon’s 2018 film “Set it Up,” he gleefully emulates the banter-centric relationship between his and Zoey Deutch’s character on the film’s press tour. In Richard Linklater’s 2024 film “Hit Man,” he and his co-star Adria Arjona had an endearing first encounter, having an immediate connection – albeit platonic — form over a five-hour coffee “date” akin to the ones their characters shared.  

“Twisters” is no different — in fact, it’s one of the driving forces behind the fanfare for this movie. For those who know both leads, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Powell, it’s a fair assumption that these actors are worlds apart in both their work and public personas. While Powell hones in on his Texas charm, a character Hollywood is in desperate need of since Matthew McConaughey has seemingly retreated to voice acting roles and making appearances at UT football games only, Edgar-Jones is known for playing sensitive, introspective characters and does all the things most indie-type actors do: take candids on 35mm film and engage in whatever the hot, new trend is, our latest contender being “brat summer.” When considering these two wildly different personalities, one has to ask: how do they make this work? Powell’s a fine actor, but no one can click that well with everyone.  

But he does. And really, it’s because Powell is someone who just really likes the people he works with, which is a bit of a rarity in film culture these days. He actively works to build the bridge between his co-stars by learning new things, such as what exactly a “brat summer” is. And by proxy, Powell’s enthusiasm to simply be present in the filmmaking process and make movies builds a screen presence, another aspect of modern actors that is more or less gone — as Marvel star Anthony Mackie put it: “there are no more movie stars.” 

But if there are none, it makes no sense that people are seeing “Twisters” not to see tornadoes but instead to see Powell. Powell isn’t even the focus of the movie; Edgar-Jones is, having a fleshed-out backstory and single-handedly saving an entire small town of people from an EF-5 level tornado by the end of the film.  

To really be a movie star, an actor can’t thrive on personability alone: an actor needs to be able to act. And in “Twisters,” Powell brings his best. His character, tornado wrangler and streamer Tyler Owens, and Edgar-Jones’s character, former tornado chaser turned meteorologist after tragically losing her close friends during a tornado chase, Kate Carter, have almost palpable romantic chemistry despite infuriatingly not even sharing a post-we-almost-died-in-a-tornado kiss. And while one can make the argument that Powell is a “one-trick pony,” seemingly only playing characters that ooze that Powell-esque southern charm, I would point them in the direction of Linklater’s “Hit Man,” where Powell plays a diverse array of characters — ranging from a Russian hitman to a surprisingly impressive impersonation of “American Psycho”’s Patrick Bateman. At this point, it’s too early to make a comprehensive assessment of Powell’s acting abilities, given an unfortunate lack of diversity across his filmography, but seeing as he’s booked for the foreseeable future, watching his career evolve will only take time.  

Additionally, Powell plays the “southern boy” well. Tyler Owens’s laissez-faire attitude and witty comebacks, all while maintaining a genuine interest in Kate Carter, plays out as a much more earnest, well-intentioned emulation of McConaughey’s beloved performance in Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused.” Powell doesn’t play characters who play it “country hick” yet somehow cool; he plays characters that just are.  

Though this recent spike in Glen Powell enthusiasm has been met with scrutiny, with some comparing him to the likes of a capybara, Powell is conducive to bringing back the “movie star” in the same vein as the general public’s continued love for Old Hollywood stars such as Cary Grant and Gregory Peck. It’s about time we all sit back and really enjoy the Glen-aissance.  

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