“This movie made me really excited to go back to the movie theater,” said Anthony Ramos at the Twisters Los Angeles premiere. The Puerto Rican actor is one of the three main stars in the movie (alongside Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones)  and is one of two Latinos to star in the film – Brandon Perea (Nope) is the other.

“For some reason they knew that we would all connect,” Perea added at the LA premiere. “Like, there wasn’t a massive table read to see if there was chemistry. I feel like they just trusted their gut of knowing that these are good humans and they’ll get along. And we got along – no drama!”

No drama except for the titanic-sized tornados that level entire cities that is. But, before we get into everything that is right with Twisters, here’s what you need to know about the actual movie.

Edgar-Jones is Kate Carter. A weather-loving woman from the red-clayed streets of Oklahoma who has revered mother nature since before she could say “meteorology.” When we first meet her she is part of a much bigger tornado chasin’ team that includes Ramos (Javi). Almost immediately, her team is torn up (for reasons I won’t spoil) and she goes into a EF3 level depression, hangs up her weather wardrobe and takes up a permanent position behind a PC. Five years later Javi tracks her down in the hopes that she can help with a new weather prediction program. Before ya know it, the two are buckled into a new state-of-the-art truck tracking twisters right up the business side of tornado alley.

Right about now is when the winds blow in self-appointed ‘tornado tamer’ Tyler Owens (Powell) who appears to be more about the clicks and shares than he does the actual science of a storm. He is the “influencer” if you will, of the storm chasing crowds. He and his crew, including Boone (Perea), are forecast to clash against Kate and Javi as they document one of the deadliest weather phenomenons on the planet at one of the most dangerous times of the year.

I’d classify Twisters (2024) as a reboot of Twister (1996) with Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, not a redo or a sequel of the original. Swap out a movie theater for a rodeo or a mechanics inspection pit for a swimming pool, and you’ve got odes to the original but not an exact replica or continuation.

And that leads me to my favorite thing about Twisters – diverse casting. If Hollywood insists on producing less original films and instead relies on revamping previous blockbusters, the least they can do is add good, non-stereotypical diverse casting.

Don’t get it twisted – I, like many of you, think it’s critical that original stories from our gente flood screens both big and small. But, if there is something good that we can wrangle up from yet another reboot, it’s that we are finally being seen as everyday people because, shocker, we are!

It would have been easy to cast any Latino (or person of color for that matter) as a survivor of a storm in Twisters. Ya know, the migrant family who stands among the trashed trailers, strewn about the streets. The ones with no options, no money, and no hope. The ones who can’t even speak the language but do the country’s hard labor.

Yeah, that would have been easy to see. Instead Twisters gives us two Latinos who are lovers of science, have hearts the size of Texas, and the choice to pursue their passions. They have the audacity to be normal (and heroic) folks.

That’s what we need more of. While I think the choice to cast two Latinos wasn’t one that took much time or effort, it is one that has a big effect.

Twisters release comes on the heels of a small victory that was largely ignored. Last weekend two of the top five movies at the box office featured Latinas. A Quiet Place: Day One starring Lupita N’yongo and Despicable Me 4 featuring the newly Emmy-nominated Sofia Vergara combined made $63.3 million at the box office. That is a flood of cash when it comes to ticket sales.

Twisters is forecasted to blow away the competition this weekend and it likely will. But my guess is that the Glen Powell million mega-watt smile and on-screen presence will get a prevailing portion of the credit. He and Daisy Edgar-Jones absolutely deserve to be recognized, without question. The movie is fun and is exactly the break we need from our reality as of late. It has all the ingredients of a perfect summer blockbuster. But, there is a part of me that wants Ramos and Perea to eclipse the storm and signal sunnier days ahead for our community while proving that we can help make it rain too.