"Twisters" is a serviceable but forgettable spiritual sequel

Twisters (2024)

Say what you want about 1996’s "Twister." Trading in dinosaurs for really bad weather that made cows fly, Jan de Bont’s summer movie spectacle came at a right time when we hadn’t yet experienced a glut of disaster blockbusters with cutting-edge effects. Was it silly? Absolutely, but it was a fun, thrilling Amblin crowd-pleaser with a winning cast elevating thin writing. It also wasn’t calling to be sequelized, with Bill Paxton no longer with us and Helen Hunt not returning. 28 years later, "Twisters" is more of a retitled remake than a true sequel, but whatever it is, this “spiritual sequel” is serviceable but mostly forgettable.

It’d be too much of a contrivance to have another soon-to-be divorced couple of storm chasers being brought back together by a tornado, and this happily isn’t a legacy sequel with Jo and Bill’s children following in Ma and Pa’s footsteps. This time, the storm-chasing types are Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones), an Oklahoma grad student who’s been working on her PhD, and Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a macho Internet superstar who’s always camera-ready. Five years prior, Kate lost her boyfriend and friends to a violent storm they were chasing and trying to disrupt with the help from data device “Dorothy” (the film’s only overt connection to the first film) and stuffing it with absorbent powder from diapers.

Though Kate has left the field to live in Brooklyn and work for the National Weather Service, friend and fellow survivor Javi (a charismatic but then tamped-down Anthony Ramos) brings her back home to help with a research project. It involves testing a revolutionary 3D modeling system that could potentially save lives affected by the storms. Once Kate crosses paths with self-proclaimed “tornado wrangler” Tyler, they banter and size each other up. He’s the leader of adrenaline-junkie yahoos who sell merch to support local disaster relief but also drive pick-up trucks straight into the tornado and shoot fireworks up the funnel. Will these enemies partner up and possibly get together once the skies clear?

Director Lee Isaac Chung (2020’s lovely immigrant drama "Minari") would seem like an odd choice for a spectacle-driven tentpole—and good on him—but growing up in the tornado alley of Oklahoma, Chung gets the down-home milieu right with a well-observed, non-condescending eye. His slice-of-life sensibilities decidedly carry over here until the dark clouds surface and it’s time to get chasing. The film does also try to show concern for the extras affected by the tornadoes without just being about destruction. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com

Grade: C +

Universal Pictures released "Twisters" (122 min.) in theaters on July 19, 2024.