Two wildly-disparate groups of storm chasers race into the hellish tumult of Twisters.
Five years after a voracious tornado ripped several of her closest friends into the afterlife, one-time storm chaser Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) now researches the weather from the safety of a New York office building. It’s a far cry from the adrenaline-pumping rush that once felt like her true calling, but at least now her friends aren’t torn to shreds in an instant.
Just as she thinks she might be moving on, an old team member, Javi (Anthony Ramos), shows up to repeatedly beg her to join his new corporate storm chasers. He’s leading an effort to collect essential 3D images of a major tornado to better understand their full composition. Ultimately, she gives in to the offer, but unlike Dorothy, she knows this won’t lead any of them to Oz.
It’s been 28 years since the first installment of this story tore through theaters, landing in the number two spot of the highest-grossing films of 1996 (right behind Independence Day). Time may have heightened the desire to revisit this fertile film landscape, but it hasn’t dulled our memory of good storytelling. This installment is a bigger mess than the towns it depicts after a direct hit.
The biggest letdown is that it didn’t need to be this way. The opening sequence hints at a rocking category five experience (or EF5 as it’s now called), but then fizzles out like the harmless whirlwinds that tease every chaser.
The only likable character in the main cast is Kate. Edgar-Jones rises above the surrounding material but finds herself entirely alone in the effort. Glenn Powell, playing a smarmy but magnetically sexy social media whore, continually pulls the film into Hallmark movie territory. Kate’s buddy Javi is so off-putting that I was rooting for him to be swept away by the next twister, or the one after that, or the one after that.
Little, if any, of the story makes sense. The technobabble is endlessly distracting, but not nearly as much as the endless plot contrivances. Nothing and no one feels authentic in any way, and it’s all overly predictable. The magical glass of every chaser’s truck repels projectiles like water in a car wash. Just roll that window up and everyone will be fine.
Sadly, the only thing it borrows from the original is the one thing that should have been left behind—the goofy flying orbs. There’s also none of the personal touch that helped draw viewers into that story. No wonder none of the original cast bothered to make an appearance. Their storm radar worked perfectly.
Aside from a limited number of jaw-dropping effects, I can honestly say, this film blows.
