'Twisters' Review: Lee Isaac Chung's Blockbuster Sequel Is a Breath of Fresh Air

Lee Isaac Chung's 'Twisters' is a blockbuster sequel that recaptures the breezy charms of the original, with impressive action sequences and a romantic character piece at its heart.

_{^{Photo by Lloyd Dirks on Unsplash}}

‘Twisters’ Review: Lee Isaac Chung’s Blockbuster Sequel Is a Breath of Fresh Air

![Tornado Image)(_download_image) Tornadoes are coming…

The beauty of Lee Isaac Chung’s ‘Twisters’ lies in its ability to follow a similar formula to the original ‘Twister’ - combining action-packed sequences with a romantic character piece about two people finding each other. The film’s eardrum-bursting action sequences are surrounded by a throng of character actors who seem slightly overqualified for their tiny roles.

Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kate Cooper, a meteorologist whose tornado sense is superior to any computer-driven weather predictions. She’s got a theory that tornadoes can be dissipated by filling them with a special kind of ‘stuff’. However, her experiment goes awry, and now it’s five years later and Kate has given up on her dreams for a cushy, boring desk job.

That’s when her old storm-chasing partner Javi (Anthony Ramos) shows up to pull her out of retirement. He’s developed a technology that can map the inside of a tornado, but to do that they need to find a tornado, and he needs Kate to track them down.

![Glen Powell Image)(_download_image) Glen Powell as Tyler Owens

The Storm Wranglers, led by Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), are a group of high-tech storm-chasers with a hit YouTube channel. They’re constantly getting in the way of Kate and Javi’s mission, and their equipment is top-notch. Director of photography Dan Mindel films Glen Powell like a beer commercial could break out at any second.

There isn’t a lot of plot to ‘Twisters’, which again, is in the ‘Twister’ tradition. The closest thing the film has to a villain is ethical complexity, as Kate finds out that Javi’s financial backers aren’t wholly altruistic, and that Tyler only sells t-shirts with his face on them for the sake of charity.

![Tornado Damage Image][_download_image) Tornado damage

Despite its share of silliness, ‘Twisters’ does have its share of impressive visuals. The film’s themes of moral complexity and the flaws of capitalism are timely and thought-provoking.

The cast, including Sasha Lane, Kiernan Shipka, Tunde Adebimpe, Katy O’Brian, Harry Hadden-Paton, and even future Superman David Corenswet, bring real character to what could have been a generic ensemble of scientists and thrill-seekers.

‘Twisters’ doesn’t have a lot to do with the original film as far as the plot and characters go. We see the weather-scanning device Helen Hunt invented in the film’s opening scenes, so we know it takes place in the same universe, and there are a couple of winking references if you know where to look for them.

But you don’t need to see ‘Twister’ to appreciate ‘Twisters’. They just have the same breezy vibes and impressive visual scale. For a sequel to a nearly 30-year-old movie, ‘Twisters’ miraculously stands out against the modern blockbuster landscape.