David Farnor | On 03, Sep 2024

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos
Certificate: 12

“It’s good to have you back.” “I’m not back.” That’s the sound of Twisters blowing on to our screens almost 20 years after the 1996 hit Twister. The film that made storm-chasing a mainstream phenomenon, it followed a group following tornados across Oklahoma in an attempt to understand more about the meteorological disasters. That summer, audiences believed a cow could fly through the air on a gale force wind. This summer, the climate crisis means people are already familiar with the havoc and damage that a tornado can wreak on people’s homes and lives. In fact, that trauma comes pre-loaded into the story itself – a move that gives this belated sequel a surprising amount of heft.

Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kate, a weather researcher who has a knack for reading weather patterns. But after a bold experiment to use chemicals to dispel storms goes horribly awry, she now works behind a corporate desk rather than in the field. Until Javi (Anthony Ramos) returns from her past and asks for her help in getting 3D scans of tornados in action. She reluctantly agrees, only for her and Javi’s group to cross paths with Tyler (Glen Powell), an influencer who chases storms for thrills – and millions of online views.

What ensues is a fascinating study of purpose, as Kate, Tyler and Javi’s motivations all swirl around each other and leave our sympathies in unexpected places. Is it money driving them? Is it acclaim? By the time we’re in the danger zone, they all find themselves united, on some level, by a drive to simply help other people in the face of oncoming destruction, and that heartfelt compassion is something often missing in other tentpole actioners.

The cast are superb, with Glen Powell bursting with charisma as the cocky but deceptively kind-hearted Tyler – he’s a swaggering leading man in full-blown Hollywood mode here, and it’s glorious to see in action. Edgar-Jones, meanwhile, brings tons of depth to Kate, with a smart move by Mark L Smith’s script turning what might have been a romance-tinged story into a rousing drama about someone overcoming trauma to rediscover themselves and their vocation.

Director Lee Isaac Chung, who previously helmed the wonderful Minari, effortlessly wrangles the big budget set pieces, delivering some satisfying spectacle with a tangible sense of peril. But it’s in the small touches that he excels, giving the rural world of Oklahoma – where Minari was also filmed – a lived-in feel that ups the stakes considerably. The result is at once visceral and emotional, toweringly big and endearingly small, amusingly cheesy and disarmingly sincere. In other words, it’s exactly what you could want from a massive popcorn flick. It’s good to have the summer blockbuster back.

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