It’s twenty-eight years later and people are still fascinated by the destructive power of tornadoes that cavalier daredevils will chase after them for clout, thrills, or the progress of science. Twisters faithfully replicates a lot of the elements that made the 1996 original a hit without coming across as overly fawning fan service, from the large-scale action treating the looming tornadoes like a monster awakening in righteous anger, to the scientific adventure and exploration of understanding the worst of nature, to the snobs vs. slobs of competing teams of eager tornado chasers. The core dynamic between Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell is combative and fun and eventually quite flirty, and oh will you be compelling these two crazy weather-obsessed kids to kiss by the end credits. If somehow you missed out on Hit Man, here is further proof about the indefatigable power of Powell’s immense charms. You, much like Edgar-Jones, cannot resist this man and his drawl. Give great praise to director Lee Isaac Chung, who made the poignant autobiographical immigrant family drama Minari and then followed it up with wrangling tornadoes in a blockbuster sphere with the same level of confidence and dedication. This is a sequel that thankfully doesn’t need to lean into the callbacks or cameos from the earlier movie. It’s still relatively predictable but that doesn’t make it less satisfying when our heroes come together. Twisters is a solid sequel that clearly understands the appeal of its predecessor and big screen disaster-laden escapist entertainment as a whole. It’s a perfect movie to pair with a big bucket of popcorn. 

Nate’s Grade: B