Twisters

As I was driving to the Sunday matinee of this movie in my small, midwestern town, I noticed an ominous green cast in the western sky. I wondered what the chances were that a tornado would hit the theater while I was ironically attending this movie. Only at the climax of the flick did I realize that even more ironically, it features a movie theater being hit by a tornado. And also, a tornado blowing up a rodeo – about the only thing that would have made my evening at this year's local bull ride worse, as I was drenched by a violent downpour while trying to capture the action on film. I'd love to complain about that at greater length, but let's focus on the feature, eh?

Conceptually descended from the 1996 movie Twister – if you don't know what I'm talking about, come out from under your rock – this tornado thriller features the original film's then-cutting edge, now elderly probe "Dorothy" in an opening scene in which the hero tornado chaser, Kate (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones of Where the Crawdads Sing), loses three of her closest friends when their experiment using an absorbent polymer fails to quench a tornado, and also, they know better but they take shelter under an overpass anyway, and folks, that's not a safe way to ride out a tornado. Deep breath. Five years later, the other surviving member of her team (Javi, played by Anthony Ramos of In the Heights and Broadway's Hamilton) persuades her to come back to Oklahoma for another bout of storm chasing. Only this time, she gradually learns, they're working for the dark side, and the cocky YouTube sensation who leads a competing team of chasers (Tyler, played by Glen Powell of Anyone But You) surprisingly turns out to be more on the side of good. And now, with a record storm outbreak upon them, they have one more chance to try out Kate's theory about using the absorbent stuff from adult diapers to kill a monster 'nado. No pressure or anything, but a whole town and all of her friends (once again) are right in its path.

The gosh-wow gadgets, hot dog stunts and special effects have come a long way since 1996. I found the movie scary and exciting, and I engaged with the characters, although I do think Powell's smartass, U-shaped smile comes very close to being a Backpfeifengesicht; I kept almost wanting to backhand it off his face. Edgar-Jones gets to display her full range of acting skills, from tender vulnerability to incredible courage and toughness. Ramos gets the complex bit as a guy who has had to make compromises with his conscience; the moment when he decides to rejoin the good guys is fun to watch. And to make up for Bill Paxton and Philip Seymour Hoffman no longer being around, the film abounds with sexy, funny and weird characters. Maura Tierney plays Kate's mom. Harry Hadden-Paton of Downtown Abbey shows up as a British journalist following the chasers around for a big article – a character whose normal reactions to danger contrast nicely with the insane antics of the lead characters. Daryl McCormack, BAFTA nominated for his role as a sex worker in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, plays Kate's ill-fated boyfriend who reminded me of a guy I know locally (I wonder if he saw this movie). Also in the cast are Brandon Perea of Nope, Sasha Lane of Loki, Kiernan Shipka of Mad Men, David Corenswet of The Politician and Katy O'Brian of The Mandalorian.

Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) Naturally, you can't take Kate to a rodeo during an Oklahoma storm outbreak without attracting a twister. How the survivors survive (and the non-survivors, er, non-survive) makes for a terrifying scene. (2) An EF-5 rips the front wall of a movie theater off, giving the audience front-row seats for a real-life disaster. And Powell is only saved from being sucked out of the building by, literally, the toe of his boot. (3) Kate's mom takes charge, keeping Powell around despite her daughter's grumpiness and flat-out telling her she needs to go back to saving the world. It's a fun movie that seems to know when to run with cliches and when to turn them upside-down. It holds up well alongside the original Twister. The only trouble I foresee is coming up with a title for the next sequel. Twisterses, anyone? Anyone?