July 24, 2024 – This movie is a sequel to “Twister” (1996) and is filled with references and homages to that 1996 film. Unlike most sequels, this one is as good, maybe even better than the original.

The film picks up where the first one left off, with additional references to “The Wizard of Oz” as Dorothy, the system of flying sensors is sent off into a tornado, but this time the scientist, Kate Carter (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones of “Where the Crawdads Sing”) is even more ambitious. She wants to stop a tornado dead in its track.

The experiment goes bad and most of Kate's team is killed by a monster tornado that is far larger than she expected it to be. After that flashback scene, the story skips ahead five years to the present day where we find Kate working for NOAA in New York City, having sworn off any field work.

Kate is contacted by the lone survivor of her old tornado chasing team, Javi (Anthony Ramos of “In the Heights”) who shows up in New York, asking her to come to Oklahoma to help him with some new tornado experiments using an advanced radar system.

Upon arrival in Oklahoma, Kate immediately meets a popular YouTuber, a so-called “tornado wrangler,” Tyler Owens (Glen Powell of “Top Gun: Maverick”). Kate, who is beautiful, and Tyler, who is handsome, are immediately attracted to each other, but are also rivals, each trying to get to the next best tornado first.

These two spend a lot of time warily circling around each other like a couple of twisters, each suspicious of the other's motives, but they also find each other irresistible. Tyler is suspicious of the company that Kate is indirectly helping, Storm Par, while Kate thinks Tyler is just a glory hound, in it for the money.

Eventually, Kate's interest in her old project, stopping a tornado, is rekindled, culminating in a daring attempt to rescue a small Oklahoma town in the path of a killer tornado. There is plenty of action and plenty of sexual tension in this movie about scientific passion, love and tornadoes. Like the original movie, there are plenty of adrenaline junkie thrill seekers, too.

I am a big fan of the 1996 film, and have watched it many times. There are a number of references to it in this film, including a cameo by James Paxton, son of the late Bill Paxton, who starred in the original film. If you, like me, are a fan of the 1996 film, you'll definitely want to see this one.

This is, in many ways, a predictable genre film, but it is also very well acted, crafted and directed by Lee Isaac Chung of “Minari.” I found it very entertaining. It rates a B.

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