Director: Lee Isaac Chung

Writers: Mark L. Smith, Jospeh Kosinski

Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos

Rated: PG-13 for intense action and peril, some language and injury images.

Synopsis: Edgar-Jones stars as Kate Carter, a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City. She is lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Ramos) to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better.

As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler, Javi and their crews find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.

Review: I'd could argue that Twister was never really about the tornado. It was a story about two people who had fallen apart and were brought back together by a shared love of natural disasters. The splintered relationship between Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill Harding (Bill Paxton) gave the story a bedrock for the special effects to spin upon. You might only remember its convincing special effects and sound design, but without the characters the journey in between the action would feel tedious. 

With Twisters screenwriter Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), working from a story by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), and director Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) attempt to make Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) the foundation of their narrative. Once an idealist, Kate is changed by tragedy. This in and of itself would be enough. Unfortunately, the film spends a considerable amount of time playing Javi (Anthony Ramos), a friend who knew Kate before she gave into self-doubt, and Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a brash storm chaser with a massive YouTube audience, off each other leaving Kate and the audience caught somewhere between misinformed and manipulated.

 It's so contrived, pointless, and distracts from Kate’s journey to rediscover her hope and purpose. Worst of all, it’s boring and delays the film’s solid final act. If Twisters was paired back to 90 minutes, rather than stretching out over two hours, it might have been a rollercoaster ride with an inspiring character drama placed between the butterfly tingling.

 The ending might be enough to leave most audiences satisfied, but I suspect that few will be willing to sit through the first 90 minutes to get to the part when the story fids its focus and literally rips through the movie theater.

 Ultimately, Chung, Edgar-Jones, and the rest of the players deserve a cleaner script that doesn’t pad its running time with pointless diversions.