‘Twisters’ delivers the blockbuster goods… and another Glen Powell breakout

The Glen Powell Effect energizes “Twisters,” a throwback blockbuster with dazzling special effects that maintains a focus on its trio of central characters.

Directed with confidence and heart by Lee Isaac Chung, who broke with his Oscar-winning 2020 semiautobiographical drama “Minari,” this tornado-packed disaster flick contains a few Easter egg-sized callbacks to 1996’s “Twister” but otherwise focuses on an entirely different group of storm chasers.

In the prologue, tragedy strikes when Oklahoma scientist Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) loses her friends and colleagues to a violent storm while trying to test a chemical reaction that could, theoretically, reduce the intensity of tornados and save lives. Only Kate and friend Javi (Anthony Ramos) survive, and the friends go their separate ways.

Cut to five years later, where Javi, now backed by corporate money and a full Geek Squad of scientists, tries to recruit Kate, now a New York City meteorologist, into coming back to Oklahoma to finish her research. Along the way, loudmouth storm chaser/social media star Tyler Owens (Powell) arrives with his boisterous team to shoot fireworks into storms and basically irritate the corporate sellouts.

“Twisters,” at least for a while, flips the premise of the 1996 film by focusing on Kate, Javi and the professional crew. Tyler and his posse don’t seem particularly serious about science, but dang, we all know the irresistible charm of Glen Powell isn’t here to play the showboating villain. Eventually, Kate and Tyler are forced into some intense storms, all while Javi feels the squeeze of his not-so-altruistic benefactors.

For a movie about wind throwing large objects all about, “Twisters” takes its time to establish full arcs for the three leads. The action eventually delivers, too, with the assistance of fireworks, explosions and a few more callbacks to the original film (an extended sequence takes place at a movie theater, swapping in for the drive-in sequence from the original.)

The “Twisters” script by Mark L. Smith (with a "story by" credit from “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski) establishes another eclectic group of zany storm-chasing side characters, including indie favorites like Sasha Lane, Katy O’Brian, Kiernan Shipka and future Superman David Corenswet. Unfortunately, none of them get much screentime or decent material to match the energy of the original film’s all-star crew, which included Philip Seymour Hoffman and Alan Ruck.

Overall, “Twisters” is a little less dumb than the original “Twister,” as the new film avoids flying cows and driving through houses for laughs. As a result, “Twisters” is also a little less fun, though the movie pops whenever Powell appears, and Kate and Javi’s story provide enough substance to build to a suspenseful and satisfying final act. Chung also, thankfully, maintains his visual prowess behind the camera, as the film takes advantage of its real-world landscapes in ways that, for some reason, don’t always happen in expensive, green screen-dominated films these days.

    This image released by Universal Pictures shows Glen Powell, left, and Harry Hadden-Paton in a scene from "Twisters."