Joseph Kosinski Top Shooter: Maverick (2022) may not have been better than the original, but I enjoyed Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters with an open mind. I thought loner was OK, but ultimately about as much popcorn action as Tony Scott’s original Super shooter (1986).

As for Jan de Bont’s original Twisters (1996), I feel neither nostalgia nor appreciation, although I remember the film being popular when I was a kid. So I thought, hey, maybe this is the first long overdue sequel that I actually like better than the first film. Turns out… maybe I just don’t care for tornadoes.

In modern-day Oklahoma, Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) moves to New York after being the only survivor of a group of amateur tornado hunters during a particularly tragic natural disaster. But five years later, Kate is visited by Javi (Anthony Ramos), an old friend from her tornado experience, who successfully proposes a new project in her home state that has the best and most advanced technology for studying the largest tornadoes.

Back in Oklahoma, Kate discovers that her and Javi’s biggest competitor in the weather race is Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), who seems more interested in social media views than scientific documentaries. Maura Tierney plays Kate’s mother; Sasha Lane, Katy O’Brian and Brandon Perea are some of Tyler’s crew; David Corenswet plays a colleague of Javi’s; and Daryl McCormack appears as Kate’s deceased boyfriend.

As for soft reboots, Twisters decides not to continue the story from before, and none of the previous characters return for a brief cameo or minor role. We get the symbolic Easter eggs and flashbacks a few times, but aside from the general concept, the plot stands completely on its own.

Despite the appealing cast and the exciting action sequences, I was unfortunately reminded of how easily natural disaster epics can drift into kitsch. And not even the “so bad it’s good” type of kitsch.

Popular disaster films like Ronald Neames Poseidon’s descent into hell (1972) or John Guillermin’s Flaming Inferno (1974), really depend on the spectacle to make up for the paper-thin characters and silly writing. Damn, James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) is technically a disaster film that works perfectly on all sides.

With Twisters And Twistersbut a computer-generated mega-storm just doesn’t captivate me like other disasters in the film. And it doesn’t help that the lead actress visibly struggles at various points to maintain her typical accent, even though Edgar-Jones is usually a good actress.

Director Chung’s family drama made a breakthrough with critics Minari (2020) four years ago and is the latest indie filmmaker to get a major studio production. The direction has some visual touches, but it mostly feels like some hitman made this movie. So if watching people try not to get sucked into tornadoes is a lot of fun for you, then you might enjoy Twisters. If not, I would just consider something else.