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Towards the end of this follow-up to director Jan de Bont\u2019s 1996 hit, a writer reporting on storm-chasers wonders what kind of story he should be telling. The question is a pointed one, because Twisters never quite resolves what angle it wants to take. Elemental romance or meteorological thriller? Disaster movie or lament for real-world losses? Sequel or reboot? Though the pluralised title seems to augur maximalist thrills \u2013 Aliens being the obvious precedent \u2013 director Lee Isaac Chung\u2019s serviceable summer spectacle frustrates because it never fully amplifies its lines of attack.<\/p>\n
As films from Cliffhanger to Twister itself tend to, it begins with trauma. Student Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) leads a ragtag team on an experiment in Oklahoma to battle a tornado, firing nappy material up into the funnel to absorb moisture and thus disperse the cloud. But the mission goes wrong, and three of her friends die in the diaper-based dust-up.<\/p>\n
Five years on, fellow survivor Javi (Anthony Ramos) approaches Kate in her calmer New York job. Having developed a means to measure twisters\u2019 behaviour, he needs her to help determine their paths. When Kate returns to Oklahoma with Javi, they clash with a rootin\u2019-tootin\u2019 posse of reckless tornado-chasers, fronted by YouTube stud Tyler Owens (Glen Powell).<\/p>\n
Might Kate and Tyler bond as he reveals hidden qualities? They might, indeed, though this low-sparks connection typifies the underfed writing in Mark L Smith\u2019s script. It\u2019s equally typical that, after five years away from \u201cchasing\u201d, Kate takes all of five minutes to forget her losses and join Javi\u2019s operation. Lacking sparkle and character tension, the on-screen drama feels oddly muted.<\/p>\n