Tornadoes have been a subject of film fascination since “The Wizard of Oz” in 1939, but Dutch filmmaker Jan de Bont helped to solidify the appeal of the cinematic cyclone with his 1996 summer blockbuster “Twister,” about a group of adrenaline junkie storm chasers. A new installment, “Twisters,” arrives 28 years after de Bont’s film, chasing away all those “Sharknados” that have cluttered up the tornado movie subgenre, and reminding us of what made “Twister” so appealing to begin with: it wasn’t necessarily the airborne fauna, but rather, the human dramas that play out as tornadoes roam across the landscape. “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung tackles “Twisters,” which finds an analogue in “Aliens,” and not just in its approach to sequel titling.
Both “Twisters” and “Aliens” are bigger, beefier sequels to their ruthlessly efficient predecessors, and both are wildly entertaining, expanding on the world introduced in the first films without striving to replicate them. The only cameo from a “Twister” star in “Twisters” comes in the form of “Dorothy,” the data collection device developed in the first film. Otherwise, these characters simply share the same passion for understanding these storms.
Chung and writers Joseph Kosinski and Mark L. Smith tapped into the elements that made the first one so appealing, with a supporting cast packed with colorful characters while centering two leads with an undeniable chemistry that’s as .
