Twisters

This technically remarkable sequel banks on Powell's charm and fiery tornadoes to appeal to a new generation of disaster-film fans. As in the original, Twisters' story includes a young female meteorologist's tragic loss during a tornado and two competing groups of storm-chasers. Unlike the original's second-chance romance between exes, director Lee Isaac Chung's sequel offers a slow-burn love triangle that never really gives the underused Ramos' character, Javi, a chance against the "cowboy charisma" of Powell's tornado wrangler. That subplot aside, the best part of Twisters isn't the script by Mark L. Smith—which never dares to address the reality of climate change, despite the movie's obsession with the ever-increasing number of twisters in America's Tornado Alley—but the spectacle of the storm-chasing sequences, now complete with fireworks and fire.

The very British Edgar-Jones is an outstanding actor, but she's miscast as an Oklahoman; her accent is so wrong that the filmmakers should have changed her character's background. But that aside, she does have the vulnerability befitting someone living with Kate's trauma and survivor's guilt. Powell is a natural playing another seemingly arrogant, smirky man with hidden depths, and the supporting cast (particularly Tyler's crew) includes a diverse group of recognizable if underused actors, including Sasha Lane, Katy O'Brian, Brandon Berea, and Tunde Adebimpe. And David Corenswet (looking like a young Campbell Scott) is notable as Javi's business partner who takes a heel turn. Despite the movie's story flaws, the action is undeniably riveting, with thrilling sequences set in such places as a motel, fields, a rodeo, and a movie theater. Think of this as an old-school blockbuster with a little do-good message.