The new disaster film Twisters has been described as a “stand-alone sequel” by its producers. Meaning, I guess, that it is not a sequel to 1996’s cult classic Twister in the sense that its events do not continue from those in the previous film, nor is it a “reboot” that rehashes the same events. Rather, it exists in the same universe, one in which tornadoes strike the American Great Plains, somewhat without explanation, and a group of plucky heroes has to survive and sort of fight the tornadoes. Conceptually, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, except in a world in which Hollywood tends to put money behind only those projects that are connected to some existing “intellectual property,” the better to feel confident that there will be some audience with a reason to go see whatever the studio is spending millions on CGI to make. Perhaps it’s best not to think about it too hard, which is also the best way to approach this extremely fun movie — the sexiest tornado-science-slash-survivors-guilt-action-dramedy probably ever — and its nonsensical, delightful plot. 

“I love Oklahoma,” Kate, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People), mutters to herself in the opening scene, looking up at the big, broad sky as an enormous storm cell forms over an open plain. In this movie, tornadoes, which are extremely common and only getting more frequent and destructive as part of the “outbreak” that sets off the plot, are to be both admired and feared. As things kick off, Kate and a crew of her young friends are a group of self-funded student scientists out to “tame” a tornado by getting one to suck up moisture-absorbing chemicals, theoretically causing it to die off spontaneously. But they select one that’s too big, and they are overwhelmed. Three of the five of them are sucked heavenward and killed. Kate, wounded and bleeding, survives. Fast-forward five years, and Kate is no longer in the Southwest, a weather-chasin’ country girl, but is rather a New Yorker looking at computer screen data. It will take the other survivor of the opening scene, the data guru Javi (Anthony Ramos of Hamilton and In the Heights), to draw her back in — and back to where it all began, in Oklahoma.