28 years after Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt launched Dorothy into that gnarly F5 tornado, the concept (if nothing else) is back on the big screen in this standalone non-sequel directed by Lee Isaac Chung (‘Minari’). Starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones—he’s a social-media-darling storm chaser and she’s a rival scientist with a sixth sense for predicting storms—the film has all the visual effects and weather craziness of the original, but, alas, not enough of the fun. (Remember ‘Rabbit is good, Rabbit is wise.’? And ‘I gotta go, Julia, we have cows!’?) Yeah, there’s precious little of that there. It’s still great popcorn fare, though, and a genuine white-knuckler that’ll knock your socks off… it just needs a little good ol’ Dusty and Beltzer.
3.5/5 stars