Twisters(2024)

Submitted by Evan B

Pooper:
With Tyler’s help, Kate is able to successfully build a device that causes twisters to dissipate. Ruby is able to use it to destroy a mega-twister and, in so doing, save the lives of her fellow storm chasers and local townsfolk. The film ends with Ruby joining Tyler’s storm chasing team.

Long Ending:
A college student named Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) grows up in Oklahoma where tornadoes consistently pose a threat to those that live there. Kate has always been obsessed with the weather and develops her perception to such a high degree that she can accurately predict when and where tornadoes will strike. She develops a mechanism that she believes will cause a tornado to dissipate if released inside the funnel. Kate, her friends (including Kiernan Shipka), and boyfriend test out the device on a tornado. The device does not work, and the twister kills everyone but Kate and her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos). Kate drops out of school and moves to New York, far away from tornadoes.

Years later, Javi visits Kate in NYC and asks her to come back to Oklahoma for a week and help his new company. Javi’s company (including a role for David Corenswet) wants to use advanced military tech to analyze twisters and gain greater insight into how tornadoes form. They hope this data will allow for earlier detection of tornadoes. Kate reluctantly agrees and joins Javi’s storm chaser team. Once back in Oklahoma, she meets a man named Tyler (Glen Powell) who leads his own storm chasing crew. Tyler comes off as cocky and reckless as he and his crew (including a role for Sasha Lane) raise money by livestreaming videos of their chasing tornadoes (and doing stunts like shooting fireworks into twisters) and selling merchandise. Tyler’s truck is specially modified, including two drills that anchor it into the ground, allowing Tyler to drive into some less-intense tornadoes without being blown away.

Although Tyler and Kate initially are competitive, Tyler grows impressed with Kate’s knowledge and ability to track storms. Kate meanwhile learns that Tyler is a trained meteorologist and that he and his team use much of their funds to provide clothing and food to people whose homes and businesses have been destroyed by tornadoes. Kate eventually agrees to go with Tyler to a rodeo, much to Javi’s chagrin as he obviously has feelings for Kate too. A massive, unexpected twister touches down at the rodeo. Though many people die, Tyler and Kate are able to save a few of them. In the aftermath, Kate discovers that Javi’s team is being funded by a real estate developer who buys land on the cheap from people whose homes and businesses have been destroyed by tornadoes. She angrily confronts Javi for profiting off other peoples’ tragedies. Javi retorts that she has no right to chastise him since she got their friends killed. Although Javi immediately regrets what he said, Kate drives off. She returns home for the first time in years to visit her mother (Maura Tierney).

Tyler tracks Kate down to her home and is invited to stay by Kate’s mother. He comes across Kate’s research and thinks that there’s validity to her theories. The pair bond as they work together to improve Kate’s device, and an obvious attraction develops. They track down a tornado and, using Tyler’s truck, successfully activate Kate’s rebuilt and updated anti-tornado device. The device doesn’t work. Javi then shows up, apologizes to Kate, and gives her the data they’ve collected with his military tech to aid her project. With that data, Kate and Tyler are able to identify and account for additional variables that weren’t accounted for in Kate’s earlier work. Kate and Tyler then meet with his team and they build a new device.

Before they can test out Kate’s new device, a tornado forms and destroys a nearby oil refinery. The explosions cause the tornado to grow exponentially in size into a mega-twister, and it starts winding its way to a nearby town. Tyler’s crew heads to the town to warn people of the upcoming mega-twister, and they are joined by Javi (who abandons his team to help). As the mega-twister grows closer, Javi, Tyler, his team, and many townsfolk get stuck in a movie theater that is not built to withstand the raging tornado. Knowing everyone will die if she does nothing, Kate steals Tyler’s truck and drives her new device into the mega-twister’s path. She activates the device, and it successfully dissipates the mega-twister and saves everyone. Although Tyler’s truck is ripped out of the ground and tossed around, Kate survives the encounter. Kate then goes to catch her return flight to New York, but Tyler chases her down at the airport (cameo by Paul Scheer) and asks her to stay with him. The film ends with Kate as part of Tyler’s storm chasing team.