“Twisters” director Lee Isaac Chung made headlines recently in defending the decision to keep the topic of climate change out of the sequel to the 1996 natural disaster-fueled blockbuster “Twister.”

“I just wanted to make sure that with the movie, we don’t ever feel like (it) is putting forward any message,” he said in an interview with CNN. “I just don’t feel like films are meant to be message-oriented.”

At first, this feels like a missed opportunity — and, arguably, cowardice on the part of Chung and the production — given climate change’s well-documented link to the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. (To be fair, though, the link between climate change and tornadoes isn’t so clear.)

However, having seen “Twisters” — which is blowing into theaters this week with incredible force — we like it just the way it is. Chung has made a well-crafted, consistently entertaining sequel that benefits both from stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell and nearly 30 years of impactful special-effects development that help make the original feel, well, nearly three decades old.

Chung rose to prominence as the writer-director of 2020’s acclaimed “Minari,” a semi-autobiographical film. And while he subsequently directed an episode of the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” he’s never helmed anything with the scale of “Twisters” and action-heavy nature of “Twisters.” Working from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”) — with the story credited to “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski — Chung doesn’t let the occasional silly plot development or the fact the movie has too many characters get in his way. He balances all the hurricane-force thrills the movie requires with myriad satisfying character moments.

Many of those circle around Edgar-Jones’ Kate Carter. We meet her in the movie’s prologue, during which she is getting help with friends — including boyfriend Javi — chasing storms in Oklahoma for a college project. (In one of only a couple of noticeable nods to “Twister,” they are using a version of the “Dorothy” machine featured heavily in that movie.)

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They are out to collapse — or, as they like to say, “tame” a tornado. However, let’s just say they meet a cyclone that gets the best of them.

Five years later, Kate, having given up chasing, is working as a storm tracker for the United States Weather in New York City when Javi shows up out of the blue. Now working for a private company using a portable version of a weather-tracking radar system he used in the military since their time together, he says he needs to spend one week in Oklahoma to help him test the tech in what’s expected to be a once-in-a-generation tornadoes-filled event.

“You have a gift,” he says. “I can’t do this without you.”

In Oklahoma, she meets his crew of uniformed “Ph.Ds,” including right-hand company man (future Superman David Corenswet), as well as a group of rough-around-the-edges storm chasers from Arkansas — “hillbillies with a YouTube channel,” as someone puts it.

Leading them is cool and cocky “tornado wrangler” Tyler Owens (Powell), who takes an immediate interest in Kate, calling her “city girl.” Initially, she gives him the cold shoulder — and some misleading information regarding where to find their next twister — but, of course, the pair will grow closer as “Twisters” proceeds.

Kate, portrayed by Daisy Edgar-Jones, is unimpressed by cocky storm chaser Tyler, right, even as he’s being followed for a story by journalist Ben, portrayed by Harry Hadden-Paton, early on in “Twisters.” (Courtesy of Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)

In Kate and Tyler, we have two sides of the same coin, storm trackers who rely on both carefully gathered data and gut instinct. But while she is most interested in giving people more of a warning a tornado may be coming their way, he and his lot concern themselves primarily with shooting fireworks up through a cyclone and, importantly, getting potentially viral footage of it.

Or so she thinks.

Thanks both to Smith’s script and the performances of Edgar-Jones and Powell, Kate and Tyler form an appealing tandem; if not the soul of the story, she’s its conscience, while he provides its requisite bravado and adventurous spirit.

Powell, a fellow “Top Gun: Maverick” alum, continues to display the movie-star charisma he exhibited in last year’s “Anyone But You,” while “Normal People” and “Where the Crawdads Sing” star Edgar-Jones is compelling via subtle acting choices instead of big moments.

Understandably, some may be disappointed “Twisters” doesn’t connect more to the original — “Twister” star Helen Hunt has said a pitch she made in 2020 to helm a sequel was rejected — but this follow-up more than lives up to its predecessor.

Tyler (Glen Powell)  tries to save pal Lily (Sasha Lane) in a scene from “Twisters.” (Courtesy of Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)

And, OK, so “An Inconvenient Truth” “Twisters” is not. It’s a popcorn movie chock-full of barns being torn apart, cars being hurled through the air and a few innocent people meeting highly inconvenient ends.

And, even with a soundtrack packed with country jams, it really rocks.

‘Twisters’

Where: Theaters.

When: July 19.

Rated: PG-13 for intense action and peril, some language and injury images.

Runtime: 2 hours, 2 minutes.

Stars (of four): 3.5.