Since Twisters will be making its theatrical rounds this summer, I figured it would be a good idea to get a couple of disaster movies on my viewing list in preparation for what’s to come. Luckily, Hulu had just what I was looking for in the form of Supercell, a surprisingly well-produced feel-good movie about tornado chasing that you may not have heard of due to its limited theatrical release.

Like its upcoming cyclonic contemporary, Supercell involves charismatic storm chasers, familial and professional drama, and an unforgiving Oklahoma sky full of hail and lightning.

Supercell

Supercell tells a story about William Brody (Daniel Diemer), a teenager who wishes to follow in the footsteps of his father, Bill (Richard Gunn).

Bill Brody was a fearless stormchaser who was killed by a tornado when William was a boy. Now a high school student, William helps his mother, Quinn (Anne Heche), with her housecleaning business because she stopped chasing storms and pursuing science when her husband met his fate.

Adventure And Smarts

William’s personality in Supercell is a composite of his mother and father, in that he has Bill’s sense of adventure and Quinn’s smarts.

Though Quinn was and still is a brilliant scientist, she doesn’t want to see William become obsessed with storm chasing because she’s well aware of the dangers of thrill-seeking for the sake of science.

Everything changes when William receives a copy of his father’s journal from his former chase partner, Roy (Skeet Ulrich).

Stormchasing

With a burning desire to become a storm chaser himself, William travels to Oklahoma to team up with Roy, who now works as a tour guide for Brody Storm Chase Tours under the supervision of Zane Rogers (Alec Baldwin).

Zane is the ruthless capitalist character in Supercell who uses Bill’s legendary name as a way to convince customers to fork over their hard-earned cash for the opportunity to witness severe storms from a safe distance.

William teams up with a reluctant Roy so he can learn more about his late father’s line of work, not knowing that Quinn is hot on his trail and hoping to bring him home safely because he’s all that she has left.

Brilliant Storm Sequences

Despite Supercell’s brilliantly shot storm sequences, I never felt like any character was truly in danger or invested in the film’s premise. This lack of excitement took me out of the movie because William is supposed to be on the adventure of a lifetime, but it hardly seems like he wants to be there.

For example, when the van is getting fueled before the group’s next chase, he gets left behind because he wants to buy a bag of gas station popcorn.

Like Big-Budget Disaster Thrillers

When Quinn finally tracks down William, I can’t say that her concern over his well-being convincingly highlights how a mother would really react to what in her mind is a life-or-death situation.

Supercell’s lack of convincing emotional stress notwithstanding, I’ve got to say that this movie was beautifully shot and reminded me of the big-budget disaster thrillers of the ‘90s like Volcano, Dante’s Peak, and even the original Twister.