Never Stop Chasing
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Never Stop Chasing, a documentary, directed by Ken Cole (Tornado Chasers), follows extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer and his crew as they intercept violent tornadoes. Cole is a filmmaker and meteorologist who has worked alongside Timmer for more than two decades. The film has been described as a 20-year reckoning with obsession, loss, and the relentless pull of violent weather.
Reed Timmer is probably today’s best-known storm chaser. His maverick persona and armored storm-chasing vehicle, the Dominator 3, directly inspired the character of Tyler Owens, played by Glen Powell in the 2024 summer film Twisters.
Timmer, who has a Ph.D. in meteorology, has spent two decades chasing storms. He brings an intimate insider’s perspective to a story that is as much about grief and mortality as it is about adrenaline.
The film anchors its emotional stakes in the storm chaser cultures’ most tragic moment: the 2013 El Reno tornado – the largest tornado ever recorded – which claimed the lives of legendary chaser Tim Samaras, his son Paul, and chaser Carl Young. The film also explores Timmer’s grief over the 2018 passing of his best friend and longtime Storm Chasers partner, Joel Taylor. Cole also looks into Timmer’s backstory, how he became a storm chaser, his setbacks, and his determination.
Timmer is no stranger to my community. He hosted a Dominate the Storm event in February, during which he said that he would be back often this year to chase storms, and he was not wrong. He has been here often chasing tornadoes. Illinois could pass Texas for the most tornadoes for any state in recorded history with just over 200 tornadoes this year to date.
Throughout the film, director Cole captures incredible footage of Timmer and his crew chasing storms in his armored car, Dominator 3, that’s built especially to survive severe storms. That footage makes this documentary one that you will want to see on the big screen, if possible.
The film takes the time to get to know the crew that Timmer works with, which load up two cars and aim right for impact zones of supercells. In one part of the film, a photojournalist from the New York Times Magazine joins the team and is treated to a incredible chasing experience.
The final sequence of the film centers on a 2024 chase that ultimately devastated the town of Greenfield, Iowa. After the storm passes, Timmer and his team immediately head to Greenfield to help with search-and-rescue efforts. This is standard operating procedure for Timmer’s team, and the results of these efforts have resulted in both lives saved, as well as finding people who didn’t survive.
Emmy-winning composers Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson (Cobra Kai) provide the original score performed by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra.
Never Stop Chasing is a well-made documentary with incredible footage. It does contain some brief adult language.
