Tornado

Life sometimes puts you in situations that test both your morals and your decision-making. For example, imagine you’re walking down the street and see a bag on the ground. With no one else around, you look inside—only to find a thousand dollars in cash. What do you do? Do you take the money and spend it, or do you turn it in to the police? A thousand dollars is a lot of money for most people, so the temptation to keep it would be strong. In Tornado, John Maclean’s new film, the main character faces a similar moral crossroads—only instead of cash, it’s gold, and her decision affects everyone around her.

Tornado (Kôki) and her father, Fujin (Takehiro Hira), travel the English countryside performing a samurai puppet show. After one performance, they encounter Sugarman (Tim Roth) and his gang, which includes his son, Little Sugar (Jack Lowden). The gang has just completed a heist and scored a substantial payday. Seizing an opportunity, Tornado—with some help—steals the gold and hides it, triggering a relentless chase as Sugarman and his gang pursue her. Along the way, the gang lays waste to anyone who helps her or simply gets in their way. Having already lost her father—who tried to resolve the situation peacefully—Tornado is left watching as everyone she cares about is either killed or has their life ruined. Eventually, she’s had enough. She returns to the place where it all began, retrieves her samurai sword, and decides that her days of running are over. Slowly, she begins to confront the gang and becomes the person her father always believed she could be.

Written by Kate Leys and John Maclean (who also directs), Tornado is a multicultural, authentically rooted period drama. In this world, there’s little room for moral judgment—every character is simply doing what they must to survive. Visually, Maclean conjures the American frontier with muted earth tones and wide horizons, blending samurai and western film tropes into a world that feels both familiar and fresh. There’s also a strong sense of place and historical transition—this is a world on the brink of change, where people like Sugarman are struggling to hold on to the power they know they’re losing.

Tornado is visually striking, with vast, almost mythic cinematography that creates a powerful atmosphere. Though it ultimately becomes a revenge story, it maintains a minimalist narrative approach. You know almost nothing about the title character at first, and for the first twenty minutes, you also don’t know why she’s being chased. But the film trusts the viewer to figure things out through its visual storytelling. It becomes clear, quickly, that this is a group of predators closing in on their prey.

As for performances, Tim Roth is, as always, excellent, and Kôki does a remarkable job balancing Tornado’s emotional devastation with her emerging strength. While I do think the character development is a bit thin at times, and certain story elements feel half-baked, those flaws don’t take away from what the film does well.

Fans of westerns and samurai films—like myself—will find much to admire in Tornado. The risks it takes pay off, delivering a cinematic experience that feels bold, emotional, and deeply satisfying.