Blow Wind Blow: Tornado

Prior to the opening scene of Tornado (2025), the sound of wind blowing is heard for several seconds, appropriate considering the title of the film. When the first images arrive, the audience views a hill with the sound of dramatic strings and percussion joining the wind. Soon a young woman is chasing up the hill at a furious pace, with a boy following close behind. A group of armed men march steadily behind the two escaping youths, confirming a pursuit is ensuing. It is a simple shot that captures all of the participating actors from behind, a thrilling sequence that structures the film as a “chase movie.” Tornado is a welcome return from writer-director John Maclean, whose sparse tale of 18th-century robbery finds a perfect setting in the grey-skied atmosphere of Scotland. 

A decade after his promising feature film debut Slow West (2015), Maclean reunites with many of the same creative team including cinematographer Robbie Ryan (Academy Award-nominated for The Favourite (2019) and Poor Things (2024)) and music composer Jed Kurzel (composer of several other works including his older brother Justin’s Macbeth (2015)). Their combined talents infuse this banditry tale with a slow-burn intensity that is purposefully minimalist. The film also opens with a poem from famed Soviet director Andrei Tarvosky’s father, Arseny, which reads: “I would gladly pay with my life / For a safe place with constant warmth.” The poem is an appropriate muse for the chilliness in Tornado’s aesthetic, as the characters’ harsh decisions matches the film’s capture of the damp Scottish land.

The band of robbers is led by Sugarman (Tim Roth), who is anything but sweet as he maintains his leadership with vicious authority. His son, Little Sugar (Jack Lowden, in a great villainous turn that is distinct from his heroic work in Apple TV+’s Slow Horses), yearns for freedom from his father’s brutal command, willing to perform heinous acts too in order to achieve his goal. Like many films involving robbery, the loot itself, here stolen church gold, is only a means, or a currency, for characters to achieve their heart’s desire. For Sugarman, the gold allows him to keep his highwaymen together for further criminality; for Little Sugar, the gold offers a chance of freedom in a land that has often dreamed of independence throughout the centuries.

Like Little Sugar, the film’s titular heroine, Tornado (Kōki), yearns for freedom from performing in her father’s Fujin’s (Takehiro Hira from FX’s Shōgun) traveling puppet show. Fujin, a former samurai who instructs Tornado to perfect her puppetry with the same precision as his swordsmanship, is a protective father who understands the danger that exists for them as foreigners traveling in a land filled with villains. The mashup of Japanese characters living and performing abroad in Scotland is what makes this film so fun, and the dynamic of differing cultures is enhanced when the plot sets Japanese and English weaponry against each other. When stolen gold becomes stolen once again, all of the film’s characters become caught up in the whirlwind of action.

One of the film’s highlights is its capturing of 18th-century entertainment, a credit to its production design. The moment where Fujin and Tornado perform a swordfight puppetry duel (with bloody special effects, nonetheless) is a delight. It also proves that death is both punishment and entertainment in this severe Scottish landscape. Later, the film shows another group of traveling artists singing woefully, clad in all black with a rotating cloth of depicted skulls masking their faces. Who could blame these characters being so violently sullen when death is so about? Even Sugarman’s bandits have their own minstrel for their entertainment. 

If there is any criticism to offer of the film, it is the wish that the fight scenes could have been better choreographed and prolonged. No one expects Tim Roth (as a sexagenarian) to fight exhaustively as he once did against Liam Neeson 30 years ago in the vastly underrated Rob Roy (1995; one of the all-time great sword fight scenes in cinema history). But for a film whose plot sets the stage in one sequence for the potential action between the violent bandits versus traveling artists (including a Strong Man and a Knife Thrower), one would hope to see that scene fought out to fruition. Plus, with Tornado’s wonderful costume design, who doesn’t want to see Sugarman’s Man-in-Black Henchman fight his own legendary duel, when his wardrobe indicates his dangerous character? Unfortunately, the fight sequences conclude prematurely, as death comes quickly to those who seek to gain possession of the ill-gotten gold.

The cast’s performances stay purposefully minimalist, matching the sparse environment. There are no over-the-top acting moments, even when Tornado and Little Sugar bemoan their upbringing under their respective fathers’ strict parenting. As the cast’s top-billed actor, Tim Roth is perfectly restrained, his Sugarman murdering with a coolness that suggests his villainy derives from the responsibility his character bears from leading a criminal enterprise. When Sugarman delivers orders to his crew, he mutters rather than barks. As Tornado, Kōki delivers a winning titular performance that should benefit the Japanese model/actress with further significant roles in her acting career. Takehiro Hira’s performance as Fujin is the heart of the film; his character is a master samurai who prefers the peace of performing puppetry as to employing his skills instead as a swordsman. His character would not feel out-of-place in a classic Akira Kurosawa film. Really, it is as if Tornado’s entire cast had watched screenings of Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962) for acting inspiration prior to shooting their own film.

Tornado is a grand film from a talented team of creative artists in John Maclean’s second film. Hopefully, his next feature will not take another decade for its release.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider becoming a patron of Hyperreal Film Journal for as low as $3 a month!