Tornado begins in the middle then twists back around on itself. “Tornado” is also the name of the young heroine, fleeing for her life across the Scottish Highlands from a crew of bloodthirsty brigands led by Tim Roth and Jack Lowden.
Once a member of The Beta Band, John Maclean turned director with the Michael Fassbender western Slow West ten years ago. His second feature could also have been a western, given its 1790s period setting and spare, elemental chase story, though it’s anything but slow. Add in that Tornado is a featured player with a traveling circus, in which she and her father (Shōgun star Takehiro Hira) have a puppet-samurai act. It all makes for a heady brew, and the movie doesn’t let up for 91 swift and swirling minutes.
Provides exhilarating samurai action while asking existential questions about the elemental forces that dispassionately shape, and can destroy us.
Leigh Singer, Sight & Sound
John Maclean
Tim Roth, Kôki, Takehiro Hira, Jack Lowden, Rory McCann, Joanne Whalley
UK
2025
English
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Credits
Producer
Leonora Darby, James Harris, Mark Lane
Screenwriter
John Maclean
Cinematography
Robbie Ryan
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