THE STORY – A Japanese puppeteer’s daughter gets caught up with criminals when their show crosses paths with a crime gang, led by Sugarman and his son Little Sugar.
THE CAST – Kōki, Tim Roth, Jack Lowden, Takehiro Hira, Rory McCann & Nathan Malone
THE TEAM – John Maclean (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 91 Minutes
John Maclean’s sophomore feature, “Tornado,” immediately thrusts viewers into the British Isles of the 1790s as audiences are treated to the view of a gorgeously captured hellscape. It’s a view that is quickly tarnished as a young girl fearfully runs into the frame. We see her being hunted by a group of people whose motive is unknown to us. It isn’t long until we see our titular character, the young “Tornado” (played by Kôki), involved in a cat-and-mouse game with a group of roughneck criminals desperate to reclaim something of value, something that they are willing to do anything for. Maclean wastes no time attempting to build tension out of nothing as audiences are left putting their questions aside as the film’s suspense takes priority. All of this is eventually undercut in an attempt to fill in the pieces so audiences can have an understanding of the story.
Of course, Maclean takes us back to the start of it all, placing us in the life of Tornado. She travels the countryside with her father, Fujin, played by Takehiro Hira, a puppeteer who puts on a show about the life of a fabled Samurai. When the father and daughter duo aren’t scrapping up a few pennies entertaining people, they’re training in the ways of the blade. Fujin intently wants to leave his daughter with a passing of tradition in a manner that will also help her form discipline and understanding of the world they find themselves in. Maclean’s intentionality with the film’s deliberate pacing attempts to build room for this dynamic to have any sense of importance. It also helps that the brief moments where Hira appears in “Tornado” are honestly some of the more emotionally stirring beats in the film. Hira’s dependability as a performer never wavers here, as his presence is felt long past the moments he is on screen.
“Tornado” on the surface isn’t anything new, as Maclean’s second feature is a low-stakes revenge thriller that isn’t striving to upend the shackles of genre conventions. In fact, Maclean embraces convention, gradually building up its story, even if the film might come off to many as a bit too languid. Shades of Sergio Leone and Akira Kurosawa’s work feel present in “Tornado,” mainly in the film’s blood-scattering finale, which is satisfying even if it feels a bit too late. Yet “Slow West,” Maclean’s previous feature, worked far more efficiently as a small-scale exercise in genre filmmaking. In the decade since “Slow West,” Maclean has only doubled down on his best and worst aspects as a filmmaker this time around. What supports his vision is the benefit of having a troupe of reliable actors who can populate this world and breathe some life into it. It’s a shame that every character is underwritten to the point where even the film’s few stars are underutilized.
This issue mainly pertains to the film’s antagonists. Tim Roth plays the film’s heavy Sugarman, the leader of the pack of money-hungry gang members. Roth tries to give more depth than there is to this character and has one scene where he gets to strut his stuff a little, but like most things in “Tornado,” it isn’t implemented until the very end. Sugarman is at his most intriguing when he’s butting heads with his disgruntled son, Little Sugar, a lieutenant in this gang of criminals. Jack Lowden, who plays Little Sugar, is ambitious and desperate to make a play of his own. Every action he does is purely out of self-preservation. Lowden is convincingly able to pull off this level of desperation, clearly masking the wounded puppy-like nature of his character, especially within his place in this crew of misfits. It’s refreshing to see Lowden in this role, as my view of his work is currently so heavily molded by the impressive work he’s done in the past four seasons on “Slow Horses.” It’s a nice change of pace for the actor, even if his character’s arc doesn’t feel fully realized, coming to a predictable conclusion.
If anything, “Tornado” works so efficiently due to the strengths of Kôki as a performer. Kôki perfectly balances the strength and devastation a young woman like Tornado would be in after her selfish decision puts this costly series of events into motion. Maclean’s tendency for the understated plays perfectly into what Kôki brings to the character. She’s maybe the only performer besides Hira who can get the most out of the material given to her. It’s a shame everything else about “Tornado” doesn’t live up to the quality of those two performances.
“Tornado,” deep down, is an examination of how fathers mold the lives of their children, and while that sentimentality is felt, it’s buried in an unhurried feature that doesn’t reach all of the highs it sets its sights on. If anything, “Tornado” only solidifies Maclean’s style as a filmmaker who surely has a great film somewhere in his back pocket. Unfortunately, this isn’t it.
