The British Isles, in the 1790’s. A young Japanese woman named Tornado (Koki) is being stalked by a ruthless gang led by Sugarman (Tim Roth) and his son, Little Sugar (Jack Lowden). Can she outwit them and survive?

Tornado is a western set in Britain just prior to the Industrial Revolution. Tornado and her father Fujin (Takehiro Hira) are puppeteers who travel town to town attempting to make a living with stories of Japanese warriors fighting with samurai swords. They travel with other performers in their horse drawn wagons in a mostly lawless frontier. Sugarman and his gang are the most notorious outlaws in the land and they believe that Tornado has something to do with their missing gold from their latest job. Which means that they will stop at nothing to track her down and find her. 

The result is a tense and enthralling western where the villains relentlessly pursue their quarry. 

The outlaws themselves have an interesting status quo where Little Sugar and Sugarman appear to be constantly vying for dominance within the group. This father/son rivalry creates a fascinating tension in their pursuit of Tornado and of course creates more problems than they already have. 

The parent/child dynamic is also represented with Tornado and Fujin as she fights to assert her independence as well. The end results of both children looking to assert their own independence is remarkably similar despite their vastly different backgrounds and circumstances. 

The lead acting trio do a fantastic job making us invested in the outcome. Jack Lowden makes his character seem so downtrodden that I almost found myself rooting for his nefarious plans, whilst Roth is just genuinely despicable as a hideous gang leader with little interest in anything but himself. Koki also proves herself to be a renaissance woman given her other professions are model and songwriter. 

The film’s major let down is how it ends its short ninety minute runtime. A great example of the journey being more interesting than the destination and perhaps showing that action sequences are not the creator’s forte. 

Writer/Director John Maclean clearly loves his westerns with his only previous feature film being the also quite good Slow West. Both films being well worth a watch for fans of the genre but not quite reaching greatness.