TORNADO (2025) is not a disaster movie, and the title isn’t even (primarily) a metaphor. It’s the name of its protagonist, played by Japanese singer and actress Kōki, (yes, according to the credits there is a comma in her name). It’s set in Scotland in 1790, and she’s the disaffected daughter/assistant to Fujin (Takehiro Hira, HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI, SNAKE EYES), an ex-samurai turned traveling marionette performer.

We’ll find that out later in flashbacks. But for a while we just see her in a wind storm (not tornado), running from a mob of scary thugs led by Sugarman (Tim Roth, THE MUSKETEER), slipping into a mansion and hiding as the goons storm in, pushing the occupants out of the way to search for what they say is a girl about this high and a boy about this high. We don’t have to know who she is or what they want from her to know fuck these guys, and to be thrilled by the well-executed cat-and-mouse sequences involving rotting floorboards.

It was the samurai aspect that got me to rent this on VOD, but it largely feels like a western, and it has a slow burn revenge angle to it. Don’t worry, it’s a 91 minute slow burn, not a torturous one, and it has a real strong mood and atmosphere that made it captivating to me. Director John Maclean (SLOW WEST), cinematographer Robbie Ryan (THE FAVOURITE, MARRIAGE STORY) and production designer Elizabeth El-Kadhi (ONE SHOT) have somehow concocted endlessly pleasing imagery within a grey and barren landscape. And it has a really effective score of menacing percussion, folksy strings and eerie organ by the Australian musician Jed Kurzel, who scored all the movies directed by his brother Justin (THE ORDER) as well as THE BABADOOK, ALIEN: COVENANT, THE NIGHTINGALE, OVERLORD, THE POPE’S EXORCIST and MONKEY MAN. But I wouldn’t underestimate the power of all the quiet scenes where you can hear the wind, so shout out to sound designer Alexej Mungersdorff.

Tornado is able to flee and hide with a small traveling circus – always good to be friends with the strongman (Raphaël Thiéry, POOR THINGS), or at least you’d think it would be helpful. As the backstory unfolds we learn that Sugarman’s gang stopped to watch Fujin and Tornado’s puppet show after a robbery, and a little boy (Nathan Malone) snuck off with their bags of gold. Presumably seeing an opportunity to start a life outside of the traveling puppet show industry she resents so much, Tornado takes the gold from the boy and hides it. A simple plan, you could say.

We also learn that as much as she hated and rolled her eyes at it, Tornado did receive many lessons from her father in samurai sword skills and puppetry, both of which cause us to rub our hands together and wait for her to apply them to some motherfuckers. No, sorry, she doesn’t fight using puppets, but there are philosophies behind the performance about patience and what not. And there are lines she recites in their show that we look forward to hearing her use with more conviction in real life. Their show involves her standing up to an unambiguously evil samurai, and obviously we see the parallel between that character and Sugarman, but I think Tornado also worries about becoming the evil samurai.

The gang are all grizzly dudes of varying sizes and interesting faces. I couldn’t help but find KItten (Rory McCann, CLASH OF THE TITANS, xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE) kinda lovable, even though I’m sure he’s done some horrible shit. The one to be most scared of might be Little Sugar (Jack Lowden, DUNKIRK, CAPONE), Sugarman’s son, who seems very rapey and clearly has his own agenda. I like the scene where Sugarman takes him aside to chastise and slap him and Little Sugar says he’s “not little anymore.”

“You’re always little to me,” Sugarman says. In that little interaction you can see how the son still fears the father, despite towering over him, also that he fucking hates him, that he was beaten as a kid and that this has come out in his behavior now. So much said without saying it.

It’s a movie largely about building, avoiding and anticipating, but there is, of course a pay off, some blood, some violence, used sparingly compared to some the stuff we enjoy around here, but with a certain amount of extravagance. There are some really well executed scuffles and as Tornado embraces her destiny of vengeance she’s shot to look mythic: silhouetted in front of the sun, slashing and stepping through a sheet on a clothesline, rising over a downed opponent with her sword raised. By the maximalist standards of some of the good shit we get in the post THE RAID/JOHN WICK era this almost leans toward what I used to call “Arthouse Badass,” so I would warn that it may not fully embrace pulpiness in the ways some might hope, for example there are a few things that could be considered violations of the audience code (SPOILER: both the strongman and the knife thrower are killed instantly without getting to use their skills). But I think Maclean’s grim tone and high level of filmatistic craft make it a thrilling conclusion even as he subverts certain genre expectations.

Roth is a strong villain in part because he doesn’t go big, can be absolutely insidious holding a long shot where he’s not saying a word, but plays a character who is ultimately very human, has other things on his mind besides winning this battle, is more complex than his puppet counterpart.

TORNADO is probly the best movie nobody’s talking about that I’ve seen this year. It’s a simple story with familiar elements, but it feels fresh because Scottish bandits, samurai and circus people are not an obvious mix. And it’s just an artful piece of cinema: gorgeously shot, effectively staged and constructed, willing to be understated and give us time to breathe and soak things in.

That said, the ending definitely plays like story #1 in a wandering samurai series like ZATOICHI, LONE WOLF AND CUB or LADY SNOWBLOOD, so it left me hoping we’re blessed with a crass, blood-soaked TORNADO RETURNS or TORNADO’S BIG SCORE in a couple years. So please spread the word, we need Tornadomania to make that happen.