It’s more that the specific combination of jidaigeki period piece, highland character study, and frontier justice that’s new, making Tornado a harrowing, blustery, violent amalgamation of an idiosyncratic spirit.
Read full articleYour enjoyment of “Tornado” depends on how much you want to root for thinly drawn characters who don’t look strong enough to carry an entire movie.
Read full articleIn the title role, the singer-songwriter Koki is both charming and indomitable.
Read full articleTornado is at its most bracing when it blows like a chill moorland wind, low and constant.
Read full articleVisually, Tornado grips hard, and its climactic confrontations deliver adrenaline in spades, a clear homage to Akira Kurosawa’s signature blood geysers again and again. Still, in no way does this climax feel earned.
Read full articleTornado’s winking theatricality, thematic fixations with myth and avarice, and pared-down plotting add up to a heady concoction, but it’s more conducive to reflection than engagement.
Read full articleThe opportunities to create another great western are here, but they only somewhat arrive where they need to in execution.
Read full articleFeels like a Quentin Tarantino-genre-mash-up-movie but one where Tarantino forgets to write the script.
Read full articleGood visuals can’t offset an uninspired plot and unknown characters… which is what Tornado hopes to do… distract us with pretty imagery in hopes we’ll not pay attention to the lack of anything else of substance within the movie.
Read full articleWhile the storytelling is somewhat elusive, it forces us to lean into each scene to understand the sharp-edged feelings and offbeat connections.
Read full article