And now for something completely different.

If IFC is interested in using a pull quote from me, let’s kick this review off with instant adoration. tornado is staggering in its refusal to convention, relishing in homage to masterworks of decades ago, while blending it with a fusion of fury and vengeance that propels this underrated gem to be one of the best films of 2025.

I haven’t been this excited in a while. This film does have audio description by Audio Eyes, narrated by Nicole Cyrille, and it stars Tim Roth, Jack Lowden, Koki as the titular Tornado. this has nothing to do with actual Tornadoes, and instead is a brilliant samurai western Kurosawa would have loved, mixed with some modern sensibilities and technical proficiency. Director John McClaine, is following up after many years to his Sundance hit Slow West. It has been a decade since mcClaine has gotten a feature to screen, and it is well worth the unfortunate wait.

Roth is the head of a gang of what I call Land Pirates, since this doesn’t take place at sea, and they are searching for gold. The movie opens without a ton of explanation and exposition, and the audience just picks up on the idea that Roth and his crew are looking for this girl who knows where the gold is. what starts as a game of cat and mouse, evolves eventually into a tale of vengeance, at the audacity that these men are looking for something that isn’t theirs, and was stolen. When Tornado gets ahold of a sword, the mouse becomes the cat, even if the other party is blissfully unaware. And if this movie wasn’t already nailing every element, it has this element of puppetry, and a tale (and some backstory) done through puppets, as well as the best score of the year.

This film knows it is stylish, and John McLaine is making a bid to have that auteur status. He’s made a good old fashioned Akira Kurosawa film set in the 1790’s, where the main villain is named Sugar Man, and he’s after the gold of a traveling puppet show. It is a throwback, and seems balanced not just in this east versus west mentality, but in a tradition vs progress set. This is right at the time when a good old fashioned sword fight is becoming strategically irrelevant as your opponents gain more firearms. yet, tornado chooses tradition, she pushes back against the manifest destiny ideology that sugar Man clearly represents as he takes what he wants. What makes the film even more layered, and that below the surface, Tornado actually is looking for modernization, and westernization at first. her mother was British, and she rejects the Japanese part of her, seemingly also leaving the way of the samurai as a lost art that her father tried to instill upon her behind. Like so many immigrant stories, the desire to normalize and fit in is woven through the backstory of Tornado, but ultimately isn’t her destiny. Life is sometimes thrust upon you, and when Sugar Man comes to collect, be ready to pay, or payback.

This 90 minute film fits so much into its runtime, while also focusing on one day in tornado’s life. It is amazing what a gifted director can do with a short runtime when they spend ten years marinating on the perfect representation of their ideas. I wish this film was getting more attention, and not buried this summer.

the audio description is necessary, as this does not rely on dialogue to push the scenes forward, and Nicole has to capture both the terror and the violence balanced in this film.

tornado is easily one of the most exciting films this year, and has a real shot at making my top 10 list at the end.

Fresh: Final Grade: 8.9/10, Audio Description: A