Ukigumo
後輩
- 15 Mar 2025
- 1,382
- 2,684
I've desperately been trying to find somewhere that was showing this film in my area and it wasn't easy. Eventually it turned up in a small art cinema on the beautiful Dartington Estate.
Tornado is essentially a revenge Western but set in bleak winter British moorland and forests; it could be Scotland or the North Yorkshire moors but the upshot is a grey, windy bleak backdrop to the whole film so watch it with a hot chocolate and a warm blanket. The slow set up was a little ponderous and I felt their were a couple of threads that were foolishly abandoned during the writing/filming (girl in the mansion/giving money for the act and little sugars back story), the acting from Kōki was suitably minimal and Takehiro Hira was merely a device upon which the revenge narrative was hung. The final revenge scenes were profunctory and indeed lacklustre to say the least and fans of Japanese swordplay will be disappointed by the finalé. I have to add, the overuse of foley performers was very distracting, with hyper-zingy sword drawing and resheathing (from wooden scabbards) and at one point a small handheld knife was secreted into a pocket with an inappropriate 'ZINNNNG'! When will they learn?
Tim Roth gave an excellent performance and it was nice to see Rory McCann (GoT's 'The Hound') in action again.
Rating 6/10
Tornado is essentially a revenge Western but set in bleak winter British moorland and forests; it could be Scotland or the North Yorkshire moors but the upshot is a grey, windy bleak backdrop to the whole film so watch it with a hot chocolate and a warm blanket. The slow set up was a little ponderous and I felt their were a couple of threads that were foolishly abandoned during the writing/filming (girl in the mansion/giving money for the act and little sugars back story), the acting from Kōki was suitably minimal and Takehiro Hira was merely a device upon which the revenge narrative was hung. The final revenge scenes were profunctory and indeed lacklustre to say the least and fans of Japanese swordplay will be disappointed by the finalé. I have to add, the overuse of foley performers was very distracting, with hyper-zingy sword drawing and resheathing (from wooden scabbards) and at one point a small handheld knife was secreted into a pocket with an inappropriate 'ZINNNNG'! When will they learn?
Tim Roth gave an excellent performance and it was nice to see Rory McCann (GoT's 'The Hound') in action again.
Rating 6/10
