Directed and written by John Maclean, Tornado is a revenge Western set in the late 18th-century British Isles. The film has an epic quality, with stunning visuals and a captivating background score to keep the rather simplistic storyline engaging. Fujin and his daughter, Tornado, were itinerant performers. They had a makeshift caravan to their name, and puppets to entertain their audience. Fujin was a samurai, and even though the film does not delve into his backstory, you get the idea that he’d led a rough life, and he chose the nomadic lifestyle to distance himself from violence. Tornado found it strange that they never ventured beyond their usual means of income, but her father insisted on continuing to live modestly. One day, when Tornado came across bags of gold, she thought this was her chance to drastically improve her life, but she was too young to consider the complications it could result in.
Spoiler Alert
Why Was Fujin Killed?
Fujin’s puppet show was centered around his daughter, Tornado. In his story, she was a brave samurai who fought off her enemies with her sharp katana. The father and daughter would even perform a short sword fight that always left their audience captivated. They performed their show as usual, only this time there was a gang of rowdy misfits led by a man named Sugarman in the audience. They were so absorbed in watching the puppet show that they didn’t realize a young boy had stolen their recent loot. Tornado had spotted the boy dragging two sacks of gold into the woods. There was no way he could make it by himself, so Tornado decided to use the situation to her advantage. She grabbed hold of the sacks and the boy and hid them at the bottom of her caravan. By the time Sugarman and his gang realized that the gold was gone, Fujin and Tornado had already left the area. The only person who was a witness to the robbery was Sugarman’s son, Little Sugar, but he chose to remain a spectator. He had a lot to prove to his father, and he didn’t intend on helping him and his gang figure out the mystery.
After searching the spot, the gang decided to follow Fujin and Tornado. As luck would have it, a fallen tree had blocked their path, and Fujin announced that they would have to turn around. Tornado tried to convince her father to go around the blockage, but he didn’t listen. She couldn’t explain to him the mess she had put them in, so without causing any further delay, she tucked the sacks away in a shallow pit in the woods before the gang approached them. Tornado had pushed the young boy off her cart when they had entered the woods. She handed him a gold coin for all his efforts. Sugarman found the boy on the way, and upon seeing the gold coin he was carrying, the gang was convinced that he knew where the sacks were. The boy pointed at Tornado, stating that she was the one who stole the gold. Sugarman instructed his men to thoroughly check the caravan, and when they couldn’t find the gold, his eyes were fixed on Fujin.
Fujin dropped his katana on the ground and begged the gang leader to spare him; after all, he didn’t wish for the interaction to turn violent. But Sugarman refused to let them go. He had to teach Tornado a lesson, and killing her father was the only way he knew how. He had one of his men shoot an arrow at Fujin, but before he collapsed on the ground, the samurai grabbed his katana and slashed a deep wound across Sugarman’s body. Fujin had asked Tornado to look away once he realized he would not be spared. When her father’s body hit the ground, Tornado ran for her life.
Why did Sugarman kill Little Sugar?
Tornado struggled to understand why her father was satisfied with the very little they had. She found his lessons on patience boring, and she craved some action in her life. She was too young to comprehend the repercussions of stealing bags of gold coins. She knew it was dangerous, but she also lived for the thrill. While her father often discussed the evils of the world, she didn’t realize how bad it could get. After Fujin was killed, Tornado had two options—either fight or flight—and she chose the latter. She perhaps thought it was impossible for her to take down an entire gang, and she was hopeful that they would eventually give up the chase. But that never happened.
Sugarman and his gang were relentless, and they refused to give up. Tornado ended up at a manor house, and when she heard the gangsters leave, she felt a sense of relief. But as luck would have it, Little Sugar found her. But instead of telling his father about it, he chose to keep it a secret. He instructed Tornado to stay where she was while he tried to distract his father and convince him to continue the search. By the time he returned to the house, Tornado was gone. She kept on running and only stopped when she came across a group of traveling performers. She knew them, and since they adored her father, they agreed to help hide her. Sugarman found his way to the traveling circus. The little boy who ended up entangled in the chaos chose to side with Tornado. He knew the risks, but he chose to be courageous and informed Tornado of the threat waiting for her outside.
Sugarman’s archer shot an arrow at the man who’d allowed Tornado to hide in his caravan. They finally got hold of Tornado, and she revealed that she’d hidden the sacks of gold in a hole in the forest, and Sugarman asked the little boy to guide him there. Sugarman didn’t realize that the performer they’d shot was still breathing, and when he instructed his men to kill Tornado, he attacked Sugarman, giving Tornado enough time to escape. The little boy went along with her. To punish the performers, Sugarman burned down the place. And they had to put up with the menace without any protest. The archer shot the little boy in his leg, and he was dragged back to the camp. They didn’t need Tornado anymore, since the little boy knew where the gold was. Tornado was devastated when she saw the caravans on fire, because deep down she knew it was because of her that they had had to suffer.
Just when Tornado thought she’d escaped the threat, Little Sugar grabbed hold of her and held a knife to her neck. He wanted her to take him to the gold, perhaps because he suspected that she’d lied and the only way to actually get to the gold was by holding her captive. He slipped and fell but held on to Tornado, determined to find the gold before his father did. Little Sugar was surprised when he saw his father approach him with his gang. Sugarman asked him about Kitten, one of his gang members he’d sent to accompany Little Sugar during their initial search for Tornado. Little Sugar had killed Kitten because he didn’t want anyone else to know that he was a step ahead of his father. Sugarman was heartbroken. The one lesson he’d hoped his son would learn from him was to look after the welfare of the entire gang. He failed to see Little Sugar’s desperation to prove himself to him. He wanted to establish that he was a capable leader and that he was smarter than his father, but even after everything, his father saw him as a complete failure. When Little Sugar attempted to attack his father, Sugarman stabbed him with his sword. During the heated exchange, Tornado once again made a run for her life. Killing his son was not the easiest decision, but it was necessary. He couldn’t have his own son plot against him, and since in his line of work, killing was the only way to ensure that never happened, he did what he had to.
What happened to the bags of gold?
Tornado went back to the spot where she’d hidden the gold, but she was a little startled when she saw that the sacks were missing. She figured Sugarman’s men got to the spot before she did. She was heartbroken to see her father’s lifeless body lying there. She plucked out the arrow from his body in an attempt to make his heavenly journey a little less painful. Tornado stumbled upon the little boy in the forest, and she brought him to her caravan. She covered him with blankets; she could sense he was cold. He was alive, but his condition was critical. When Tornado mentioned that the madness was over and they could finally rest, the little boy informed her that the gang didn’t find the gold. Tornado was surprised, but she soon figured her father must have moved the sacks before Sugarman and his men approached them. She realized that when her father threw her sword on the roof of the caravan, he had indirectly asked her to search for the sacks by looking up. Her guess was right. He’d tied the sack to a tree. She climbed the tree and cut the ropes tying the sacks to the branch. By the time she returned to the caravan, the little boy had passed away. The deaths got to Tornado—she couldn’t take it anymore. Yes, she’d made the mistake of stealing bags of gold, but did everyone around her deserve to die for one mistake made by a teenager? Tornado regretted touching the sacks of gold, and she started to think it was cursed. Were the sacks of gold coins worth the lives of the people she loved? If she could go back in time, she would’ve never stolen the gold. She didn’t know the lengths men could go to to satisfy their greed, and by the time she’d learned her lesson, she had lost everything that once mattered to her. Tornado had nothing to lose, making her an unstoppable force driven by only one emotion—vengeance. She had realized that the only way to stop the madness was by facing it. She refused to run anymore, and she wanted her father’s killers to regret the choices they made. She buried her father’s dead body, along with the little boy’s. Tornado grabbed her katana, a fire in her eyes, ready to face whatever threat dared to challenge her. She scattered a few gold coins in front of the caravan; she wanted them to get on their knees and grab whatever little she was kind enough to leave them— showing them their place. She got on a boat with the two sacks of gold and threw them into the lake. She knew that the chase would never end as long as the gold remained. Greed was man’s biggest curse, and she had learned to never indulge in it. She kept a few coins for herself, knowing she would need them to stay afloat.
How did the incident transform Tornado’s life?
Sugarman warned his men not to touch the few gold coins Tornado had left for them; he knew it was a direct insult, and he was all the more determined to kill her. He burned down Fujin’s caravan and instructed his men to find the girl. Tornado had been waiting for them, and she started to take them down— one by one. While one of the men had a gun, her razor-sharp katana was enough to destroy him.
In Tornado’s ending, when the titular character finally found Sugarman resting under a tree, he was already on his deathbed. Remember Fujin attacking Sugarman at the very beginning of the film? Well, even though it took some time, the cut had left Sugarman drained, and he had lost a lot of blood. On his deathbed, Sugarman regretted not getting to know his son better. Deep down, he knew he was responsible for making his son feel inadequate, and perhaps he wished he could’ve been a better father to him. And maybe he also regretted bringing his son into his cruel, evil world, where backstabbing was the only way to move forward. Sugarman passed away in the forest; greed not only killed him, but also his son and his gang members. Considering the damage they brought wherever they went, Sugarman knew that one day he would die an unceremonious death, but that didn’t make him reflect on his actions. He enjoyed the power he found in being evil and bringing destruction.
Before Tornado left the forest, she paid her respects to her father and placed his katana on his grave. Tornado didn’t know where to go and what to do. She started walking with the traveling performers, but she quickly realized that she was not meant to be a part of any group. Her only family, her father, was gone, and the path ahead was lonely, but she had to figure it out on her own. She had to find out who she was beyond being a samurai, and the vengeance that brought her so far. She had to discover who Tornado was, and the only way she could do so was all alone. Tornado was no longer afraid; she knew she was strong enough to take down anyone who would dare cross paths with her. Tornado, almost like a mythical figure, became one with the landscape. You can almost envision the tale of Tornado’s heroism inspiring young girls, afraid of the evil around them, to be brave and fight back. Someday one might wonder if she was ever real, and well, that would forever be a mystery.
