Tornado Rider Rhodes

The legend begins in the cornfields of Indiana 1908, a tornado rips through a small town and carries off an infant child. The child is discovered two days later unscathed in a field, adopted by the entire community and re-christen Tornado Rider Rhodes. The story then catapults to the skies over Mainland China circa 1938 where war with the Japanese brews and we find Tornado Rider Rhodes piloting a cargo plane along with her trusty sidekick and co-pilot Whiskey Callahan as their flight is interrupted by stowaway Japanese soldiers bent on hijacking the plane and diverting a weapons shipment. Soldiers subdued, the cargo and now prisoners are re-routed to some friends at the gateway to Tibet. It is here that Rhodes reconnects with a spiritual master and learns of her destiny to battle evil and save the world using mysterious superpowers. The only problem, she has no idea what they are or how to summon them since she never studied while she was at the monastery. On the heels of this, Rhodes finds that an ex-boyfriend complicates the situation when he inadvertently makes Rhodes’ hometown the focus of attention for some nefarious individuals which propels her into an action-packed adventure involving an heirloom samurai sword and a newly unearthed flying saucer as Rhodes and crew are chased out of China by ninjas and into Canada with stops in San Francisco and Nevada while trying to deliver a human cargo who holds the key to unlocking an ancient mystery. Many adventures unfurl along the journey as they fight and fly their way to their destination and delivery of the package. Once in Canada, they come across menacing adversaries and a Nazi plot to win World War II before it starts by effectively locking the US out of any impending conflict. Yet all of that is secondary when it comes to protecting her hometown and, by virtue of, her extended family as she tries to activate her "Chosen One" powers while being needled for not having superpowers by her ever-present sidekick, Whiskey Callahan. A multitude of obstacles lie in their path and are overcome in spectacular cinematic set pieces that interweave organically throughout the narrative as our reluctant hero, Rhodes, does whatever it takes to attain her goal of retrieving a sword misappropriated in transit because destiny be damned, she’s got a shipping manifest to rectify, not to mention, a town to save and, if at all possible, powers to harness. After all, even with all the buckle swashing, this is ultimately a story about delivery personnel, a girl with deep roots who learns that being an orphan doesn't mean you don't have family, and a hometown worth fighting to save. The tenor creates a synergy between serious action and witty situational dialogue delivered through infectious banter which creates effortless humor against daredevil exploits in this highly polished character driven tale that deftly employs subversion and reinvention of tropes and clichés to keep the story fresh and contemporary without corrupting its period sensibility and all the while deconstructing the dogma of the institutionalized motion picture hero myth.