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Directed by: Tony Randel Starring: Gary Daniels, Malcolm McDowell, Costas Mandylor, Isako Washio Based off the manga by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara, Fist of the North Star is about the warrior Kenshiro (Daniels) and his roamings across a post-apocalyptic wasteland to find his lost love Julia (Washio). Julia has been captured by Kenshiro's former friend Shin (Mandylor), who studied with Ken under Ken's father (McDowell) in the hopes of learning Hokuto Shinken. Hokuto Shinken, which only Kenshiro can do, allows a person to attack certain pressure points on the human body. This allows Ken to do such things as make a human head explode, paralyze people, and even rejuvenate tired limbs. The original anime series was a campy combination of kung fu movies and Mel Gibson's Road Warrior, but the live-action movie didn't really capture that. I'd even go so far as to say that the same thing that was wrong about the Super Mario Bros. movie applies to Fist of the North Star. They took a cartoonish concept and went completely over the top, making it into a mediocre sci-fi movie without capturing any of the what made the original concept so good in the first place. Probably the worst thing about this movie are the special effects and settings. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something.... confining about all the settings, as if everything-- even the outdoor scenes-- are shot inside a cramped room. Kenshiro's Hokuto Shinken techniques did not translate well to live-action either. Instead of punching a zillion times going 'ATATATATA', the live-action version has Daniels feebly punching a guy a couple times in what has to be the most pathetic piece of kung fu I have ever seen in a movie. I've seen flat cans of Coke with more punch than Daniels. The acting is pretty awful as well, but I don't blame the actors a whole lot for that since Fist of the North Star is kind of hard to take seriously when you are acting it out. In conclusion, Fist of the North Star the movie is the poster boy for failed anime-to-american-live-action films. Either avoid it or prepared to be disappointed. RATING: 0.5 PROS: Well, the original comic was really good. CONS: Bad acting, bad effects, bad storyline, bad fighting, and Clint Howard. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0113074/ HobbitGrease fucked around with this message at 14:25 on May 4, 2004 |
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May 4, 2004 14:22
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Despite the fact that this movie has Rufio, Downtown Julie Brown, THE MAN THEY CALL Vader, and Tony "Ludvig Borga" Halme, it is really bad. Still, it's bad in a "gather around with a bunch of friends to watch American Ninja 3" way, so I have to give it credit for at least that. 1.5/5
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May 4, 2004 14:26
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