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Blind Fury (1989)
Director: Philip Noyce
The stale late 1980's, just in time for M.C. Hammer and C+C Music Factory. The movies were often suffering from a lack of identity, with experimental synth scores being replaced with honky tonk blues music all done on keyboards. The mood changed and there was a lot of new design, not necessarily good design, either. Blind Fury isn't much of an exception.
Rutger Hauer I feel, has not been properly used since 1985. Maybe it's his own fault, or maybe he just couldn't find the right material or management. Whatever the reason(s), he seems at home in this slice em' up remake of Zatoichi Challenge (which I haven't seen) as a sightless Vietnam veteran who's back years later to look up an old friend. He soon finds himself knee deep in trouble when he must protect his old military friend's little boy, and also rescue his buddy from the clutches of a drug empire out in Vegas.
Due to his lack of vision (Rutger, that is - not the director Noyce, who I'll make fun of later on), he's been blessed with honed powers of hearing which allow him to act as a human cuisinart whenever a piece of fruit is thrown in his direction. He can also memorize dial tones for easy sneaky into penthouse elevators.
Rutger plays everything loose and light, but still maintains his usual otherworldly space cadet demeanor, which is always a thrill to see. I think Hauer's best work is when he's just being himself, and here - he seems to be comfortable and having some fun. This is a funny movie, but it's not side splitting. Somewhere along the line, we the audience are forced to endure a fairly cliche ridden presntation and series of other scoogity boogities that have been done to death. The only defense for this is that maybe back in 1989 these types of things were still fresh enough to play out. They must have been. There is good news, though. Sho Kosugi makes an appearance. Someone asks for Bruce Lee's brother and they get him in there. In fact, when we first see him there's a gong sound played as part of the score. Nice touch. Damn racist filmmakers!
Terry O'Quinn (The Stepfather, Lost) plays his old military friend. Terry barely gets any screen time, but when he does you can see his acting chops almost start to swell up, just by the expression on his face. In fact, there's a scene close to the end of the film when he is on a ski lift cart, and the camera actually dedicates a semi-circle dolly shot-just for him, as he stares off into space with his sea breeze eyes, reacting to Hauer's forgiveness monologue. Philip Noyce at least knew enough to recognize talent when he saw it, even if he didn't have room for Terry to shine in this picture. I have to actually hand it to director Noyce (I have no real reason to make fun of him), he handles things well enough for a b-actioner. The editing is fine. Scenes sprawl out, wrap up and segue richly enough to make looking at the picture simple and unoffensive. The action is semi quality, though in some scenes I think Hauer comes off a bit light on his feet when he maybe could have put a bit more shoulder into his movements. But I forgive easy.
Blind Fury isn't a bad, bad movie. It's not very good, but it's also not a film made to be seen as a small masterpiece, either. This is strictly late night fun stuff. Just about everything on display is ridiculous, highly far fetched, unlikely, and damn silly. But that's fine. That's what was written down and shot, and that's what we get. High camp movie. I dug it every time I've seen it. To me that's an indicator that it's a decent enough film, the re-watchability factor.
Blind Fury (1989)
Director: Philip Noyce
The stale late 1980's, just in time for M.C. Hammer and C+C Music Factory. The movies were often suffering from a lack of identity, with experimental synth scores being replaced with honky tonk blues music all done on keyboards. The mood changed and there was a lot of new design, not necessarily good design, either. Blind Fury isn't much of an exception.
Rutger Hauer I feel, has not been properly used since 1985. Maybe it's his own fault, or maybe he just couldn't find the right material or management. Whatever the reason(s), he seems at home in this slice em' up remake of Zatoichi Challenge (which I haven't seen) as a sightless Vietnam veteran who's back years later to look up an old friend. He soon finds himself knee deep in trouble when he must protect his old military friend's little boy, and also rescue his buddy from the clutches of a drug empire out in Vegas.
Due to his lack of vision (Rutger, that is - not the director Noyce, who I'll make fun of later on), he's been blessed with honed powers of hearing which allow him to act as a human cuisinart whenever a piece of fruit is thrown in his direction. He can also memorize dial tones for easy sneaky into penthouse elevators.
Rutger plays everything loose and light, but still maintains his usual otherworldly space cadet demeanor, which is always a thrill to see. I think Hauer's best work is when he's just being himself, and here - he seems to be comfortable and having some fun. This is a funny movie, but it's not side splitting. Somewhere along the line, we the audience are forced to endure a fairly cliche ridden presntation and series of other scoogity boogities that have been done to death. The only defense for this is that maybe back in 1989 these types of things were still fresh enough to play out. They must have been. There is good news, though. Sho Kosugi makes an appearance. Someone asks for Bruce Lee's brother and they get him in there. In fact, when we first see him there's a gong sound played as part of the score. Nice touch. Damn racist filmmakers!
Terry O'Quinn (The Stepfather, Lost) plays his old military friend. Terry barely gets any screen time, but when he does you can see his acting chops almost start to swell up, just by the expression on his face. In fact, there's a scene close to the end of the film when he is on a ski lift cart, and the camera actually dedicates a semi-circle dolly shot-just for him, as he stares off into space with his sea breeze eyes, reacting to Hauer's forgiveness monologue. Philip Noyce at least knew enough to recognize talent when he saw it, even if he didn't have room for Terry to shine in this picture. I have to actually hand it to director Noyce (I have no real reason to make fun of him), he handles things well enough for a b-actioner. The editing is fine. Scenes sprawl out, wrap up and segue richly enough to make looking at the picture simple and unoffensive. The action is semi quality, though in some scenes I think Hauer comes off a bit light on his feet when he maybe could have put a bit more shoulder into his movements. But I forgive easy.
Blind Fury isn't a bad, bad movie. It's not very good, but it's also not a film made to be seen as a small masterpiece, either. This is strictly late night fun stuff. Just about everything on display is ridiculous, highly far fetched, unlikely, and damn silly. But that's fine. That's what was written down and shot, and that's what we get. High camp movie. I dug it every time I've seen it. To me that's an indicator that it's a decent enough film, the re-watchability factor.
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