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I don't know why, but there's something so profoundly satisfying when you stumble upon a film you know nothing about, and it still manages to surprise you. That's exactly what happened to me when I was looking for something short to watch and found an article that listed a bunch of short films. I chose this one because it fit my criteria ("title that starts with K or L"), barely read what it was about, and just hit PLAY, and what a crazy surprise it was.
If you haven't seen Kung Fury, but most importantly, if you don't know anything about Kung Fury, my advice is to read no further and just look for it. It's only 30 minutes long, and if you have a sense of humor, you'll probably thank me later. For those that choose to read anyway, the film follows the titular character (David Sandberg), a Miami detective with kung fu superpowers that has to stop Adolf Hitler, a.k.a. "Kung Fuhrer", from taking over the world with his army.
If that premise sounds crazy, brace yourself cause that's not even half of it. The film includes a half-man, half-Triceratops cop called *wait for it* Triceracop, an arcade machine robot gone crazy, the norse god Thor, and David Hasselhoff. The film plays on a ton of tropes from 80's action and cop films, while pushing the very limits of absurdity, which you can kinda see in the above quote. The thing is that it does so in a way that's hilarious and earnest at the same time. I think I spent most of the 30 minute runtime laughing at *something*.
The film does feel like its straining a bit to keep the schtick during the last minutes, but I'd say it succeeded. When I finished watching this short film, I felt like I had watched the "best film in the world", which obviously it isn't... but when you see a detective/kung fu master beating Adolf Hitler's ass, while a giant Thor watches, then maybe that's the closest you can get to it.
Grade:
KUNG FURY
(2015, Sandberg)
A film that starts with the letters K or L
(2015, Sandberg)
A film that starts with the letters K or L
"Before I could pull the trigger, I was hit by lightning and bitten by a cobra. I blacked out, and saw images of ancient Shaolin temples and monks mastering the art of kung-fu. There was an ancient prophecy about a new form of kung-fu so powerful, only one man can master it: The Chosen One. When I woke up, I saw the kung-fu master running towards me. I could feel my body mutate, into some sort of kung-fu freak of nature."
I don't know why, but there's something so profoundly satisfying when you stumble upon a film you know nothing about, and it still manages to surprise you. That's exactly what happened to me when I was looking for something short to watch and found an article that listed a bunch of short films. I chose this one because it fit my criteria ("title that starts with K or L"), barely read what it was about, and just hit PLAY, and what a crazy surprise it was.
If you haven't seen Kung Fury, but most importantly, if you don't know anything about Kung Fury, my advice is to read no further and just look for it. It's only 30 minutes long, and if you have a sense of humor, you'll probably thank me later. For those that choose to read anyway, the film follows the titular character (David Sandberg), a Miami detective with kung fu superpowers that has to stop Adolf Hitler, a.k.a. "Kung Fuhrer", from taking over the world with his army.
If that premise sounds crazy, brace yourself cause that's not even half of it. The film includes a half-man, half-Triceratops cop called *wait for it* Triceracop, an arcade machine robot gone crazy, the norse god Thor, and David Hasselhoff. The film plays on a ton of tropes from 80's action and cop films, while pushing the very limits of absurdity, which you can kinda see in the above quote. The thing is that it does so in a way that's hilarious and earnest at the same time. I think I spent most of the 30 minute runtime laughing at *something*.
The film does feel like its straining a bit to keep the schtick during the last minutes, but I'd say it succeeded. When I finished watching this short film, I felt like I had watched the "best film in the world", which obviously it isn't... but when you see a detective/kung fu master beating Adolf Hitler's ass, while a giant Thor watches, then maybe that's the closest you can get to it.
Grade: