El puño de la estrella del norte

I thought this film was pretty good. Although, I do agree that the anime is better. I think the actors really did well for their parts. It's a lot different though from the anime. I recommend picking it up when you've got the chance. Watch it at night, it sets the mood better.

Satisfying only in an uncut video version, this outlandish martial arts costume piece relies strictly on lots of spraying blood, loud screaming and tensed muscles to makes it's inevitable point. Gary Daniels' sleek physique makes the best impression, along with Chris Penn's exploding head.

I cant even bring myself to write much about this gem but to say it was just awful. Easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen. There was a point while watching that I thought 'is this a joke? are they making fun?' but I concluded that this was no joke. The acting was as bad as the writing and the effects were just terrible. The lead character who could not act to save his life had what were supposed to be scars, they looked like condoms stuck to his body, some of which seemed to be peeling off!! How much did Malcolm McDowell need a paycheck to show up even for the 3 minutes he was on screen? Or Chris Penn who was probably the only half way believable character, even in the outlandish costume he was forced to wear? This film is a complete mess so I would say, unless you want to watch one of the worse movies ever made...avoid this one.

In the future the world has become a waste land after the apocalypse. The populated territory is now under the rule of the martial arts clan of the Southern Cross, led by Lord Shin. When the Master of the North Star is murdered the baton is passed and the new master has very personal issues with Shin. When he passes through a small terrorised village he comes to their aid and sets up a confrontation with Shin.

Even though I had read bad reviews about this film, I still had reasonable hopes for it, using the logic that I was prepared for a dumb martial arts movie. However some bothered me about the film was that it didn't seem to live up to the potential that the story had. The film should have been a more majestic story about mysterious clans doing battle in the future, but instead it felt very small and restricted. The story doesn't seem to go anywhere and lots of avenues are left unexplored.

The sets etc don't help as they were clearly pretty cheap and only the opening shot of Malcolm McDowell sitting in his oriental house really had style or imagination – the images of apocalypse were too cheap to be impressive. The fight scenes are pretty average I'm sad to say. While Honk Kong cinema was on the edge of things, this film was back in the 1970's with its standard fights. In the anime the fights are much more impressive and the film should have tried to capture much more of a sense of wonder. The effects are a little too gory for my taste and don't fit with the story, because the film lacks a sense of mysticism it feels ordinary – hence the problem when it tries to do something that is different or weird.

The cast has some well known faces in small roles but the lead actors aren't up to the task of delivering good dialogue, they have awesome bodies and can move quite well but they can't act! This takes away from the film a great deal and stopped me getting into the characters. Daniels and Mandylor are two of the guiltiest ones but it is spread through the cast of villagers, including Melvin Van Peebles. McDowell looks like he might add class but is a temporary narrator and faces like Penn and Howard are only of interest rather than stealing the show.

Overall this is a pretty poor film. It lacks the majestic, epic sweep that it should have had and feels small and cheap. The effects are OK but the fights really lack flair or imagination – witness people queuing up to come one at a time and you'll understand what I mean. The poor acting, bad dialogue and basic average delivery of every part of the film really makes this feel bad – I was in the mood for an undemanding martial arts movie to waste 90 minutes and even I was disappointed by this!

(Attention: Following comments may contain information about any part of the story")

"Fist of the north star" was originally released in eastern Asia (1987). A strong anime movie and soon to come as series. This perfectionated piece of work was one of the most complete and solid art I have ever had a chance to study. All Characters followed their own way on the same path towards a goal I call love. There was honor, love, bravery and ignorance. Revenge, hunger and determination. All of them disclosed in their most pure way.

Every word was perfect and the result of generations of toil and thinking. That it was painted was not an obstacle but very helpful because you cannot find actors that can represent these solid characters in real.

1995. Hollywood released a film version of "Fist of the north star" with real actors. This movie claims that it is based on the anime. The real facts are that this movie is disappointing and awakes fury and anger in every pure heart. Many characters are changed hiding behind the original "names" and some Zealous keycharacters are even removed. At this stage of censor (which I can't comprehend the reasons of) , main characters are shown as cowards and violators against the Jin and jang principles which the anime is based upon. This entire violated story has become a family affair with jelousy, superficial se*ual desires which in this case are against Asian, and even American standards.

The Scenography is bad and the actors are extremely weak. Love is displayed as something that has come out of a baywatch story.

This movie is not recommended before the study of the original anime work.

For an ignorant person, I guess that wouldn't make any difference.