Shadow Fury

Why did I rent this, you ask? I was hoping for a new martial arts hero. Boy, was I wrong! There are not enough words in the great American thesaurus for me to describe how dreadful this was. Acting was worse than a pornographic film and the action was lame. I suffered through the 90 minute, straight-to-video release and almost threw the disc out my window! Guess I'll be sticking to Chan & Li for the time being.

I bought this film for the sole fact that Bas and Funaki from Pancrase were in it. I had no idea what its story was like except that it involved ninjas and Bas was the bad guy. I thought it was an OK film but it could have been better. The fight scenes with Funaki were pretty cool and the final fight between him and Bas was really cool, but the story, acting, and characters were kind of mixed up. Pat Morita should have been in it longer too. The actors looked like they were really trying to act good but ended up less than stellar. The hired killer, Madson, was actually funnier in serious spots than his comedy lines. Anyway it was an OK film because Bas and Funaki were in it, but if they weren't I probably would not have even looked at it.

In the beginning of the story, it reminds me about the movie Karate Kid, because of Pat Morita. He died so soon in the movie. There are lots of scene that are not so convincing. In times that Madsen, the bounty hunter, was already down and helpless, Takero, who has the opportunity to kill the man who killed his creator, just walked away. Anyway, Takero's reluctant to kill Madsen is one of the factor that lead them to battle Kismet. 7/10

The film concerns a near future when the World Health Organization prohibits globally on all human cloning . However a discovery creates genetically engineered . Nova Corporation hires to Madsen (Sam Bottoms), a tough bounty hunter with bad liver . He sets off in pursuit Takeru (Funaki) , a perfect ninja clone with extraordinary strength and agility . He has been created by a scientist named Dr Oh(Pat Morita) , Madsen must destroy Oh's lab about replication of enhanced human beings and any clones and the killer Ninja . But the laboratory explodes and Tareku on the loose . Madsen is helped by the lovely Dr. Foster (Alexandra Kemp) and taking on another Doctor who is developing the Alpha phase project containing 256 live specimen failed prototypes with physical deformation and mental incapacitation . The Doctor creates a new perfect killing machine , as disposal required , a teen named Kismet, a miraculous advance in slickness and intelligence . Meanwhile , a gunrunner (Fred Williamson) hands over Madsen weapons and Ninja arms such as Shuriken and Katana .

The picture is a low budget actioner with suspense , spectacular fights , and crude violence . The movie displays nice choreographic struggles with punches and kicks and sensational bounds and leaps by the killer Ninja . Wooden acting by Sam Bottoms, an actor whose career began splendidly (Apocalypse now , Bronco Billy) but failed , continuing with television movies ; plus , Alexandra Kemp , a German actress playing several B films (Sumuru , Dracula 3000 , Space travesty) , furthermore Noriyuki Pat (Pat Morita of Karate Kid, recently deceased) , Fred Williamson , a Blaxploitation King and a child played Taylor Lautner . The motion picture was regularly directed by Yokoyama , an usual stunts coordinator and habitual director of Power Rangers episodes . Rating : Mediocre but some moments result to be entertaining.

I gave this movie a chance. At times I was entertained but at other moments all I could think was "What were they thinking?". I really liked Masakatsu Funaki. He reminds me of Sho Kosugi, my idol in the 80s. OK so Funaki is a lot more buff than Sho ever was. This is the first film I've seen him in. According to his profile he's a pro wrestler in Japan. I hope he makes more movies in the U.S..

The story made little sense. At times I was ready to fall asleep. The only thing that saved it for me was the kickass action, care of Funaki. I would be awesome to see him do some cool modern day ninja flicks. For a buff guy he can move pretty quick. Another kickass person in this flick is young Taylor Lautner. This little guy only has one scene but wow I was impressed,and I've been in martial arts for 25 years. Back to the sucky story. At one point the heroes have to fight these mutants,but they look and act like zombies. What's that all about? The Bottoms character is suppose to be dying and needs a liver. By the end of this movie I wanted him to just die already. Like I said. The action is the only thing that made it worth watching. If your not a martial arts fan, you may not like it.