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Fist of the North Star Volume 1 Director: Tony Randel Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Academy Ratio Format: Animated, Color Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 210 minutes Studio: Anchor Bay Entertain Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-03-25 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken, literally Ken the Great Bear Fist) which premiered on Japanese television in 1984, looks like a Saturday morning version of Mad Max starring a caricature of Sylvester Stallone. Searching for his lost love, Julia, Ken(shiro) wanders an Earth that was devastated by nuclear war. In each episode, he takes on a new sadistic motorcycle gang. (Food and water are scarce, but there's apparently plenty of gasoline.) In his travels, Ken acquires two sidekicks: Bart, a comic musician-thief, and Lynn, an adoring little girl. Ken is the last master of secret Chinese martial arts techniques: his specialty is making foes blow up from the inside. In every episode, several heads explode, actions that would be quite gory if they weren't so crudely animated. (Rated 13 and older, but more appropriate for 15 and older: considerable violence, profanity, grotesque imagery, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon |
 "Fists-ful of martial arts action"British Kickboxer Gary Daniels has had a long and fantastic career in direct-to-DVD martial arts movies. He has ocassionally worked with Don "The Dragon" Wilson, and though most of his movie are petty good, they are generally made with budgets and production values that make Don's movies look lik they were made for millions. Not being familiar with the FIST OF THE NORTH STAR comic books or animated series, I cannot judge this movie based on comic book standards. But I can judge it as both a martial arts fan and Gary Daniels fan, and from that criteria I can say without hyperbole....... FIST OF THE NORTH STAR IS GARY DANIELS BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!! It's got a great story, plenty of martial arts, and an absolutely beautiful leading lady, Isako Washio. I can guarantee you will not find yourself bored during the non-martial arts scenes, since Isako is in most of them. As for those martial arts combat sequences, well, let me just say that any action hero whose martial arts manuevers include literally blowing up his opponents with a series of speedy punches can make any movie work.  "Yet another example of good source material misused"Yet another example of good source material, if not for interesting character interplay, then at least for good mind-numbing violence. FOTNS has it moments namely good photography and score with a couple of nifty fight sequences but falls flat with Daniels' wooden acting and overload of underdeveloped and unappealing characters. Kudos for slipping in Melvin Van Peebles. Scenes such as Daniels' Kenshiro delivering what is probably the most anticipated line for fans "You're already dead" turn the viewing experience into a head-scratching inner monologue questioning how many takes did Randel do and was that really the best one? An example of this east to west translation gone right will probably be Steve Norrington's adaptation of Ninja Scroll.  "Remake is defentaly needed badly!"I was excited when this came out in 1995 and saw it in Tokyo. This was my favorite Japanese comic at the time. Unfortunately, this was one of the worst adaptations I could have never imagined. Although there were a few good fight effects, it did not make up for the poor screenwriting and plot. I want to remake this film with a big actor, and all the characters needed. This could be like "Lord of the Rings: Trilogy". The comic is tight, and the story is deep. So please don't watch this film. Read the comic and then let your imagination soar!!! "Classic"Ok the Orignal Fist Of The Northstar movie was good for it's time. However, this real life remake is crazy good. I like the fact that even though this product seems to be made on a low budget they kept everything important intact. For example, this move has very artistic moments. The acting is very good and the storyline is even better than the orginal(even tough it basically is)this one makes the story easyier to follow. The one thing that made this movie almost impossible to make on this budget and at this time was Ken's strength. The moto "fists fly heads explode" translate to "fist fly why didn't his head explode". A true fan would say hey they tried, or at least this if humerious. Good job, you have done well! "How are there only 5 left in stock (right now)...?"Fist of the North Star is so unbelievably retardation-inducing it's hilarious. In that sense, and that sense alone, it is entertaining. But...my God, I don't even know where to begin in critiquing that show. So I'll just say the first couple of things that enter my mind. That girl, Lynn, is the most absurdly high-pitched annoyance out of all the main female characters - everytime I hear her say "Ken!, my ears feel like Kenshiro himself has punctured them. She serves as a perpetual reminder of why I converted to manga in the first place (lack of painful audio). I swear, she and the other kid must have only been put in the series to mock other anime children. Julia is not beautiful, just annoying. It's as pathetically simplistic as an NES game, but without the nostalgic or warm feelings. The artwork is horrendous. This anime makes the Mortal Kombat movies look like martial arts masterpieces and Ranma 1/2 look serious. As for the rest of the critique, I think it would be best for me to simply transcribe the gorgeously non-cliched script: You're already dead! You're already dead! YURIAAAAA (Julia) ! YURIAAAAA (Julia) ! YURIAAAAA (Julia) ! YURIAAAAA (Julia) ! HELL HELL HELL! Pressure point attack! Pressure point attack! Pressure point attack! Love me Julia, love me! LOVE ME! Evil bad people disturb our village! Evil bad people disturb out village! Sorry for the spam, but I figured some would enjoy it, since some enjoy the show. |
