NateWatchesCoolMovies If you ever want to see a film production embarrass themselves royally, check out Fist Of The North Star, a misguided,thoroughly awkward live action version of some obscure Japanese manga series. It's one of those ones that painfully doesn't translate into the realm of live action though, like that bizarre Super Mario movie they made. Full of notable character actors, packed with steampunk-esque special effects, it could have worked with a different story, but the theatrical intensity and specific vibe of oriental pop culture just doesn't come to life well on the North American big screen. It's also at war with itself tonally: there's a light, PG Power Rangers feel in some places, but many scenes have graphic violence that pushes a hard R rating into the deep end, which makes for a jarring experience. Gary Daniels stars as Kenshiro, a lone warrior out to get Lord Shin (Costas Mandylor under one mess of a mullet), a brutal warlord who murdered his father, briefly played by Malcolm McDowell. McDowell pulls a classic McDowell move, showing up in the flesh for about thirty seconds before disappearing and lazily lending his iconic voice to a talking skeleton version of his character later in the movie. Don't ask me to remember more of the plot than that because it would involve a rewatch, and ain't nobody got time for that. Chris Penn is fun as Jackal, an angry vagabond with a giant potato head and the psychotic temper to match. Watch for Dante 'Rufio' Basco, Downtown Julie Brown, Clint Howard, Mario Van Peebles and more in equally ridiculous getups. The sole thing I can recommend here is the production design, lifted straight from some striking post apocalyptic video game, it makes somewhat of an impression. The rest lands with a colossal thud and just sits there, doing not much of anything.

r-c-s Well well well... Everybody who has watched the anime knows that the authors "copied" their characters from real-life people...Ken from Stallone (say in Cobra); general Falco from WWF wrestler 'rugged' Ronnie Garvin; the 'nanto hawks' from wrestlers Powers of Pain; thug Zeta from wrestler Zeuss (he even got the Z on the bald head in the anime etc )... In the cartoon Julia is a celtic beauty with reddish hair (the last part of the series)... Here we have mestizos with slanted eyes... Many fight scenes look like a bad Van Damme movie and the 'Okuto' high-speed, close range hits look more like metro-sexual guys cat fighting than otherwise. Daniels might be the next Bruce Lee for all I know, and PROBABLY knows his moves since he's been a pro, but in this movie he's worst than most C grade Hong Kong movies. The rest of characters aren't worth mentioning. SFX are very mediocre barren a couple.

raypdaley182 Take Malcolm McDowell who dies quickly, rather like the plot of this film. He is the only star in the film. I did recognise Chris Penn but I don't know what I've seen him in before, possibly Reservoir Dogs. Wrestling fans may recognise a brief appearance by Leon White also known as WCW and WWE Superstar Big Van Vader. His fight scene is most likely the best and well organised fight in the whole film.This is a manga comic or anime film that has been made into live action and it was obviously a really bad idea.No script, bad story, really bad acting and some really bad fighting scenes. I really wish I hadn't bothered watching it.

tomimt Fist of the North Star is one of your typical, small budget action flicks which seem to appear from no where without any specific reason. I actually liked it during the first couple of minutes during the time, when the main character, Kenshiro (Gary Daniels) hadn't opened his mouth yet, but after he spoke and revealed, that besides the looks he hadn't slightest bit of acting talent I quickly stopped liking it.My favourite scene of the film is when a Finnish ex-WWF wrestler and a (yes sad but true) member of parliament Tony Halme gets the smirk kicked out of his face. Literally. Small scene, I know, but I found it hilarious.FOTNS is total waste of Malcolm McDowell's abilities, and as such as it is, it can only be seen as a curiosity for his fans. Maybe the fans of original graphical novel will get something else out of this film.