Blind Fury (1989)

Title: Blind Fury (1989)

Director: Phillip Noyce

Cast: Rutger Hauer, Meg Foster, Nick Cassavetes, Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb

Review:

Nowadays, when a film is released, companies already know what target audience they are making the film for. They do studies, they know on which television channels to promote the film and in which specific websites their promotional dollars will work the best in order to get their target audience in theaters. But once upon a time, the business of selling a film and knowing your target audience wasn’t as perfected as it is today. Back in the eighties, some films confused audiences upon their release to the point where the audience didn’t know what kind of film was being marketed to them. As a result, these films tanked at the box office. Two good examples of these types of films are Howard the Duck (1986) and Monster Squad (1988) to fun movies aimed at pre-teens/teens that failed to connect with them. Why? Well, for example Howard the Duck seems like a children’s film on the surface (we’re talking about a talking duck here for Christ’s sake) yet upon careful consideration it isn’t a children’s film at all. Howard smokes a stogie, carries a condom in his wallet, almost has sex with a human female, drinks beer, takes a look at a porn magazine (called Playbill) and finally, ends up working in a motel! And what about Monster Squad? Well, again, on the surface Monster Squad appears to be a film aimed at children, yet it was apparently perceived as “too scary” for them. I kind of agree, there is some disturbing imagery on this film, the kids shoot fire arms, say “bitch” and “shit”, read porn, take pictures of naked girls from their club house, stab vampire vixens with stakes through their hearts, you get the picture. The film was deemed to scary by critics, therefore parents didn’t let their kids see the film, hence, the films target audience never showed. Blind Fury, the film I will be reviewing today seems to fall under the same category of films that confused their audiences upon release.  

   

Blind Fury tells the story of Nick Parker (Rutger Hauer) a Vietnam vet who looses his eye sight during the war. He is taken in by the nicest Vietnamese ever portrayed on any war movie ever, and not only do they treat him and heal his wounds; they also train him in the ways of the sword. The training goes on and on for a while; long enough for Nick to become an expert swordsman. Fast forward twenty years and we have Nick, back in the United States, searching for his war buddy Frank Devereaux. What he doesn’t know is that Frank has been forcibly involved in the fabrication of a designer drug for a major drug dealer called McCready. You see, McCready owes a heck of a lot of money, and he needs Frank to create this designer drug for him so that he can sell it and pay off his debts. So McCready decides to kidnap Frank’s son and wife in order to force him to produce the drug. Unfortunately, the day the bad guys are going to kidnap Frank’s son, is the very same day that Nick decides to visit his old war buddy. One thing leads to another and Nick ends up saving Frank’s son from the bad guys, and soon finds himself on the road, running from the bounty hunters who are looking for Frank’s son. He is on his way to Reno, to save Frank and reunite him with his son. Will he make it to Reno without getting the kid or himself killed? Will he be able to save Frank?

Blind Fury is a couple of films all rolled up into one. First we have the Vietnam vet returning from war angle, not unlike the premise for First Blood (1982). On that film we first meet Rambo when is on his way to his war buddies house, same as in Blind Fury. Then we have a similar premise to that of the Japanese Zatoichi series of films; a series of films where the protagonists is also blind Samurai who in spite of being blind can kick anyone’s ass just as well as if he had his eyesight. We also have similar elements from Shogun Assassin (1980), a film in which a Samurai and his son are on the run from the Shogun who wants to kill him. And finally, this is one of those films where we have a father figure and his son going through a traumatic ordeal together, their bond growing as the adventure progresses. It reminded me a bit of Sylvester Stallone’s Over the Top (1987) or Tank (1984) a film about a soldier who tries to save his son, who’s been sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. You know, these are the types of films where father and a son bond. In Blind Fury, Rutger Hauer plays the role of the father figure, because Billy’s father is actually in a heap of trouble and cant be there for him.  

This must have been a difficult movie to market. From looking at the films poster, you’d think the film is a comedy about a crazy blind sword master, which it technically is. The film does have a slight comedy vibe going for it. But then there is the issue of little Billy, who tags along with Nick through out the entire movie, so then you get the idea that maybe this is a film targeted at that age demographic of 12 year olds. But then the movie is about a deadly sword master who slashes and dices he’s way through the bad guys like there’s no tomorrow, so then the film feels like it’s an adult film. So it’s a mish mash of genres which I’m sure ultimately made the film a hard sell for the studio. And when a studio doesn’t know who to sell a finished film to, it spells certain doom for a film project. This one tanked horribly, it cost less than ten million dollars to make, a reasonably cheap film. Yet it still didn’t manage to make more than 3 million dollars at the box office. So my theory is proven correct, when a film doesn’t have a target audience to sell to, it tanks horribly; unless by some miracle of the cinematic gods it connects with the audience somehow. And that didn’t happen with Blind Fury.

The films original poster  

The film is very lighthearted, in an interesting turn of events, Rutger Hauer isn’t playing the villain. Instead, he plays the blind swordsman with a heart of gold. I was expecting a hard hitting action film (and it kind of is at times) but instead what I got was a semi funny, lighthearted, father son bonding type of film with Rutger Hauer adopting Billy as his son for the whole film. And to tell you the truth, it was interesting to see Hauer playing this nice guy who cares for this little kid and will do anything to protect him, it was such a change of pace from what I’m used to seeing him play; so this movie is interesting in that way. I mean, you ever seen Hauer doing a bit of slapstick? You’ll see him here! Sounds weird don’t it? Hauer doing comedy, but strangely enough it works. We get to meet other funny characters as well, the villains in this film are a bumbling idiotic bunch who cant get anything done. At one point, a group of villains is chasing Nick and Billy through a corn field and one of them eats pop corn as he is chasing them down. Guess what that goons name is? ‘Pop Corn’! At another moment McCready sends a pair of buffoons after Nick, a pair of idiotic brothers called Lyle and Tector Pike. They are responsible for some of the funniest lines. One of them was played by Nick Cassavetes, the villain in The Wraith (1986) and the director of The Last Starfighter (1984). He is one of two bumbling brothers who say some pretty funny lines along the way. We also get Randall Tex Cobb a.k.a. the biker dude from The Coen Bros. Raising Arizona (1987), he plays the same character he’s always played in every single film. The tough looking gorilla type killer who’s always smoking something.

Nick’s abilities sometimes defy logic, I mean, I know blind people can augment all their other senses to compensate for their loss of sight, but come on, this movie gets ridiculous at times, which of course is part of the fun of this film. Hauer plays Nick in a goofy way which makes it endearing to watch. This film comes to us from Phillip Noyce, the director behind one of my recent favorite action films SALT (2010), starring Angelina Jolie. From this to SALT, you can definitely see how he’s improved as a director.  Noyce directed Blind Fury right after he had just directed Dead Calm (1989), a film that put him on the map as a director. He would go on to direct a couple more thriller/action films like The Saint (1997), Clear and Present Danger (1994) and Patriot Games (1992). The violence in Blind Fury is never really graphic or gory, which is another indicator that they were never really going for a hard ‘R’ film, and another indicator that this film was aimed at a younger audience. In terms of tone, this one reminded me a bit of William Dear’s If Looks Could Kill (1991), you know, nothing deadly serious, just a fast paced and fun film all the way through. Recommend it if you’re ever in the mood for those father/son bonding films, or if you just want to watch a film that’s lighthearted and funny.

Rating: 3 out of 5  

Salt (2010)

Title: Salt (2010)

Director: Phillip Noyce

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Lieve Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Review:

Recently, in my review for Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead (1995) I mentioned that action films with female leads in them often times fail at the box office. And this is a very common thing that happens, there are many, many examples I could name. I attribute this box office phenomenon to the fact that Hollywood doesn’t put much of an effort in making good action films with female leads in them. It is only when a gifted director steps in and makes a good one that films with females in the lead succeed. Good examples of this are James Cameron’s Aliens (1986), Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films (2003), and most recently Timur Bekmambetov’s Wanted (2008). It seems Angelina Jolie is the current poster girl for successful female action leads, and to be honest, I think she’s damn good at it. Case in point: her most recent film Salt.

Salt is the story of American CIA agent Evelyn Salt. When a Russian defector ends up under the custody of the CIA, his confession involves a story about these Russian sleeper agents that were trained to live life in the United States, infiltrate a high position in the government and then proceed to kill a Russian President, giving then Russia a valid excuse to throw a full on attack on the U.S. Other plans include the assassination of the American president as well. The CIA agents listen to the defectors confession only to be shocked by the last part of the story. You see according to the defector the sleeper agents name is Evelyn Salt! Suddenly, the CIA (once Salts employer) is now after her! And so she runs putting all her secret agent know how into trying to escape the clutches of the CIA. Will she ever get down to the truth of things?

So unexpectedly, I ended up really loving this movie. In this movie Angelina Jolie is the perfect female action lead! The actress playing the lead in an action film has got to portray equal parts sexiness, and equal parts toughness, and both are qualities that Angelina Jolie excels at. Salt was a film that was originally written to star Tom Cruise in the role of Salt. Back then the film was going to be called Edwin A. Salt. But, Cruise backed out because reportedly, he thought the character was too similar to what he’d done in his Mission Impossible films. This sounds like total bullcrap to me because he didn’t make Salt, but he went out and did Knight and Day (2010) which strangely enough plays out a lot like Salt. Knight and Day also ended up being about a guy who worked for the government but is now running from them. So it seems to me like Cruise simply had a case of “creative differences” with the creative team behind Salt and decided to go and do a similar film his own way; which apparently meant getting Cameron Diaz to star beside him instead of Angelina Jolie. But whatever! I’m glad Cruise ended up backing out of Salt; I don’t think I would have enjoyed the movie as much. To me Jolie makes the movie. Plus, Knight and Day is the lesser movie of the two. Salt has got gravitas, while Knight and Day feels completely hollow. Audiences also chose Salt over Knight and Day because while Knight and Day flopped, Salt was a huge box office success.

Thematically, the film is extremely subversive; it starts out with Jolie as the CIA agent, working for the U.S. government. She’s good at her job, faithful to her country ‘fighting the good fight’ as they say. Problem comes when said country suddenly doesn’t trust her anymore and she becomes public enemy number one. So her loyalties are no longer to her country, which turns on her at the flip of a switch, but to herself and her survival. This is a theme that’s been popping up a lot in modern films, the idea of cutting ties with old ways of doing things, and starting things anew, with a new perspective, one that doesn’t adhere to tradition. In this film, Evelyn Salt encapsulates that feeling of wanting to cut with everything. It even has a violent streak to it, where this letting go of ones past is a difficult and violent affair. She hates those that have used her and wants nothing to do with them anymore and she’s willing to kick some ass to prove it.

The chase and action sequences are really well achieved, credulity defying as they maybe, they entertain. The film plays out a bit like the action you would see in one of the Bourne films, the Bourne films being the new template by which all modern action films are being made. I tell ya, those Bourne films are really important action films. They redefined how action films are being made today. Even the Bond films look like a Bourne film now. Salt is influenced by that style of Bourne action. The action doesn’t feel too over the top, it feels more realistic then say, the kind of action you would see in an 80’s action film. And speaking of Bond, a while back, Jolie was offered the opportunity to be a Bond girl, an offer which she respectfully declined saying that she’d rather play Bond herself. I guess that’s what she was determined to do in Salt, play the indestructible secret agent. Salt was directed by Phillip Noyce and expert in political intrigue films like Clear and Present Danger (1994) and Patriot Games (1992) so in that sense he was perfect for directing Salt.  

My hats down to Mrs. Jolie, she’s gotten my respect back. I love the kind of action films she’s been making lately. You guys ever seen Wanted? Highly recommend that one as well. Actually I’m kind of late in the Wanted bandwagon since I’m pretty sure practically everyone out there has seen it. Me? I underestimated it and never got around to seeing it until a couple of weeks ago. I got my ass blow out of the seat by it! Looking forward to more high caliber action films from Angelina Jolie, my new favorite action heroine.

Rating: 4 out of 5