It’s not everyday that a film comes around that only serves to be entertaining as hell. Kung Fury is such a film, and one that was completely funded through a Kickstarter campaign so as to not answer to any studio. Director David Sandberg has crafted the perfect homage to the 80’s schlock action films that many of us grew up with. Sure, it takes from the big hits like Rambo and Commando, but more so from the lesser known titles that were nearly as bat-shit insane as this film is; granted those weren’t trying to intentionally be humorous –I’m looking at you Miami Connection.
The film starts as you’d expect with our rookie cop hero witnessing the death of his partner, no doubt a few weeks shy of retirement, as he gets sliced in half by a villainous ninja. If things weren’t bad enough our hero then proceeds to get struck by lighting while at the same time is bitten by a cobra, all of which give him the powers of Kung Fu and turn him into the legendary hero Kung Fury. From here he takes a new vow to rid the streets of evil as the lone wolf, street-wise cop that wears a killer headband –taken from the dead ninja he killed to avenge his partners death– and drives a bitchin’ Lambo/Ferrari that is powered by the intelligent Hoff 9000 unit.
Kung Fury is only a thirty-minute short film, so all that I mentioned in the above paragraph happens within the first few minutes of the movie. You’ll find it difficult to take a breath while watching, especially with the plethora of 80’s references that you are visually bombarded with. It’s a wild and maddening ride into the kind of 80’s film that the 80’s always wanted to make. As is the case with these loner cop stories, Kung Fury is quickly saddled with a new partner in the form of Tricera-Cop, a young, by the book police officer that just happens to be a walking talking Triceratops Dinosaur. And while Tricera-Cop doesn’t get a great deal of screen time, he quickly became one of my favorite characters in the film.
Raising just over $600,000 on Kickstarter is no small feat, let alone for an untested director such as Sandberg, but the project that he pitched seemed to resonate so much with the public that they ate it up. Kung Fury is simply the sort of film that you can’t help but fall in love with, and the kind of project that a studio would never touch. You can see the love that the team had with this project in every single scene of the film, from the neon cyberpunk styling, to the intentional VHS artifacting on the screen, Kung Fury is truly a work of art.
As this film is a small production, most of the money raised went into the visual effects that the film heavily relies on. It’s so good in fact, that it puts some major studio projects to shame. Whoever the team was behind the CG work really deserves to earn themselves a boatload of awards. The film is chock full of every 80’s cliché that you can imagine. From futuristic computer hacking to time travel, to dinosaurs and Nazi’s, Kung Fury is the sort of film that needs to be experienced in the company of good friends several times. Not only that, but the film features a title track by David Hasselhoff that is actually really damn good, and easily his best work to date.
If this review hasn’t already convinced you to watch this nostalgia filled work of art, then maybe being able to see the film in its entirety for free will change you mind. Kung Fury is streaming for free on the LaserUnicorns channel on YouTube right now. You can check out the entire film below:
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