Blind Fury (1990)

This quirky tale of thugs, slugs and martial arts is worth a look for those tired of mainstream, run-of-the-mill fare. Here, the central conceit is that all-action hero Rutger Hauer is blind. You'd think he would therefore be helpless too, but far from it...in fact, he's deadly with his sword and can easily take on a gang of bad guys single-handedly, unaided. The secret to Hauer's success is that he was trained in the jungles of Vietnam to cut a melon into quarters with his sword, in training scenes worthy of an early Van Damme vehicle! Another interesting thing this movie has to offer is a previously-undiscovered penchant on Hauer's part for physical comedy. I've long suspected that Hauer is underrated as an actor and here he proves the fact, by firstly being a totally convincing blind man, and secondly by being frequently funny when the script calls for it. On top of this, he's charismatic, an all-round nice guy and adept at playing either good guys (as here) or bad (THE HITCHER) depending on the film, effortlessly moving from side to side and creating either monstrous baddies or lovable heroes.Although the plot of this movie is predictable in the extreme, the blindness of Hauer's character makes for several unexpected comic moments, such as the scene around halfway where he drives a van at speed through a busy city - absolutely great stuff, topped off by fine comic interplay when an endangered fellow driver shouts to Hauer "are you blind?!" before realising that yes, indeed he is. The action, when it comes, is also clichéd but good, from the opening non-lethal bar-room fight between Hauer and a gang of thugs (just how many times have we seen that, anyway?) to a moment where he outwits a gang of bad guys in a cornfield. Come to think of it, the odd locations are what makes the action most memorable.The best scenes are saved for the finale, in particular a great moment when a load of bad guys gang up on Hauer on a disco floor, only for the lights to go out and him to get the upper hand and massacre them all in violent, bloodthirsty ways. There's also a superb one-on-one battle between Hauer and Japanese martial arts star Sho Kosugi, excellently staged.The supporting cast give mediocre performances, despite there being quite a few familiar faces on view (including Nick Cassavetes, Terry O'Quinn as Haure's Vietnam buddy, Noble Willingham and Randall "Tex" Cobb). Most of the villains are clichéd and uninspired, while some of the rednecks have some really dumb scenes which drag the film down a notch or two. Surprisingly, the bonding between Hauer and the young boy should be vomit-inducing but isn't, perhaps due again to Hauer's wry portrayal of the blind but very definitely not disabled. Fantasy fans will also probably notice Meg Foster (she of the incredible glowing eyes) appearing briefly as a mother. BLIND FURY is predictable stuff saved by some good action and the charisma of Rutger Hauer. Definitely recommended for action fans looking for something a little different.

Blind Fury is at once implausible, illogical and often ridiculous, but it is also frequently hilarious and totally far fetched and cheesy – but in the right way somehow.Hauer plays Nick, and ex-Vietnam vet who lost his sight in combat and now 20 years later he is back in the US *Ahem* looking up an old war buddy named Frank Deveraux.Now being – as he puts it – blind as a bat, Nick relies on his other senses which have become finely tuned over the years to compensate. He gets about unaided by anything other than a wooden stick and his instincts, though in the early scenes we are already aware that after his initial accident he was taken in and recovered in the care of Vietnamese villages, some of whom gave him special skills.The movie is not above dragging out all the lazy blind jokes, he pats a crocodile and says 'nice doggie' and is fed a hard pebble in lieu of candy as prime examples, but Nick can also 'see' using his other senses, enabling him to be aware of his personal space and things and people moving about him.Back to the war buddy, Nick discovers that Frank has become embroiled against his will in a corrupt crime syndicate in Las Vegas and is being held captive and forced to make a new superdrug that will soon be unleashed.After some general unpleasantness Nick is left with his friend's boy Billy in his care, and the two set off across country to find Frank and reunite him with his boy.Along the journey Billy is initially quite unruly, not realizing that has happened to his Mum (hint: it wasn't nice) and not yet knowing who the new blind guy is, Billy is a somewhat reluctant travelling companion. This changes after a cool action setpiece where Nick takes on several armed hillbillies in a cornfield, dispatching all.The remainder of the film has the unlikely duo progressing ever closer to Las Vegas where scads of heavily armed and trash talking hard men await. Surely more than a match for a 10 year old boy and a sightless guy with a stick? I mean right? The film has its share of car chases and Three Stoogery, and the second half of the film has Nick and his stick (which you can tell from the cover isn't realllly a cane) cutting a swathe through various buff, ornery henchmen and in true video game fashion, various level bosses. Nick's swordsmanship is more flourish and flair than intricate highly skilled moves, but the action scenes move quickly enough to ignore the lack of quick hands, and before you can dissect the previous scene someone is cracking the next joke to bring you back to the film.Blind Fury runs a neat 80 minutes, most of which is spent padding time until the next action sequence, so the bad guys are straight up redneck caricatures. In fact the meanest bad guy of all – cigar chomping MacReady – is essentially Yosemite Sam without the hat.Yet with all the obvious short cuts taken and the insane elements Blind Fury is more comedy than action film, but it works well on both levels. The strength of the film is that it doesn't take itself too seriously, leading the charge here is Hauer himself. Being the 'blind guy' means all the visually impaired jokes are at his expense, and even when he has the upper hand and gets to spit a put-down or one liner it is done totally straight faced and without relish or theatrics, often the funniest lines are delivered deadpan. And where the action is concerned like many of the best B flicks it is reminiscent of a classic A Team episode, only with more violence and swearing.It is cheesy, far fetched and the one scene where they unleash the special effects has aged about as well as Sharon Stone, but I wouldn't have it any other way.Final Rating – 8 / 10. Blind Fury was the coolest little film going around when I was 15, and 20-some years later it remains a thoroughly enjoyable guilty pleasure.

As far as the sword and war movies go, this one packs a good punch. A man Nick Parker (Rutger Hauer) who was wounded in the Vietnam war is left behind by his own man during a strategic move to stop their foes in their tracks. But by happenstance, Nick is wounded and blind from a mortar fire and tries to find his way out of the violence. In doing so, he is adopted by a local villager and helps to heal his wounds and so for the next couple of years he learns the ways of the sword and his other senses which are tuned so greatly, that he can hear, taste or even feel with more clarity than he did when he had sight. Now back home in America twenty years later, he tries to catch up with his friend once more only to find out that his friend Frank Deveraux (Terry O' Quinn) is making a batch of highly toxic and addictive drugs. But to keep him in line, his boss tries to kidnap his son and use him as leverage. Now the battle begins where Nick, uses his skills against the gambling cartel with his unique and most powerful weapons, his senses and his sword. The kingpin Macready (Noble Willingham) is ruthless and goes out of his way to stop Nick from his exchange with the mob. And in so doing, brings in an authentic samurai soldier played by a real life Ninja teacher Sho Kosugi who also plays in another film called Ninja Assassin. Blending this last battle scene is nothing more than spectacular, Rutger Hauer was taught under Kosugi before the film was made, honing his skills as a sword wielder. This has all ingredients of humour, sadness, great fights, and a wonderful scene where our blind hero drives a van like it was natural. Not recommended for those under 14. But I recommend it for the crowd who loves a good fight with swords. Excellent movie.

Hauer Plays Nick, a blind Vietnam vet who wants to visit Terry O'Quinn to say hello. Having not heard anything from Terry in over twenty years, he reaches his house and Meg Foster tells him that he doesn't live here anymore.About five minutes later, she is gunned down, and Nick has to look after Hasselhoffs son from Baywatch. It turns out that Terry has racked up a sizable debt and the bad guys want him to make some drugs, and use his son as leverage.only Nick can save the day.Cue the Carnage....I haven't seen this film in over ten years, so when i decided to see it again, i went in with low expectations, as of course it wouldn't be any good now as i'm all grown up and action films like that are sparse these days.To my delight, despite the script being a little cheesy, and the fashion very distasteful, this is still a cracking movie, which has gained a little cult following some 21 years after it's release.It's funny, action packed, and very comic strip-esque in it's narration.Hauer plays this tongue firmly in cheek, and he owns this movie. He has a great relationship with Billy, and the film has a surprising humanistic edge to it. But other than this, it's your standard action film. Set piece after set piece, with some good one-liners to ease the tension during the darker scenes.Even though the film is bright and funny throughout, the ending is quite sad, but makes the film that little bit better.It's a Friday night film, fun to watch and to quote, but it's hammy and knows this.Especially when one of the main bad guys is called 'Slag'.