Kung Fury (2015) Review

 

Kung Fury (2015)

Set in Miami of 1985, Kung Fury follows Kung Fury, a cop imbued with fantastical Kung Fu powers, who must travel back in time to defeat the Kung Fuhrer—Adolf Hitler—with the help of his friends.

I don’t normally use this kind of language on here but what the fuck? This fan film, released by Laser Unicorn Productions on a budget of $630 thousand is equal parts hilarious and awesome, in the most awful way imaginable, which was very much the point in this weird homage to 80s cop and martial arts flicks, with a hint (as in a lot) of absurdity. 

The movie itself, shot and edited with a displaced RGB VHS filter, horrendously and hilariously mixes CG backgrounds, 2D side scrollers, 80s level animation, and overall just feels like those full motion video games of the 90s, but shot as a movie. It’s packed with corny one liners, and outlandish set pieces that go perfectly with Fury’s supporting help in Triceracop, a T-Rex, Hacker Man, 2 sexy Viking women, and a giant, ripped, Thor, in something that feels like all of 80s pop culture wrapped into one ridiculously entertaining and sidesplitting movie.

The film, starring David Hasselhoff, David Sandberg, Jorma Taccone, Andreas Cahling, and Leopold Nilsson, is casted wonderfully with a litany of people who seemingly can’t act, in a movie where acting better be just as bad. Sandberg, who plays Kung Fury, is wildly funny with his deadpan deliveries, raunchy internal dialogue, and his surprisingly good action scenes, with the aforementioned sidescroller fight and his face off with his spirit animal, a cobra, being highlights of this. Also, Cahling’s portrayal of the giant, bodybuilder-esque Thor had me hysterical and hollering like an idiot.

Kung Fury, directed by David Sandberg, and not to be confused with Shazam’s David F. Sandberg, is an absurdly awful parody of 1980s action flicks that finds it’s own voice and style in it’s low budget and inexperienced crew; something that works in it’s favor to deliver on such a hilarious concept. So, it’s hard not to love this for how intentionally bad, but well done it is, in an energetic, trashy, overkill kind of way.

7.5/10 (for creativity)