Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

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.

Comeuppance Reviews In a post-apocalyptic world (aren't they all), a sinister organization known as the Southern Cross wants to rule the wastelands. The forces of evil are represented by Lord Shin (Mandylor) and the baddie Jackal (Penn). A lone hero stands up for himself and the rights of others, a man named Kenshiro (Daniels). His "Fist of the North Star" stands in opposition to the Southern Cross. From here on out it's a fairly straightforward battle of good vs. evil with plenty of familiar faces along the way, from Melvin Van Peebles to Lockdown's (1990) Chris DeRose, among many others. Will Kenshiro beat the baddies? Fist of the North Star was originally a Japanese animation, or Manga. Someone apparently thought a Direct-To-Video live-action remake was exactly what the world needed. They even used American and British stars, but didn't change their original Japanese names. Hence credits like "And Malcolm McDowell as Ryuken". You don't see that one every day. So Gary Daniels plays a guy named Kenshiro, etc. But the real problem with this movie is that it is a mishmash of pointless, plot less gobbledygook. You don't really care too much about any of the characters, and, largely because of the closed-in sets, the whole movie has a claustrophobic and stagey vibe which doesn't do anyone any favors.Top fan favorite Gary Daniels appears to be doing his absolute best, but it's like he's trudging through syrup. It's a total post-apocalyptic slog, and without any bright spots, such as Steele Frontier's (1995) Chickenboy. It's ground that's been well-trod in the past. Downtown Julie Brown can't Wubba Wubba her way out of this one. While it's trying to be just like the anime version, with a bunch of wacky, cartoonish effects, the only time the movie really shines is in the straight-up Martial Arts fights. And most of the really good ones don't come until the end of the movie. And by that time, the viewer is saying, in frustration, "Where were these before?!??" This led us to the conclusion that if Isaac Florentine directed this movie, it would have been similar, but a lot better.As we've discussed before on this site, when it comes to movie-watching, there is a definite difference between watching a movie and waiting for a movie to be over. It's an important distinction, and because of the rampant LONE TIGER EFFECT, and the fact that at the end of the day this is just another post-apocalyptic slog, we cannot recommend Fist of the North Star. We still love Gary Daniels and all, but this is not one of his best projects, in our opinion.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

TJThayer34 Being a fan of Japanese Animation, or Anime to the initiated, and being a huge fan of "Hokuto no Ken" (Fist of the North Star), I was rather disappointed when I watched this feature. It is true that making a live-action feature out of animation is a challenge, but with the right resources, widely available today, you can pretty much achieve just about anything. Your limits with animation are almost endless. I've heard quite a few things as to why this feature fell short of being one of the greatest martial arts films out there. And, I take everything I hear with a 'grain of salt.' As an action star, I do enjoy Gary Daniels' performances, but I know that plenty of though put into this film was something that was at a premium! One thing I heard was that the director didn't like fighting or martial arts, and he focused more on the drama between Kenshiro and Julia. But I could tell that the extras acted like they didn't want to even be there! So much that could have gone into this film that was left out.

itsmesarahharris I stayed up to watch this film thinking it was the incredible 1980's Japanese manga movie 'Hokuto no ken'. Little did I know there was a farcical 1990's low budget Hollywood version, and this indeed was it. This is surely the gayest film of all time, particularly in the final battle scene, in which one of the main protagonists is wearing a woman's blouse. It is all bronzed, shiny flesh and rippling muscles and plenty of 'smell the fart' acting. As I recall, the plot of the original version was quite hard to follow, but for this version it seems to have pretty much been given up on altogether. The best thing about this film is that it stars Downtown Julie Brown, who has the coolest name in showbiz.