Shadow Fury (2001)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Makoto Yokoyama

Writers:

Eric Koyanagi (short story)
Makoto Yokoyama (short story)

Release Date:

1 July 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Cloned to Kill

Plot:

Madsen, a bounty hunter with a bad liver and an even worse attitude, with the help of the lovely Dr. Forster, must stop Dr. Oh and Takeru and restore order to the world.

Plot Keywords:

Clone | Killer | Mad Scientist | Fighting

Cast

Sam Bottoms	...	Mitchell Madsen
Masakatsu Funaki	...	Takeru
Alexandra Kamp-Groeneveld	...	Dr. Louise Forster
Bas Rutten	...	Kismet (Adult)
Fred Williamson	...	Sam
Pat Morita	...	Dr. Oh
Allan Kolman	...	Dr. Hiller
Cassandra Grae	...	Sasha
Gregory Vahanian	...	Dr. Markov
Billy Rieck	...	Dice
Richard Alan Johnston	...	Bob
Sean Vincent Biggins	...	Joe
John Stork	...	Kismet (Teenager)
Taylor Lautner	...	Kismet (Child)
Jennette McCurdy	...	Anna Markov

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

Spain:89 min | Australia:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:16 | Spain:18 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:R | Australia:MA

Company:

Pathfinder Pictures

Quotes:

Sasha: I'm gonna get some water after our long night Takeru you animal.
[walks off]
Takeru: [to himself] I'm an animal?

Even the spectacular stunt/fight scenes can't redeem it

While Japanese filmmakers seem to be losing their penchant for stiff atmospheres in movies, as this film suggests, there's still a lot of work to be done - at least for these particular Japanese filmmakers! Now, the stunt and fight scenes *are* spectacular, with ingenious use of wirework showing amazing stuff that even CGI can't do. However, the screenplay is unbelievably bad, even by comic book movie standards. We have characters who are just a step removed from real cartoon characters (check Morita's wild-haired and chortling scientist character!), sometimes spouting incredibly moronic dialogue. The story is a slow-moving, often illogical mess with some dumb plotting - like how Bottoms' character is told to track down one character, and the next scene has found him - with *no* explanation as to how he found him! Bottoms, by the way, is a real poor choice for an aging mercenary character, unconvincing even when simply shooting a gun. It doesn't help that his character is completely unlikable, even though he's the lead. Williamson is a welcome presence, though like Morita, he's only in the movie for five minutes! Had he been cast in the lead, playing his often-used Jesse Crowder character, without doubt it would have been easier to sit through.