BLIND FURY
US, 1990, 86 minutes, Colour.
Rutger Hauer, Brandon Call, Terry O'Quinn.
Directed by Phillip Noyce.
Blind Fury is a mixture of Vietnam veteran story, martial arts thriller, mob thriller. It is also not clear whether it was intended to be funny as well. Perhaps, during the filming, the director decided to play the film for laughs. So, it is an odd mixture.
Rutger Hauer (so menacing in Blade Runner, Night Hawks, The Hitcher) is a Vietnam veteran who is blinded, looks for a buddy, has to look after his son as he tracks down the buddy.
The film uses a lot of special effects and stunt work for its fights - and with an almost unputdownable villain. The film, therefore, is an odd mixture of thrills and the ludicrous.
It was directed by Phillip Noyce, veteran Australian director of Backroads, Newsfront, Heatwave, Dead Calm. This began his career in the United States: Patriot Games, Sliver, Clear and Present Danger, The Saint, The Bone Collector, returning to Australia for Rabbit Proof Fence.
1.Entertaining thriller, martial arts, mob and drug dealing? The comic side? A satisfying blend? The touch of the ludicrous?
2.The use of authentic American locations in Florida, Kansas, Nevada, Colorado? Stunt work and special effects? Songs and musical score?
3.Nick Parker, his blindness, vengeance - the title?
4.Rutger Hauer as Nick Parker: the Vietnam experience, the action and his blindness, as missing in action, in the Vietnamese village, being trained in martial arts - his failures, his success? 20 years later in Florida, his walking stick, wandering? Being taunted in the diner and producing the sword? His skilful hearing, timing? Looking for Frank, meeting his wife and hearing the story, Bill? The arrival of the thugs, the violence (and the graphic special effects)? His taking Bill on the bus, the clashing between the two, telling him the truth about his mother? The run into the cornfield in Kansas, being stalked by the villains, death in the fields, the hut and his attack from the roof? Arrival in Nevada, tracking down Frank, the clash with the girlfriend? The drive and the escape from the van? The setting fire? Finding his sword? Frank, the laboratories? Infiltrating the building, thwarting the thugs? The explosions? Going to the snow resort, going through the tunnels, the fights, turning out the lights, Frank running away and coming back, the final clash? Bill and the reconciliation, with his father, saying farewell to Nick, his catching the dinosaur - and smilingly walking into a possible sequel?
5.Frank, rowdy in Vietnam, skills with explosives, the special mission, his running? Seeing him dangled over the Reno streets? The thugs? The synthetic drugs? The blackmail about his wife and child? His girlfriend? Doing the work, seeing Nick again, the decision to explode the laboratory? Finding his son, the abduction? Going to Colorado, on the cable car, in the tunnels, his running, turning out the lights and enabling Nick to fight? The reconciliation with the girl, his son?
6.The mother, the separation, talking with Nick, her death, entrusting the boy to Nick? The boy and his precocious attitudes, clashes on the bus, mocking Nick and his blindness, falling in the mud? Kansas and the cornfields? The reconciliation? The farewell and his not wanting Nick to go?
7.The boss, his need for money, Reno and the drug connections, the synthetic drugs? His fat henchman? The confrontation, the fight in the office? Death by martial arts? The range of thugs, their brutality, dressed as police? The main thug, his seeming to be dead, his rising again, pursuing Nick through the building, in Colorado, his final death?
8.The world of the casino? Nick causing chaos by exposing the phoney systems?
9.The girlfriend, betraying Frank, in the van, helping Nick escape, being abducted, the reconciliation?
10.The blend of action and humour - the popular ingredients for this kind of thriller?
