Fist of the North Star (1995 live-action film)
| Fist of the North Star | |
|---|---|
| Fist_of_the_North_Star_poster.jpg Movie promo poster | |
| Directed by | Tony Randel |
| Produced by | Mark Yellen, Aki Komine |
| Written by | Peter Atkins, Tony Randel |
| Narrated by | Masane Tsukayama |
| Starring | Gary Daniels, Costas Mandylor, Chris Penn |
| Music by | Christopher L. Stone |
| Cinematography | Jacques Haitkin |
| Editing by | Sonny Baskin |
| Release date(s) | April 22, 1995 |
| Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found United States |
| Language | English, Japanese |
- Fist of the North Star
- An American-produced live-action movie version of Hokuto no Ken was released in 1995, directed by Tony Randel based on a script by Peter Atkins and Wynne McLaughlin. The movie, loosely based on the Shin storyline of the manga, stars Gary Daniels as Kenshiro, Costas Mandylor as Shin and Japanese actress Isako Washio as Yuria, with Malcolm McDowell as Ryuken and Chris Penn as "Jackal" (actually a renamed Jagi). It also featured a cameo by professional wrestler Big Van Vader as Goliath. The movie saw a direct-to-video release in Japan and America. The Japanese dubbed version used the original voice actors from the 1980s anime series.
- The movie had mixed reviews from fans and critics. Dave Foster of DVD Times panned the movie as a poor adaptation and commented that Kenshiro's pressure point techniques "look rather tame" in comparison to the way depicted in the manga and anime series.[1] A reviewer from eFilmCritic remarked that Kenshiro's defeat at the hands of Shin "comes off as standard" and "unbelievably goofy" compared to the 1986 animated movie version. However, Video World gave a much more positive review, calling it "First rate." It has since been firmly established as a cult film in the west, and remains the film for which Gary Daniels is best known.
- ↑ Dave Foster. "DVD Times - Fist of the North Star". Retrieved on 2007-07-30.