Blind Fury

THE STORY: One thing this movie has going for it is that it was at least good enough to get Rutger Hauer off of my shit list. He was there because I watched the unbelievably bad Omega Doom. Well, Hauer isn't a bad actor so I forgive him for that. (I'll NEVER forgive Albert Pyun, but I digress)

During the Vietnam war Nick Parker and Frank Deveraux are soldiers and good friends. While under attack by the enemy Deveraux freaks out and runs leaving Nick without cover fire. Nick is then blasted by a mortar and blinded. Nick is presumed to have been Killed In Action but is has the good fortune to be rescued by friendly villagers. The villagers nurse him back to health and teach him how to be a master swordsman even though he is as blind as a bat.

20 years later, Nick returns to the US and goes to look up Frank Deveraux in Florida. I wonder though...HOW did Nick get back to the states? Doesn't he have any friends or family (besides Deveraux) that might be interested to know he's still alive? If I was reported Missing In Action tomorrow, but came back twenty years later there are at least two or three people I can think of that might be interested to know I was still alive and I don't have a big family or a lot of friends. Anyway, Nick meets Lynne, Deveraux's ex-wife and their son Billy. Lynne tells invites him in and tells him that she and Deveraux are divorced. Deveraux himself is in Nevada.

Yeah, he's in Nevada being forced to create designer drugs for sleazy casino-owner, MacCready. MacCready's casino the Silver State is going under and the bank is going to foreclose in two or three days if he doesn't pay up. His plan is to use Deveraux to create some drugs and sell them to bail his casino out. in order to force Deveraux to do this he sends his chief henchman, Slag, and a few other goons to kidnap Lynne and Billy. Slag blows a big hole in Lynne's gut but nick's cane hides a really sharp sword. Using his miraculous ability to swordfight by hearing alone, Nick kills the two goons and forces Slag to flee. Before Lynne dies from her wound, she makes Nick promise to take Billy to Deveraux. Hmmm...Now would be a good time to call the police, methinks. But nooooo, Nick takes Billy to the bus station and heads off to Nevada.

Billy who wasn't in the house when his mother was killed is not too happy at first to be dragged away by a total stranger that he only just met a few minutes ago. But along the way at a rest stop, Nick tells him what happened. Billy, naturally upset to learn that his mom had her stomach splattered all over the living room, runs into a cornfield. Slag and a few goons are there and capture him. Nick chases after him and of course kills them all. Except Slag. He thinks he killed Slag, but Slag had some kind of body armor on under his shirt so he's really not hurt, just knocked out.

When Nick and Billy arrive in Nevada they meet Annie, Deveraux's girlfriend. She's staying in his house. She also knows that Deveraux is being held hostage and all, but she doesn't call the police. For that matter, why doesn't Nick call the police after Slag attacks them in the cornfield? What the hell is wrong with these people? They could just call the FBI because kidnapping and holding hostages is a FEDERAL offense, so it doesn't work to say that MacCready has a bunch of corrupt cops in his pocket. (They don't say this, but I'm making a point here....someone should have called the fucking police!) Well, MacCready has some goons in Deveraux's house and they promptly capture nick , Billy and Annie. But being the hero, nick manages to get them all away from the goons. Annie and Billy hide out at Annie's friend's house while Nick goes to the casino to free Deveraux. nick causes a ruckus by proving that the roulette wheel is rigged. During the commotion he sneaks upstairs and frees Deveraux. Deveraux is shocked to see that Nick is still alive. (So am I...for a blind guy he sure kills a lot of dudes rather easily) Deveraux takes the drugs he's made, lights the makeshift lab afire and  takes off with Nick. But when they get back to the house they find that MacCready has captured Billy and Annie and has them held hostage in a mountaintop ski resort. Nick and Deveraux go to rescue them. (Rather than just fucking CALL THE POLICE!) Of course, Slag and a bunch of other goons come after them. In the resort, Deveraux breaks out and runs when they come under fire, just like he did years ago in 'Nam. Nick is surrounded in a dance hall by the goons. But Deveraux comes back and turns the lights out. With his foes unable to see, Nick starts chopping them to itty-bitty pieces. Deveraux and Nick make it to the room where MacCready has Billy and Annie held. He has hired a Japanese assassin to take care of Nick. A final sword battle ensues, with Nick as the winner. Slag shoots Nick, but nick  is only wounded and finally kills Slag. Slag invokes a movie universe rule that allows him to scream as he falls out of a window and off of the mountain, even though Nick sliced him HALF! I guess MacCready is hauled off to jail, because the last we see of him is Deveraux wrestling with him. Maybe someone finally called the police!

Deveraux, Annie and Billy leave to go to San Francisco while Nick wanders off into the sunset. Maybe he's going to look up his family now. This movie was chock full of familiar faces. Nick was of course, Rutger Hauer. Deveraux was played by actor Terry O'Quinn. O'Quinn I remember seeing as a Navy pilot on the TV show JAG. Slag was actor Randall "Tex" Cobb. Remember the "Lone biker of the Apocalypse" in Raising Arizona. Yeah, that guy. He also played an evil immortal on the TV show, Highlander. Lynne was she of the really weird eyes, one of the spookiest actresses I've ever seen, Meg Foster. (I like Meg but she really can seem spooky) The assassin was Sho Kosugi.

Best Lines: "You're a walking advertisement for hiring the handicapped!"- MacCready marvels at Nick's skill.

1.) Is Deveraux the best chemist in the freaking world? Why would the bad guys go through the trouble of sending thugs from Nevada to Florida just to kill his ex-wife and kidnap his bratty son in order to extort him into creating designer drugs? Aren't there any chemists in Nevada? Perhaps one that wouldn't have a moral objection to creating drugs?

2.) I feel the need to point out that Billy is pretty bratty kid. Well, most kids in movies are bratty. But if I was Nick I wouldn't go through the trouble of ferrying the little turd to Nevada. I'd have called the police after they shot his mom.

3.) Double dipped Bullshit! Nick should have killed Slag! When Slag is on the roof of the old shed trying to pick Nick of with a shotgun you can see his gut where his shirt isn't tucked in too good. But when Nick supposedly kills him and leaves him for dead we discover that Slag had some sort bulletproof vest underneath. Now I won't even start on how that probably wouldn't have stopped Nick's combination white cane-Ginzu knife sword, but Slag didn't have that vest on earlier.

4.) Why is it that the movie universe is full of cities where high speed gunfights in the middle of town don't attract the police?

NUDITY AND SEX: None

HUH?: So MacCready's plan is to sell drugs to pay off his loan for the casino in TWO days? Why go through the elaborate plan of forcing Deveraux to create drugs then? Even if Deveraux agreed that doesn't give him a lot of time to sell the shit. Also when the Japanese hitman and Nick have their fight, MacCready says that he paid a lot of money for this. Um, maybe if he didn't have a whole gaggle of hired thugs and go to the extra expense of hiring a specialized hitman MacCready would have the money to save his casino!

THE TALLY: This movie is suitable for a lazy afternoon, but not as action packed as you may think. Nick does a few incredible things for a blind guy and it reminds me of the comic book hero. Daredevil. Daredevil is blind, but his other senses are heightened to a degree that he can basically kick ass. Still, its mildly entertaining if you can get over the fact that this blind guy can kill guys with a sword while a guy that could see would have died long time ago!