Fist of the North Star

Original Title: 北斗の拳
Romanized: Hokutou no Ken
Literal: Fist of the North Star

Plot Synopsis

In the near future, a nuclear war destroys nearly all life on the planet. The few survivors wander the barren land either trying to avoid roving gangs of violent thugs that terrorize the land, joining the nation headed by the Fist of the North Star (a powerful and mysterious warlord), or falling victim to one or the other. A lone wanderer, Ken, travels the land searching for his lost love, Julia, but he knows that she is still with the man who took her from him--his own brother. Meanwhile, another powerful warrior, Rao, watches and waits for the moment to strike with his armies and claim the shattered remains of earth for his own. There can be no winner in this battle, but one thing is for certain: there's going to be a bloody lot of mayhem before the dust settles.

Review

Rating: 3 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-11-03

One of the prominent words on the back of the Fist of the North Star box is "splatterfest," and although that may not be in the Oxford English Dictionary, I can think of no more appropriate word to describe the movie. This film version of the TV series didn't just kick (or punch) start the anime genre of ultraviolent gore-fests in the US, it defines it.

You'd be hard pressed to find a higher exploding head count than Fist of the North Star racks up, and if you did, I doubt it would be coupled with the same blend of martial-arts mumbo-jumbo, deep-yet-nonsensical plot, and cheesy one-liners. It would be hard to mistake this movie for high-quality cinema, but those among us who enjoy grabbing some friends and plopping down in front of a TV for some late-night heckling of a well-done bad movie are sure to have a bash (pun intended) watching it.

Fist of the North Star is set in a pretty classic Mad Max-esque post apocalyptic world, replete with big, ugly bad guys terrorizing defenseless villagers, but it distinguishes itself from some of the more "realistic" movies in the post-apocalyptic and splatterfest genres in how far over the top the villains are. A 20-foot-tall metal-skinned ninja-army-squashing fat guy is a sight to behold, as is an even fatter guard and his exploding... well, you get the point.

Speaking of exploding, Fist of the North Star distinguishes itself from many in the genre it founded by the glee with which the graphic violence is executed (again, intentional choice of words). It's actually toned down a bit from the violence-porn of the TV series, and the classic B-movie dialogue in the dub deserves some of the credit, but instead of the usual horror-centric gorefest with a bunch of poor fools getting torn to shreds by some bad guys, most of the violence here is played as much for humor as shock value. It's pretty much summed up by Ken's famous line: "You're already dead." Followed, of course, by the inevitable spray of gore. You're waiting for it, the film knows you're waiting for it, and you're expected to sit back and enjoy the mayhem.

The story is sort of a summary of the TV series, and though it takes itself rather more seriously than its predecessor, you shouldn't expect much (especially with the help of Streamline's cheese-heavy dub, not that fans of intricate storytelling would have been a big audience anyway). To be fair, the characters have a modicum of depth (par for a decent action movie), there is actually some character development (other than Ken shaving his Eric Clapton inspired beard, that is), and there is even a bit of drama to be found scattered about, but the TV series (or comics) are a better choice if you actually care for a plot.

The movie's big failure, plot-wise, is the end: though the final battle gives some meaning to the scattered bits of abstract martial arts philosophy, it's disappointingly deep (for lack of a more insulting word). Under most circumstances, the rather cerebral climax would have been an interesting turnabout, but here I just ended up wishing the translators would have taken some liberties and made it into some kind of joke. My other endgame beef is a spoiler (skip if you really care), but I just have to ask: when Ken goes off searching for Julia at the end, where the heck did she go? Last I saw her, she was tied to a giant cross in the middle of town. Where exactly was she supposed to have run off to during the fight? Did the wind blow her pole or something?

Art-wise, Fist of the North Star offers about what you'd expect from a theatrical movie made in the mid '80s: chunky character designs leaning toward realistic proportions (very similar to the TV series), slightly rough art, and generally bleak (a good thing, being that this is the post-apocalypse), loosely painted backgrounds. The animation in general is fair, but not particularly noteworthy. The action, although it may not be the smoothest around, does have a certain sense of style, with a couple of cool effects (Ray's laser-like finger cutting easily being at the top of the list). Of particular note on the stylized front is the gore: whenever somebody erupts in a shower of blood and viscera, the film briefly kicks into this very blurry look with oversaturated colors and stuttering animation. I'm not entirely sure what the logic behind this was, and while artistically it looks kind of cool, it also serves to (sort of) mellow the graphic violence. Not that people's heads aren't exploding, it just looks kind of arty. The gore isn't otherwise particularly realistic or well drawn (Genocyber for one has better chunks), but the style makes up for it by emphasizing fun over grossout.

The acting in the dub is... well, suitable for the sort of really cheesy movie that this is. True to the tradition of late night kung-fu flicks, when you take a movie that was probably trying to take itself seriously, throw in some awkward writing, a few really awful one-liners, and some slightly corny acting, you get something that is more fun than it probably should be (at least in that Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind of way). The dub probably ups the cheese factor significantly, but I'd personally say it's better to be fun and bad than just mediocre (if it would have been--not having seen the original, I don't know). Fans will be pleased to note that the trademark high-pitched yelling accompanying those flurries of punches survives into the dub.

To sum up Fist of the North Star, take all the basics for serious post apocalyptic action movie, throw in some really beefy guys duking it out, season with more exploding heads than you can shake a stick at, and top with a cheesy dub, and you get a movie so bad it's a classic. Every anime fan should see this at least once--it is, after all, the roots of modern English-translated anime (as sad as that may be). Besides, it's fun; mind-expanding entertainment it is not (unless you count the mind expanding that goes on), but for a late night with some friends, you aren't going to find a better 90 minute splatterfest party. And, if you're a fan of classic 80s gory anime, it's the film version of the genre-defining original.

Related Recommendations

The Fist of the North Star TV series is a must-see, and is a lot more fun than the somewhat more straight-faced movie take. Nagai Go's Violence Jack travels a similar path, though it isn't as much fun overall, and his Red Lion is a much, much sillier but similarly gory ninja flick. Other splatterfest shows include Genocyber (which focuses as much on the truly disturbing), and the two MD Geist shorts, particularly the latter.

US DVD Review

The DVD, one of the handful produced before Streamline disappeared entirely, is about as minimal as they come. It features a box, an English soundtrack, and not much else. There are no subtitles of any sort, no other soundtracks, the video transfer is a little rough, and it's not letterbox (though in fairness, I'm not sure that the movie was originally). Also, if you do find a copy somewhere, beware--the film transfer isn't horrible, but it is very shaky.

Content Guide

Violence, violence, and more violence make for an easy 16-up.

Violence: 5 - Despite how ridiculous it is, the sheer volume of gore stands alone.

Nudity: 1 - One very brief and undetailed shot.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Zip.

Language: 3 - Some crude language in the dub.

Notes and Trivia

Based on a 24-episode TV series that ran in 1984, which was in turn based on a long-running manga series.

One of the earliest Streamline releases, and hence among the first anime movies to reach the States. Note that there was a medium-budget live action version made in America in 1995. It probably cost more than the original to make, and may be better known in the US (though even when it was first released it was far from a mainstream blockbuster). In any case, it did about as good a job as you could expect in trying to live up to the original, but you can only do so much with live action. In an amusing bit of questionable casting, Kenshiro and Shin both seem to be Australian, while Julia is Asian. Go figure.

Availability

Was once available in the US from Streamline Pictures on dub-only VHS and DVD, both long out of print.

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