Fist of the North Star: The Movie

In the year 199X, the world fell into chaos and nuclear fire.  The survivors live at the mercy of a desolate land and the savages who roam it.  Kenshiro is the master of the Hokudo Shinken and he wanders the wasteland in search of his lost fiancée Yuria.  When he stumbles upon a town under siege and a mute girl with an aura similar to his own, Kenshiro finds himself hurtling fist first into a showdown with those he used to call family with the lives of not just Yuria on the line, but possibly the last of humanity as well.

Fist of the North Star was a wildly popular Anime in the mid 80s.  No doubt inspired by the vision and success of the Mad Max series, the Anime replaced guns with martial arts but kept the road warrior aesthetic.  Oh and it offered a ton of off the wall action and all the guts and glory that made Anime pop up on the radars of action junkies in the mid 80s.  Fist of the North Star: The Movie, offers the same kind of entertainment as the TV Series but without restraint or shackles of network broadcast.  The end result is one of the goriest and unsettling Anime experiences you’ll ever have and depending on how strong of a stomach you have…you might enjoy it?

Any myths or rumors you might’ve heard about Fist of the North Star’s lead character, Kenshiro, and his ability to pop heads like balloons with a single finger aren’t exaggerated in this feature film.  Not only is he capable of doing that, a lot of people seem skilled at dismembering anyone and everyone in variously nightmarish ways.  There’s a point where the violence level in the film stops being about “ohs and ahs” and more about how gross and unsettling the movie can make things.  There’s a difference between stylized violence like in Akira or Ninja Scroll, where its done for both a cool factor and an important plot point.  Fist of the North Star feels more focused with being gratuitous and unrelenting whenever possible without reason besides…life sucks in the wasteland?  There’s one random scene where a band of road warriors mercilessly attack and dismember a helpless caravan of civilians and I was just wondering, “Why?  What purpose did that scene serve in the film?”  The answer is “nothing”.  And soon Fist of the North Star just becomes a series of unrelenting bloodbaths with small snippits of story here and there too so it isn’t just about the bloody action…well about 10% of the time it’s not about that. 

The story feels cobbled together from bits and pieces of either original Anime or Manga chapters and doesn’t really have a structure beyond go from Point A to Point B and pop more heads like grapefruit.  The simple version is Kenshiro is out for revenge against the brothers who wronged him and stole his girl and…really nothing more is necessary if youre just doing a straight up non stop action flick, which Fist of the North Star is.  In a way, this movie knows what it is and isn’t going to apologize for being so.  Ergo, character development is rare or non existent, everyone is around to either die or get seriously injured.  And I was left wondering what had been accomplished by the films finale…which wasn’t really much even though the movie felt longer than it’s just under two hour run time.  No story, all action, that is Fist of the North Stars game.

For all my gripes about the mean spirited violence, the movie does boast some good production values.  The character designs and overall animation look like they have been touched up for a movie level project: similar to Cowboy Bebop: Knockin on Heaven’s Door and Evangelion: Death and Rebirth.  There’s no denying this is a good looking flick.  And when we aren’t focused on how many hordes of bad guys we can turn into strawberry jam, the one on one battles are interesting and unique.  I can see why this Anime’s fight style gained it it’s notoriety and legions of fans.  Kenshiro’s Bruce Lee inspired cries and rapid fire fist strikes, along with his signature line, “Youre already dead”, made him an Anime icon for a reason and it’s hard not to argue with him blowing up the brains of some seriously demented bad guys.   He was the “One Punch Man” before Saitama ever arrived on the scene.

Fist of the North Star: The Movie offers fans of the series everything they enjoy about the show but on a larger and unhindered scale.  If youre a fan of gory Anime action with no story and just characters beating the literal bloody mess out of each other for two hours, you’ll be right at home.  For me?  I couldn’t get past how brutally depressing and overly violent the movie was.  Sure the film looks pretty and Kenshiro lives up to his reputation.  I guess I wasn’t expecting that level or gore or how messy (no pun intended) the movie feels overall.  I wasn’t a big Fist of the North Star fan to begin with and this movie didn’t convert me.  It’s just not my thing.

5/10