Hitler! He's the worst criminal of all time.
January 25, 2014 6:36 PM   Subscribe

Kung Fury is an upcoming action-comedy movie from Swedish director David Sandberg. The trailer, at least, is a pitch-perfect celebration of everything that made 80s action movies ridiculous and wonderful.

Fun fact: to save money, it was shot almost entirely with actors in front of a green screen, with CGI environments added in post-production.

A half-hour version of the movie will be released for free online. Thanks to a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, there will also be a full-length commercial version.
posted by escape from the potato planet (48 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
That was awesome. Cannot wait.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 6:43 PM on January 25, 2014


It's rare that my reactions vacillate between "this is horrible" and "this is awesome" quite so frequently.
posted by oddman at 6:43 PM on January 25, 2014


I'm wondering if someone could watch this trailer and not know that it is satire. It seems impossible.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 6:45 PM on January 25, 2014


this looks even better than Machete
posted by Dr. Twist at 6:48 PM on January 25, 2014


Shades of Bollywood.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:55 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Technically, the full-length version isn't a lock, because he didn't hit the $1 million stretch goal. But the popularity of the kickstarter helped him make contact with some interested financiers and distributors, so it's still quite possible.
posted by rifflesby at 7:17 PM on January 25, 2014


I lost it at the Power Glove (for you youngsters, the Google Glass of its generation).
posted by straw at 7:17 PM on January 25, 2014 [5 favorites]


Under the right circumstances, a producer could actually make more money with a flop than he can with a hit.
posted by ceribus peribus at 7:19 PM on January 25, 2014 [11 favorites]


I liked it, except that the colors and non-retro CGI sequences screamed 21st century.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 7:21 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


ZX Spectrum. With a Microdrive.

I'm in.
posted by Devonian at 7:22 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Several friends of mine have rants about how this is total try-hard bro-gamer and/or cheezburger humor garbage, but i seriously don't understand how anyone can watch the "hacking time" sequence in the trailer when it suddenly cuts to pixel art and chiptune music and not burst out laughing.

I also wanted to post this sooner. Still kinda miffed by the "no active kickstarters!" rule. Why can't it just be "no linking to kickstarters you are in any way involved with"?

cosmic.osmo: I liked it, except that the colors and non-retro CGI sequences screamed 21st century.

I agree, it sort of almost reverse dates itself. This isn't like, adding in some stuff in the background that would previously have been done with a matte style CGI like most modern movies, it's actually entirely cgi... and it looks really plasticy and cheesy at times.

This is going to look awful in 10 or 20 years like some bad early 90s CGI stuff does now, it's practically a modern this.

Maybe that will just add to it's campy awesome though, i retrospect?
posted by emptythought at 7:24 PM on January 25, 2014


There's a bit where they talk about how they only had the money for one police outfit, so they had all the extras wear it and filmed them one at a time.

If Ed Wood had access to modern compositing technology, he would have plotzed.

The updates have all been great and his enthusiasm for the project has been contagious. Really looking forward to hacking too much time.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:25 PM on January 25, 2014


Man Far Cry: Blood Dragon really ignited a fabulous trend. Just kidding. This is nowhere near as good as blood dragon.

posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 7:28 PM on January 25, 2014 [3 favorites]


There's a bit where they talk about how they only had the money for one police outfit, so they had all the extras wear it and filmed them one at a time.

Filming D-Day with three people.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:44 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


The soundtrack is by Mitch Murder, and it makes me want to patch my internal organs to a DX-7 and frequency-modulate my guts (this is a good thing).
posted by infinitewindow at 7:50 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


What do you think the chances are for Kung Fury Vs Manborg?
posted by Mezentian at 7:50 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


There's a bit where they talk about how they only had the money for one police outfit, so they had all the extras wear it and filmed them one at a time.

I think they did something similar with Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage, except they couldn't afford to get all the cast members together in front of the green screen at the same time for some reason.

And yet, not only did they convince Patrick Stewart to provide narration, there are Harryhausen-style stop-motion monsters, which I don't know about you, makes this the most amazing movie I will see this year.

(I do love my Sinbad movies though).
posted by Mezentian at 7:58 PM on January 25, 2014


This an exaggeration of an exaggeration of an exaggeration. It looks like they based this movie on the interpretation of the eighties found in video games like GTA: Vice City, or Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, more than they did any of the actual movies of the period. But that's okay. They are having fun with the material, and I wish them well...

However, anyone interested in seeing what a 'ridiculous and wonderful' eighties action movie was really like, watch Die Hard again. Watch Lethal Weapon, I and II. Check out Arnold Schwarzenegger's Commando. Finally, if you're feeling generous, watch Action Jackson, maybe the most ludicrous 80's action movie ever made during the eighties. That one has the hero go after the villain by driving a sports car up a flight of stairs, then around inside the villain's mansion. With the sports car. I kid you not.
posted by KHAAAN! at 8:01 PM on January 25, 2014 [5 favorites]


It looks like they based this movie on the interpretation of the eighties found in video games

To me it looks like a remake of the Double Dragon movie, with the production values of Robot Jox.

I am down with you on the train to Action Jacksonville. That movie was amazing. I was always a bit sad that the Expendables didn't quite go that far. The A-Team movie did, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.
posted by Mezentian at 8:12 PM on January 25, 2014


I'm planning on drinking enough beers to almost completely stop my critical facilities, and then enjoying the hell out of it.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:39 PM on January 25, 2014


I think a vodka-based drinking game would be on the cards.
posted by Mezentian at 8:44 PM on January 25, 2014


What do you think the chances are for Kung Fury Vs Manborg?

why has nobody told me about manborg yet?
posted by Dr. Twist at 8:48 PM on January 25, 2014


I ordered the blu-ray back when the Kickstarter was running. Looking forward to it.
posted by dobbs at 9:18 PM on January 25, 2014


This is going to be one of those things that will be great projected on the wall during a noisy party.
posted by Mizu at 9:31 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Watch Lethal Weapon, I and II.

Part 5 was good too.
posted by mannequito at 9:35 PM on January 25, 2014


it looks really plasticy and cheesy at times.

It looks really plasticy and cheesy ALL the times. i.e. it looks awesome. Also it apparently stars Johnny Depp;s character from 21 Jump Street, what's not to like?

I just hope it has Evil Rollerblading Hooligans in there somewhere. Maybe that was more of a 90s thing though?
posted by fshgrl at 9:40 PM on January 25, 2014


Really? People would rant about this film? Where does "try-hard bro-gamer and/or cheezburger humor garbage" even come from?

Too many people with Why Wasn't I Consulted syndrome feeling that every over-the-top project that is, on its face, someone's years-long obsession with creating something fun, needs someone to come along, daintily lift their august cable-modem-connected robes, and take a huge dump on it.

This thing is wonderful. It never tries to be something it's not. Throwing Nazis, Thor and Dinosaurs into the same 80s cop action film and making it even vaguely work together is a triumph. The existence of this short film does not make Sondheim or Malik disappear off the face of the earth.

I wrote the guy saying I thought he should keep it at a taut 30 minutes and get it onto Digipaks so that it could play in movie theaters with modern projection, and that he should really jazz up the physical rewards on the kickstarter. I'd love to see him start afresh with a new feature film idea pushed from the ground up.

Some people need to know when to hit that red "X" in the corner of the window and move on to something more to their liking.
posted by jscott at 10:10 PM on January 25, 2014 [5 favorites]


The reveal of Kung Fuhrer was a masterpiece.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:17 PM on January 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


I liked it, except that the colors and non-retro CGI sequences screamed 21st century.

That's great though. It's simply like when Roman-era/Byzantine Greeks imitated Classical Greek as the language of their literary endeavors, even though they couldn't quite leave the vernacular behind most of the time.

The 1980s were a Golden Age, a cultural zenith. Men lived like gods without sorrow of heart and were uncorrupted creatures of pure reason and aesthetic. Believe me, I was there.
posted by XMLicious at 10:19 PM on January 25, 2014 [8 favorites]


I just hope it has Evil Rollerblading Hooligans in there somewhere. Maybe that was more of a 90s thing though?

As prior art, I offer Return to Oz and Juggers. Or Prayer of the Rollerboys, or even Rollerball.

Inline skates were the Poochie of the day.
posted by Mezentian at 10:24 PM on January 25, 2014


There may not be 80s movies that look like this, but I'm sure there are 80s movies that would have looked like this if they had the technology at the time.
posted by ckape at 10:28 PM on January 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


I am just going to use this moment to plug the fantastic docco Rewind This.

The world was different back then. I kinda hope HBO and Netflix getting into content creation are doing the same thing, but with quality).



(Full docco if you are of a mind to strap on an eyepatch, I think.)
posted by Mezentian at 10:35 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


You know, I kind of want to see a modern take on an 80s action movie, but played straight. Like, what if Escape from New York was made today, with modern directing and special effects? Sure, the acting would still be interesting and the plot would still hurt my head, but man, sometimes I want to hear lines delivered in low growly voices and RPG style logic running the show.
posted by Canageek at 11:28 PM on January 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


You mean like awesome 1987 RoboCop and monument to mediocrity 2014 RoboCop?
posted by um at 4:29 AM on January 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


this looks even better than Machete


I was thinking the same thing, as well as: "this probably doesn't need to be a feature film." All of the comedy is right there in the trailer, and making it feature length would only dilute it.

Kinda like Robo-Geisha, where watching the film pretty much amounted to waiting for favorite moments from the trailer to appear.
posted by ShutterBun at 7:31 AM on January 26, 2014


Fun fact: to save money, it was shot almost entirely with actors in front of a green screen, with CGI environments added in post-production.

Golly, you can't even tell!

Not sure why you'd make an 80's parody in the style of Sin City/300.
posted by nathancaswell at 8:09 AM on January 26, 2014


um: Never seen either of them. I did hear the new Dredd was pretty good though.
posted by Canageek at 1:02 PM on January 26, 2014


Wait, how do we even know the brew robocop sucks? It hasn't even come out yet! People are basically declaring it a failure from the trailer. Jesus.

Also, yes, dredd is a masterpiece. It doesn't try and do anything unexpected or that it didn't say on the tin. It's a bit derivative of the raid, but in more of a tribute than a ripoff way. It's tight start to finish, with a totally original soundtrack so good lots of trailers and several other movies used bits of it.

I think one of the best parts is he never takes off his mask, and you never see his face. The editing is tight start to finish, the vfx are awesome and blend in perfectly.

Ahhhh, sorry, it's just one of my favorite recent movies. and it's definitely a perfect 80s die hard style action movie. It just whips out it's dick and goes "hey, I'm an action movie, let's fuck" and proceeds to just pornographically bone your eyeballs for a couple hours. I mean for fucks sake, the drug the main villain sells makes time go into slow motion.

The "cold open" sequence is also a badass car chase. I just can't make this up. It's like as good as crank, but somehow more 80s feeling.
posted by emptythought at 1:30 PM on January 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


It's a bit derivative of the raid, but in more of a tribute than a ripoff way.

This one again?

Dredd was written and filmed long before The Raid. Dredd's screenplay was written in 2008 and leaked online in 2010. Principal photography on Dredd took place between November and December 2010. The Raid did not go into production until November 2010.
posted by Mezentian at 2:53 PM on January 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


Wow, til. They are oddly similar though

I hate being one of those "common misconceptions" spreading people.
posted by emptythought at 3:57 PM on January 26, 2014


I think it's just one of those weird things that happens - two takes on the same idea, made worse by the fact that Dredd ain't getting a sequel (on film).

I hate being one of those "common misconceptions" spreading people.

Good think it's not a crime.... yet.
posted by Mezentian at 4:09 PM on January 26, 2014


Throwing Nazis, Thor and Dinosaurs into the same 80s cop 60s spy action film and making it even vaguely work together is a triumph.

Yes, that's exactly why I loved Danger 5, though again, the full series (as good as it is) could hardly live up to the excitement of the trailer.
posted by ShutterBun at 4:19 PM on January 26, 2014


Gosh, Danger 5 was tremendous fun.
posted by Mezentian at 5:09 PM on January 26, 2014


how do we even know the brew robocop sucks? It hasn't even come out yet!

It's rated PG-13. This isn't climate science: there is nowhere to get lost in this equation.
posted by um at 6:20 PM on January 26, 2014 [2 favorites]


hahaha brew. ios ruins posts.

but wow, i guess another TIL. I didn't see anywhere that it was rated pg-13.

Then again, PG-13 doesn't mean what it used to. Look at quite a few recent movies rated that. You can graphically blow people to bloody pieces and be PG-13 now, i think at least one movie has even snuck in some serious nudity. I think pretty much all you can't do is swear massively, although you can even get a bit of that in.
posted by emptythought at 7:53 PM on January 26, 2014


Brief derail: Gentleman Caller and I saw Ferris Bueller's Day Off the other day, and I was surprised at the amount of profanity for a PG-rated movie. Not shocked, but just...surprised.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:00 AM on January 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


oh my god

i can't wait
posted by rebent at 1:51 PM on January 27, 2014


The audio is perfect (the music seems to be the most authentic aspect) , but the visuals were kinda disappointing in a not-good way.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:34 PM on January 27, 2014


« Older World's Best Table Tennis Match   |   So why was everything in Episode IV using CGA... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments