Bullet Points: Shadow Fury
There are not many guarantees in life. But when it comes to 2001’s Shadow Fury there is one guarantee that can be made. I can absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt, guarantee that Shadow Fury is the one and only movie in the long and illustrious history of cinema where you will see Twilight’s Taylor Lautner grow up to become UFC’s Bas Rutten.
Yes action fans, Shadow Fury is a one of a kind movie.
- The Premise: Dr. Oh (Pat Morita), a highly skilled geneticist, has a falling out with his peers at the Nova Corporation. Dr. Oh goes off on his own and successfully creates a ninja, a ninja he has programmed to kill his former co-workers at Nova. This test tube ninja is named Takeru (Masakatsu Funaki) and we learn early on just how effective Takeru’s programming is as he eliminates one of Oh’s fellow doctors in an explosive scene before the opening credits are even finished. Knowing they are up shit creek the remaining geneticists at Nova Corporation hire the services of former mercenary Mitchell Madsen (Sam Bottoms). His mission is to take out Dr. Oh and Takeru. His incentive, the cloning breakthrough that Dr. Oh made when he created Takeru is the only thing that can save Mitchell from certain death due to his failing liver.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: While Shadow Fury has some totally unique elements, it also manages to work in some tried and true movie favorites, like the hooker with the heart of gold character. Prostitute Sasha (C.G. Walker) takes Takeru in and patches him up after she finds him injured and wandering the streets. When Sasha’s pimp gives her trouble for taking the night off to tend to her new friend, Takeru steps in and Sasha’s pimp problems go away. At this point Sasha is either head over heels for Takeru or she realizes that she could be the first among her call girl friends to say she screwed a ninja clone. Or possibly both. Anyway, Sasha does her best to make Takeru more human and forget his vengeance based programming and by her best I mean she screws him on the roof of her apartment building. And for those of you who are curious, she does bare her breasts for that scene.
- The Right Tools for the Job: Fighting a genetically cloned ninja is going to be no easy task, so Mitchell turns to his old friend Sam, who is both a bartender and an arms dealer. Sam is played by the one and only Fred Williamson (Original Gangstas). One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Sam finds out that Mitchell is going to be squaring off with a ninja. Sam can’t wait to show off the shuriken, samurai sword and jet black ninja outfit he has in stock. I always envy people who look like they are truly enjoying their work and at that moment Sam seemed like the happiest weapons dealer on the planet. In addition to the weapons, Mitchell also gets some help from Nova’s mandatory sexy female scientist, Dr. Forster played by Alexandra Kamp (Dracula 3000). And eventually Mitchell even finds himself teaming up with Takeru, when the true evil of the movie reveals itself…
- Mad Scientist: We eventually learn that the head of the Nova Corporation, Dr. Hiller (Allan Kolman of Air Force One fame) has been doing his own cloning experiment on the side. Cloning, which I should point out has been outlawed by the United States government. Hiller names his clone Kismet and like Takeru, Kismet has been programmed to kill. When we first meet Kismet he is just a young boy. But young Kismet, played by Taylor Lautner (Tracers), can still kick some major ass. Dr. Hiller is able to accelerate Kismet’s aging so we eventually get to see a teenage Kismet and ultimately the adult Kismet, who is played by mixed martial arts legend, Bas Rutten (The Eliminator). As you can probably imagine this leads to a clone vs. clone showdown between Kismet and Takeru.
Shadow Fury had a real Charles Band feel to it, despite this not being a Charles Band production. But like Charles Band produced movies Ghost Warrior, Zone Troopers, and Eliminators, Shadow Fury managed to mix the action and sci-fi genres to create a unique movie going experience with what many would say is a far fetched premise.
If you are a fan of any of the Charles Band movies I mentioned or just a fan of genre mixing action flicks, then I would recommend checking out Shadow Fury. And if you’ve made it this far in my review, I’d recommend sticking around a little longer for some bonus Bullet Points…
- Sam Tops: Sam Bottoms had to be happy to not only be the star of the film with top billing, but also that his character had a name. Two years earlier in Mercenary II: Thick & Thin, despite having a pretty significant supporting role, Sam’s character was simply known as “cameraman”. Side note: Bottoms also received top billing in 1995’s Project Shadowchaser III above the likes of Frank Zagarino and Christopher Atkins. After reading that last sentence I just typed, I have to say being billed above Frank Zagarino is one of the lamest accomplishments in the history of Hollywood.
- Memorable Quote: “Time to boogie!”
- Pat Lessita: Shadow Fury could have been a better if we got a little more Dr. Oh. Pat Morita’s screen time was probably less than 5 minutes. A little more Fred Williamson wouldn’t have hurt either.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Sam Bottoms pour one out for his homey, then this is the movie for you.
