Blind Fury Reviews

Tepid action picture that fails to live up to its interesting premise. Rutger Hauer is Nick Parker, an American soldier in Vietnam who loses his sight when a bomb explodes in his face during combat. He is rescued by some villagers who, despite his blindness, teach him to be a brilliant swordsman. Twenty years later, Nick, now a drifter in the US, visits the home of an old Army buddy, Frank Devereaux (Terrance O'Quinn). He finds not Frank, but Frank's ex-wife, Lynn (Meg Foster), and son, Billy (Brandon Call). Suddenly, a group of thugs pretending to be cops break into the house, led by Slag (Randall "Tex" Cobb). Nick slices all of the bad guys except Slag, but not before the ersatz cops have mortally wounded Lynn. Although Billy despises him, Nick takes the boy to Reno to find Frank; before long, the vengeful Slag is on their trail. BLIND FURY's premise, taken from a Japanese serial about a blind samurai, is intriguing. But the hero is neither sympathetic enough (we almost never see him handicapped by his blindness, so we don't feel his triumph over it) nor sufficiently mysterious and awe-inspiring for us to care what happens to him. The film's cast and crew do about as well as they can with the material. Hauer, who acts Nick's blindness well, is a terrific fighter and screen presence, but has yet to find the vehicle that would put him in the top echelon of action stars. This was the first American production from Australian director Phillip Noyce (DEAD CALM, PATRIOT GAMES); unfortunately, the screenplay fails to provide a worthy showcase for Noyce's talents.