Simply A Masterpiece

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This movie has terrible animation. Hypermasculine monsters (I can't call it men), moreover with somehow curiously effeminate features (!), disproportionate bodies, unrealistic movements, ridiculous costumes, ... OK, I could stand that as it is kind of peculiarity of certain style of anime.It is pointlessly and absurdly violent. Be it so, some (not only Japanese) films are gory, but at least with meaning or certain style.But everything in this movie is meaningless. It is a copy of every cliché and caricature you have seen in the action movies of whatever decade, but... you know, Rambo, Terminator, or anything with JCVD had at least a bit of a plot and motivation in it - but this movie is based on "what kids see in those action movies, if they have no mental capacity to understand it yet". Flashing, flexing, rough voices, arrogant heroism, violence for violence (absolute power, ruling the world, conquering all) with terribly bad dialogue lines.To be clear - action movies, fighting movies or dystopia - are relevant genres with its rules and can be interesting and even excellent. This one is worse than if someone has shot a "bad movie" on purpose. You can't even laugh at it.

In the post-apocalyptic future, the Earth went through a nuclear holocaust that devastated nearly all the cities and towns in the world and a few people want to bring it back to life and some mutants that oppose against them, A warrior named Kenshiro has been murdered by his former friend Shin who has stolen his girlfriend Julia but brought back to life as Ken possesses special martial arts powers to make enemies explode. He seeks revenge on Shin especially his two brothers Jagi and Raoh to make them pay and get Julia back so he can help heal the world.Bone-crunching and ultra-violent Sci-fi action martial arts epic from Toyoo Ashida ("Vampire Hunter D") is a big assault on the senses in stylish animation. There is a ton of extreme violence throughout the movie like exploding heads, people shredded apart and that kind of thing. This isn't for the weak stomached or for kids, it's a battering ram of a movie that hits you to the core and is one anime's best movies.Listen for James Avery (The guy from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Shredder from "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles") as the voice of barbarian Fang Also recommended: "Ninja Scroll", "Wizards", "Akira", "Ghost in The Shell 1 & 2", "The Professional: Golgo 13", "Mad Max Trilogy", "Day of the Dead", "Total Recall", "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky", "Starship Troopers", "300", "Braveheart", "The Toxic Avenger", "Battle Royale", "Street Trash", "Escape 2000", "Terminator Trilogy", "Robocop", "Fire & Ice", "Rock & Rule", "Heavy Metal", "Dead Alive (a.k.a. Braindead)", "From Dusk Till Dawn", "The Running Man", "Rats: The Night of Terror", "1990: The Bronx Warriors", "2019: After the Fall of New York", "Ichi The Killer", "Versus", "Rock & Rule", "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend", "Vampire Hunter D", "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust", "Commando", "Saving Private Ryan", "Doom", "Barefoot Gen", "Kill Bill Vol. 1", "Grindhouse", "Sin City".

I had like 16 years old when i found a copy of Hokuto No Ken in one of my favorite Videoclubs,i really didn't care so much but one cousin and his friend decided to rent it and that we should see it at my house,when we arrived and saw the film we were astonished it was an anime film (because i firstly thought it was a Van Damme Film),it had a lot of death but it had a spark that made it a true jewel to me,i was so excited until my mom arrived and saw one scene where a person had his head bursting out,to my surprise she wasn't angry,she liked the film,she thought it was violent but it remembered her the Mad Max film,it was sad when we had to return the VHS,but now that 1 year has passed one friend gave me a VCD containing the film,i highly recommend it,but only if you have a lot of tolerance.

I've just got through watching the first 36 episodes of the TV series of Fist Of The North Star on DVD and until a couple of days ago i thought the TV series came after the movie. The movie comes after the TV series. I have to admit that even though the series has more info and detail about the fighting styles etc i think that the movie is slightly better. It has better animation, better voice acting (in English) and is less repetitive. I watched the movie just over ten years ago and was quite literally blown away by it. It has action, adventure, comedy, gore, thrills, spills and for those people disgusted by the sex scenes in Urotsukidoji you'll be happy to know that FOTNS is sex free.FOTNS is obviously to some extent based on Mad Max but a heck of a lot better. Only thing that bugs me (just like the series) is that the gore scenes are usually blurred or we see peoples shadows exploding. Kind of annoying. Also there seems that there are a few gaps in it which makes me wonder if there has been a scene or two edited out or cut down (atleast in the UK version).I'll quickly give a brief summary of the story. It's about a guy called Ken who must get his girlfriend back from his former best friend Shin who beat up Ken, kidnapped his girlfriend and left him for dead. Ken walks through the barren wasteland (it's set after a nuclear war) and kills bad guys with his style of fighting. If he punches anybody they explode shortly after. In the meantime his eldest brother Raoh has amassed an army and is trying to conquer the world. There are also a couple of sub plots. One has this guy called Rei (or Ray?) looking for his sister and is also looking for the guy responsible for kidnapping her.All this leads to an explosive finale. Fist Of The North Star along with Urotsukidoji is my favourite Japanese anime movie of all time. A definite must see but avoid the American live action film. That sucked the big one for sure. This great anime gets a perfect 10/10 from me.