BLIND FURY

Based on Japanese samurai legends, this Americanized version is an action adventure film with a heart. Deserted by his best friend and thus blinded in a Vietnam War battle, Nick Parker is nursed back to health by tribesmen who teach him the martial arts. Armed now only with a cane sword and an equally sharp sense of humor, Nick’s senses have become so acute that he can slice an apple into four pieces as it flies through the air.

Twenty-three years later, Nick goes looking for his Vietnam buddy, Frank Devreau, a chemist. Frank has been abducted by a crime lord in Reno, Nevada who wants him to make designer drugs which the boss can sell for millions of dollars. Shortly after arriving at Devreau’s wife’s house in Miami, thugs burst in and kill Devreau’s wife, though Nick sends them flying with an impressive display of swordsmanship. In order to blackmail Devreau into making the designer drugs, they want to kidnap young Billy, Frank’s son. Nick takes Billy under his wing to protect him from the mob-connected kidnappers, promising the dying mother he will find Frank. Needless to say, after many hair-raising escapes, some tender moments, and much humor, the good guys win.

This would be standard action-fare except for Nick’s kind heart and Rutger Hauer’s dynamite acting. There are a lot of good messages about forgiveness, which in the end triumphs over revenge. That is, even though Frank deserves blame for deserting Nick in Vietnam, Nick forgives him. Thus, “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

BLIND FURY is close to being an excellent action adventure film. The martial arts are very good, performed with great aplomb, skill and humor. Unfortunately, about half way through the film, some of the bad guys show their limited vocabulary by using profanities and obscenities — an unnecessary blot on an otherwise good movie. Also, the violence, though cartoonish, is excessive.