Have thirty minutes? Watch Kung Fury

By Chris Mudd, Staff Writer

“Kung Fury” was as entertaining as it was revealing of the future of entertainment in the internet age.

A super cop in 1985 is hacked back in time to kill Adolf Hitler. That’s about it. The story more or less sits on the back burner for the 30-minute run time of the short film, instead focusing on cheesy 1980’s computer-generated effects and tropes, including a fighting arcade machine.

The bandana donning super cop karate kicks his way through time, enlisting the help of Vikings and dinosaurs on his way to destroy the Führer, and every waking moment of it is hilarious and exciting.

The short run time of the film is simultaneously its detriment and its saving grace. While I yearned for more at the end of the movie, no doubt it would lose its appeal if it were much longer. This is a movie that couldn’t possibly be feature length, but instead fits the niche of the new online-distribution model perfectly.

After receiving $630,000 from Kickstarter donations, the film’s director David Sandberg, also the writer and lead actor, was able to bring the exhilarating world of dumb 1980s cop thrillers back to life, including an appearance by the one and only David Hasselhoff himself.

The action is solid, the acting is well done and the computer-generated effects are adequate. The mediocrity of the effects is what sells the authenticity of the genre film Sandberg was going for and is one of the funniest elements of the film.

We live in an age where a product can be marketed on the internet and brought to life by the viewers. Without Kickstarter, and the backing of the fans of this film, it could never have happened. This is a new and exciting development that, while it will likely never compete with the Hollywood system of movies, is bringing about new internet content that the viewership demands.

This is an exciting time for films, and “Kung Fury” is just another step toward a brand new distribution model for entertainment.