Watch it at Amazon
11 out of 14 people found the following review useful: It's enjoyable enough, even with its faults., 22 May 2005 Author: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party.
Peter Sandza (Kirk Douglas) a government agent is betrayed by a fellow friend/agent Ben Childress (John Cassavetes), who kidnapped his son for his psychokinetic powers. Where we learn that a secret US agency is holding him and that he's being used in dangerous mind experiments. So Peter gets help from a girl with similar abilities to locate his son's whereabouts.I wasn't expecting too much from it after borrowing it off a friend that recommended it to me. After seeing it, it's probably De Palma's most underrated film in my books. It might not have dated that well and the premise of the film might be considered ludicrous now, but it doesn't stop it from being an exciting adventure.This is a flashy and mostly fast-paced thriller by director Brian De Palma. It does have a couple of slow moments and maybe it was a tad too long, but it's well compensated by superbly tense situations and blistering action sequences, especially in the first opening hour involving Douglas's character when his son is kidnapped and when his hiding out from government agents. There are also some scenes that are not recommended for the squeamish. As some scenes are filled with a lot of blood and more blood. It's rather graphic violence. Not to forgot the whooping and hearting-pounding conclusion. The make-up and special effects throughout the film are truly stunning. The plot basis is on psychokinetic powers and at times it's rather absurd and incoherent. With some incredibly cheesy moments within the dialogue. Though, the direction is what covers the story's inconsistencies, with great and simply memorable set-ups and some well-shot scenes. The music score is fairly effective in building up the tension and thrills, but also it has an impact in the quieter moments.There are great performances from the experienced Kirk Douglas (who's incredibly fit for his age and has some physical roles) and Cassavetes, who really boost and add some class to the film. There is such a great chemistry between them and Cassavetes is simply riveting as a conniving agent. Amy Irving was good in her role as Gillian Bellaver, the girl who is having trouble coming to grips with her strong psychokinetic powers. Though, the same can't be said about the rest. As Andrew Steven's as Robin Sandza is incredibly hammy and Carrie Snodgress as Hester is fairly irritating. I wouldn't class it as one of De Palma's best, but still it's far away from his worst. Overall, it's a fascinating set-up that has its fair share of flaws, but that doesn't disrupt entertainment factor.
9 out of 12 people found the following review useful: Telekinesis, 31 May 2006 Author: jotix100 from New York
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Brian DePalma's follow up to his popular "Carrie", was in many aspects a continuation of the mood he had already established in his former work. Thus, "The Fury" suffered because it was not an inspired choice for a man who knew better, but for whatever circumstances decided to go ahead with this project. The film is based on a novel by John Farris, which we never read, so there is no point of reference. Mr. Farris also wrote the screen treatment.This ambitious film travels from the Middle East to Chicago in a tale of intrigue and super natural forces that is incomprehensible, at times. The idea of having a gifted young man working for the bad guys and capitalizing on all that can be extracted from his prodigious mind, is a disturbing idea. That there could be another brilliant mind, a young woman, presents a challenge for the evil people that are trying to use them for evil purposes.The director was not as lucky with "The Fury" as with some of his best known, and more accomplished films. Amy Irving plays the young Gillian, who is terrified once she understands why she is so much wanted. In a way, she is an extension of Carrie, the heroine of the previous film. Kirk Douglas has some good moments. Carrie Snodgress was one of the best things in the movie. Charles Durning, Carol Rossen, and Fiona Lewis, do outstanding work. On the other hand, the great actor/director John Cassavetes seems to sleep walk through his role as the man behind the conspiracy. Darryl Hannah is seen briefly in the scene at Gillian's school.The film has an effective musical score from John Williams. Although the director didn't succeed in making this a better movie, he still shows an affinity for the genre and cannot be dismissed for trying to create a good entertainment.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: One of De Palma's most underrated movies!, 22 December 2002 Author: Infofreak from Perth, Australia
'The Fury' is a very interesting mixture of science fiction, horror, action, and espionage thriller. One of Brian De Palma's most underrated movies, it isn't without some flaws, but overall I enjoyed it much more than some of his most recent disappointing efforts like 'Snake Eyes' and 'Mission To Mars'. They might be much better known than 'The Fury' but they are not better movies. The plot is a bit convoluted at times, and maybe a little TOO ambitious, but there are several classic sequences that make this a must see for any De Palma fan. The whole thing comes across like a cross between 'Carrie' (De Palma's previous movie), and Cronenberg's 'Scanners', a movie it predated by three years, interestingly enough. Amy Irving, who also appeared in 'Carrie', is beautiful and believable as Gillian, a troubled teen attempting to understand and control her frightening paranormal powers. Veteran Kirk Douglas ('Spartacus', 'Saturn 3') and cult director/actor John Cassavetes ('Rosemary's Baby', 'The Killers') are both solid as friends-turned-enemies who once worked for the same nameless Government agency. Douglas' psychic son Robin (Andrew Stevens) is kidnapped by Cassavetes and his cronies and experimented on until he reaches the brink of madness. Douglas desperately searches for him by any means necessary, a quest which inevitably means he encounters the traumatized Gillian, who has an increasing psychic link with Robin. Irving and Douglas are both excellent in this movie, Cassavetes plays a fantastic villain, and the supporting cast includes Carrie Snodgress ('Diary Of A Mad Housewife'), Charles Durning ('O Brother, Where Art Thou?'), Fiona Lewis ('Drum'), and cameos from Daryl Hannah ('Bladerunner'), De Palma semi-regular William Finley ('The Phantom Of The Paradise') and a noticeably younger and thinner Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue'). While I couldn't argue that 'The Fury' is De Palma's best work it has aged very well indeed and is recommended viewing. This is one movie that deserves to be re-evaluated!
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: For your eyes only., 17 May 2008 Author: brefane from United States
Fortunately, De Palma's hyperbolic, visually compelling, science fiction occult espionage thriller moves so fast that the ludicrous dialog, indifferent performances, and Swiss cheese plot don't spoil the fun. The Fury starts from an interesting premise, but De Palma is clearly more interested in the spectacular set pieces than in logic or characterization. And where Sissy Spacek was touching as Carrie, Amy Irving and Andrew Stevens as psychic teens who unleash the fury are whiny and callow, and you don't really care about their fates. Though Douglas, Snodgress, Cassavetes and De Palma regular William Finley ( Raymond Dunwoodie) are always interesting, the rest of the cast is pretty bad. And a scene between Irving and Douglas on a bus is embarrassingly bad. Still, The Fury with its telepathic visions, its pulse pounding score by John Willams and Richard H. Kline's elegant deep focus cinematography is far superior to junk like The Eyes of Laura Mars. De Palma pulls out all the stops and creates some spectacularly over-the-top scenes. Faults and all, The Fury is far more entertaining, and less pretentious and derivative than most of De Palma's more recent efforts to say nothing of Dressed to Kill, Body Double, Obsession, Wise Guys, Carlito's Way, Raising Cain, and The Bonfire of the Vanities.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Messing With His Mind As Well As His Libido, 19 May 2008 Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York
Does anyone remember the famous Star Trek episode, one of the earliest ones where an encounter with an anomaly in space leaves Enterprise crewman, Gary Lockwood with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men? If you'll remember he was abandoned on deserted asteroid. The Fury deals with a young man on the way to being another Gary Lockwood.Young Andrew Stevens has those abilities already, they just need to be focused and developed. Stevens is being raised by his widowed father Kirk Douglas who's a government agent. A raid while they're on vacation in the Mediterranean by some Arab terrorist types allows a ruthless bureaucrat played by John Cassavetes to separate father from son. Stevens believes Dad has died, but Kirk doesn't swallow that so easy.Kirk's on the hunt for his son and the quest takes him to Chicago where people like Stevens with paranormal abilities are being studied and tested so the USA can have them as a weapon. Carrie Snodgrass and Charles Durning are working there as well. And so is Fiona Lewis who's been given personal charge of Stevens and develops the kid's libido as well as his telekinesis.Brian DePalma directed this film and it's a good one with outstanding performances by all the cast. Look for a good performance from Amy Irving as another young person with such abilities who literally makes Cassavetes fall apart at the end. And there's a memorable bit from a younger and thinner Dennis Franz before the gain of weight and loss of hair that we all know as Detective Andrew Sipowicz. Franz plays a Chicago police officer who's something of a doofus. Fans of Brian DePalma in particular and horror films in general will very much like The Fury.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Powerful, bloody tale of telekinetic rivalry with a stunning John Williams score, 17 February 2006 Author: fertilecelluloid from Mountains of Madness
The author of the excellent 'All Heads Turn As The Hunt Goes By', John Farris, wrote his version of 'Carrie' after that novel's success as book and film; it was called 'The Fury'. It also explored the subject of telekinesis (moving objects with the mind), but he stretched it over a broader, international canvas and threw a terrorism subplot, a fractured love story, an Argento-inspired school for cute, gifted girls, telekinetic rivalry, and John Cassavetes as an evil puppetmaster of troubled psychic warriors into the brew. Assisted immeasurably by John William's devastating, baroque score, Brian De Palma's film of Farris's screenplay is another example of stunning visual storytelling. Losing the direct Hitchcockian references, De Palma applies a harder, leaner style to the storytelling and creates a powerful work that is less fun than his later films, but no less compelling. As always, there are a number of stand-out sequences, and the stand-out sequence in this is Amy Irving's escape from the institute where she is being groomed for "evil" by the charming but twisted Cassavetes. Irving's flight into the street, shot in slow motion, is cinema at its purest, most transporting and erotic (Irving is wearing a nightie). William's scoring of this sequence is stunning. A carousel accident, orchestrated by "evil" psychic Andrew Stevens (in a chilling performance), has great entertainment value, and the liberal use of blood and bulging prosthetic facial veins goes a long way towards elevating this film to cult status. The finale, which features an exploding head (a pre-"Scanners" exploding head, mind you) is simply bloody great.
6 out of 10 people found the following review useful: A terrific exercise in the supernatural, delivered with guts and gore from Brian De Palma!, 8 November 2003 Author: Renaldo Matlin from Oslo, Norway
Before "Scanners" there was this wonderful little gore fest from Brian De Palma, who all-ready had done such great Hitchcock-like thrillers as "Sisters" and "Obsession" and of course "Carrie", which in many ways is related to this one, another tale of telekinesis with deadly results. It is also worth noting that David Cronenberg's above-mentioned "Scanners" seem to owe a great deal to this movie."The Fury" balances brilliantly between weird and unexpected comedy (like the whole scene where Douglas carjacks two off-duty cops, one played by Dennis Franz!) and imaginative horror that will turn off anyone who hates blood. Great acting from everyone; worth noting the star-making performances of Amy Irving and Andrew Stevens, Douglas who has a field-day, Cassavetes who looks great as the sinister bad-guy and Carrie Snodgress who will touch your heart with her performance as the caring nurse Hester.The last scene is quite a kick, truly one of the most memorable finales ever shown on screen, and it could very well leave you cheering well into the end credits!
6 out of 10 people found the following review useful: A violent thriller in Hitchcock's style!!, 18 July 1999 Author: ary luiz dalazen jr. (ajr@fortalnet.com.br) from Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
The boss of an institute for psychic researches of the American government discovers that his own son and a girl are being sought by terrorists who want to use their mind's powers.Narrative conducted in an agile and suffocating way by the veteran De Palma, responsible for equally violent and full of action classic such as "The Untouchables". In this thriller marked by a great dramatic charge, the excellent supporting cast's work ( beginning with Carrie Snodgress,who has the most shocking, unpleasant and courageous scene , and with Charles Durning, who shows talent in a serious part, different from the characters that made his fame:he became well-known for doing partner's roles in some Burt Reynolds' movies, but here he offers a discreet, silent interpretation) sustains the interest for this confused but well developed and touching story. As already demonstrated in his previous works, the violence in De Palma's films is never gratuitous, however it is always true and raw.
7 out of 12 people found the following review useful: Grand Guignol shocker with explosive climax!, 19 March 2005 Author: Libretio
THE FURY Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: MonoAn ex-government agent (Kirk Douglas) enlists the help of a gifted psychic (Amy Irving) in the search for his equally gifted son (Andrew Stevens), who has been kidnapped by a sinister cartel for nefarious purposes.Dismissed at the time of its release as a mishmash of themes and genres, Brian De Palma's dazzling thriller encompasses Middle Eastern terrorism, government conspiracies, psychic horror, and a series of Grand Guignol set-pieces, orchestrated with pulp grandeur by a director flexing his creative muscles. Highlighted by John Williams' magnificent score (a genuinely eerie composition, one of the best of his career), the film builds slowly and surely to an explosive climax which closes proceedings on a note of absolute screaming hysteria (celebrated and vilified in equal measure by fans and critics alike!). The supporting cast includes John Cassavetes, Charles Durning and Carrie Snodgress, all of whom add gravitas to the material. Look fast for Daryl Hannah in an early pre-stardom role.
11 out of 20 people found the following review useful: * * *1/2 out of 4., 4 October 2001 Author: Brandon L. Sites (brandonsites1981@yahoo.com)
A man discovers that his telekinatic son has been kidnapped and is being exploited for his powers. He seeks the help of a young woman who has similar powers to help him locate his son, but it might be too late, because with each growing day he becomes more violent and out of control.Ambitious horror/suspense film is perhaps one of the scariest, most disturbing and violent films ever released into mainstream America. It reaches tremondous heights for a film in this genre, because of the terrific performances from everybody in the entire cast, top notch direction, superb score, and sensational editing that keeps things tight and never lets the suspense to ever lag. A masterpiece for the horror genre and one of De Palma's best.Rated R; Extreme Graphic Violence, and Profanity.
Add another review
