Kung Fury is a 2015 English-language Swedish martial arts comedy featurette film written and directed by David Sandberg. It pays homage to 1980s martial arts and police action films. The film stars Sandberg in the title role, Jorma Taccone, Leopold Nilsson, and a cameo appearance by David Hasselhoff.
The film was crowdfunded through Kickstarter in the beginning of 2014, with pledges reaching US$630,019, exceeding the original target goal of $200,000, but short of the feature film goal of $1 million. It was selected to screen in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, losing to Rate Me from the United Kingdom.
Plot
Sometime in the early 1980s, Miami-Dade Police Department detective Kung Fury and his partner Dragon apprehend a red ninja in a back alley, but Dragon is sliced in half by the ninja while Kung Fury is suddenly struck by lightning and bitten by a cobra, giving him extraordinary kung fu powers that enable him to defeat his foe. Years later in 1985, after defeating a rogue arcade machine robot, Kung Fury quits the force when he is assigned to partner with Triceracop, fearing that he would lose another partner in the line of duty. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler, a.k.a. "Kung Führer", enters the timeline and remotely guns down the police chief and attacks the precinct through a mobile phone. Intent on avenging the chief, Kung Fury has computer whiz Hackerman send him back in time to kill Hitler in Nazi Germany. A glitch in the system, however, sends him forward into the Viking Age. After Kung Fury meets the Viking valkyries Barbarianna and Katana, the Norse god Thor sends him to Nazi Germany for him to finish his job.
Upon his arrival, Kung Fury singlehandedly mows down dozens of Nazi soldiers with his kung fu skills, but is gunned down by Hitler using a Gatling-type gun from inside his podium. Suddenly, Thor, Hackerman, Triceracop, the Viking valkyries, and a tyrannosaurus hack into the timeline and kill the rest of the Nazi army while the tyrannosaurus squares off against Hitler's robotic Reichsadler. After being revived by Hackerman, Kung Fury gives Hitler an uppercut to the groin before Thor drops his hammer on the Nazi leader and his robotic eagle. Seeing his mission as accomplished, Kung Fury returns to his timeline.
Back in 1985 Miami, Kung Fury once again battles and defeats the arcade machine robot, but notices a Swastika on the robot's body while Hitler and his Reichsadler enter the timeline, vowing revenge on Kung Fury.
Cast
David Sandberg as Kung Fury, a Miami detective who possesses a new and powerful form of kung fu after being struck by lightning and bitten by a cobra, thus becoming "The Chosen One" as foretold by an ancient prophecy Jorma Taccone as Adolf Hitler, a.k.a. "Kung Führer", who aims to become the greatest martial artist by traveling through time to kill "The Chosen One" Steven Chew as Dragon, Kung Fury's partner who is killed by a red ninja Leopold Nilsson as Hackerman, a computer whiz who can transform into a Hackerbot Andreas Cahling as Thor (voiced by Per-Henrik Arvidius), the Norse god of thunder Erik Hornqvist as Triceracop (voiced by Frank Sanderson), a half-man, half-Triceratops cop who is assigned as Kung Fury's new partner Per-Henrik Arvidius as Chief Eleni Young as Barbarianna, a Viking warrior who rides a giant wolf and wields a Minigun Helene Ahlson as Katana (voiced by Yasmina Suhonen), a Viking warrior who rides a talking Tyrannosaurus and uses an Uzi Eos Karlsson as the Red Ninja Magnus Betnér as Colonel Reichstache Björn Gustafsson as Private Lahmstache David Hasselhoff as Hoff 9000 (voice) Frank Sanderson as Cobra (voice), Kung Fury's spirit animal; and Dinomite (voice), Katana's pet Tyrannosaurus
Production
David Sandberg is a Swedish filmmaker who had previously directed television commercials and music videos. In 2012, he quit the commercial directing business and focused on writing a script for an action comedy film set in the 1980s, inspired by action films of that era. He initially spent US$5,000 on producing and shooting footage with his friends, which became the trailer.
In December 2013, Sandberg released the trailer and began a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the film's production with the goal of raising US$200,000 to produce a 30-minute version of the film and stream it online for free. A second goal was added with the target set to $1 million to rewrite the story into a full-length feature and a possible distribution deal. Most of the raw footage over green screen had been filmed using a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and a Sony FS700, but additional funding was required for post-production.