Kung Fury is a 32-minute Swedish action-comedy about a Miami detective who travels back in time to kill Adolf Hitler, and it knows exactly what it is. Directed and written by David Sandberg, the film is a love letter to 1980s martial arts and police action movies, packed with references, cameos, and a running gag about a talking cobra. It is also, at its core, a movie about a man who loses his partner and spends the rest of it trying to get him back.
The setup is simple. Detective Kung Fury and his partner Dragon catch a red ninja in a back alley. Dragon gets sliced in half. Kung Fury gets struck by lightning and bitten by a cobra, gaining extraordinary kung fu powers. He defeats a rogue arcade machine robot, quits the force when assigned to partner with Triceracop, and then discovers that Hitler, a.k.a. “Kung Führer,” has entered the timeline to kill him. Hackerman sends Kung Fury back to Nazi Germany, but a glitch sends him to the Viking Age instead. Thor fixes that, and the final battle begins.
Trailer, via Paul shokdoktrine.
The Time Travel Loop
The film’s central trick is a time loop that lets it keep resetting. Kung Fury kills Hitler in Nazi Germany, only to find that the arcade machine robot in 1985 now bears a swastika on its body, and Hitler himself enters the timeline to exact revenge. The movie treats this as a structural joke rather than a problem to solve, and it works.
Sandberg directs with a confident hand, staging action sequences that lean heavily on slow-motion and close-ups. The choreography is competent, if not spectacular, and the humor lands more often than it misses. The film’s self-awareness is its strongest asset. It knows it is silly, and it plays that card early and often.
Cast and Cameos
David Sandberg stars as Kung Fury, a role that requires physicality and a straight face. He delivers both in roughly equal measure. Jorma Taccone plays Hitler/Kung Führer as a cartoon villain, complete with a Gatling-type gun from his podium. The chemistry between the two is the film’s emotional center, even though the relationship is entirely fictional.
Leopold Nilsson plays Hackerman, a computer whiz who transforms into a Hackerbot. Andreas Cahling voices Thor, while Per-Henrik Arvidius voices both Chief and the voice of Thor. Helene Ahlson plays Katana, who rides a talking Tyrannosaurus and wields an Uzi, and Eleni Young plays Barbarianna, a Viking warrior who rides a giant wolf and wields a Minigun. Eos Karlsson plays the Red Ninja, and Magnus Betnér plays Colonel Reichstache. Erik Hörnqvist plays Triceracop, voiced by Frank Sanderson.
The cameos are the film’s biggest draw. David Hasselhoff voices Hoff 9000, and Frank Sanderson voices both Cobra, Kung Fury’s spirit animal, and Dinomite, Katana’s pet Tyrannosaurus. These appearances are brief but memorable, and they add a layer of absurdity that the film could not sustain on its own.
The Kick and the Uppercut
The film’s climax is a chaotic sequence involving a tyrannosaurus, a robot eagle, and a hammer dropped by Thor. It is over-the-top and ridiculous, and it is exactly what the movie needed. The final shot, with Kung Fury giving Hitler an uppercut to the groin before Thor drops his hammer, is pure 1980s action-comedy. It is also the moment where the film’s tone shifts from silly to oddly sincere.
The film’s message is that revenge is not enough. Kung Fury returns to his timeline and defeats the arcade machine robot again, but the swastika remains. The film ends with a promise of a sequel, and that promise is kept.
What Works, What Doesn’t
The film’s strengths are also its weaknesses. The pacing is uneven, and some scenes feel padded. The dialogue is occasionally clunky, and the jokes about the talking cobra and the spirit animal can wear thin. The film is also very short, which means it has less room to develop its characters beyond their functions.
But the film’s heart is in the right place. It respects its genre conventions while subverting them, and it is willing to commit fully to its premise. The action is fun, the humor is consistent, and the cameos are genuinely entertaining.
Key Facts
- Runtime: 32 minutes
- Directed and written by David Sandberg
- Crowdfunded through Kickstarter, reaching $630,019
- Screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival
- Cast includes David Sandberg, Jorma Taccone, Leopold Nilsson, Andreas Cahling, Helene Ahlson, Eleni Young, Eos Karlsson, Eleni Young, Erik Hörnqvist, Magnus Betnér, and David Hasselhoff (voice)
Kung Fury is not a masterpiece. It is a loving, goofy, and occasionally brilliant tribute to a specific era of filmmaking. It is best enjoyed as a guilty pleasure, a film that knows exactly what it wants to be and executes it with confidence.
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