MovieChat Forums > Space Cop (2016) Discussion > I can see now why RLM didn't like Kung F...

I can see now why RLM didn't like Kung Fury

posted 8 years ago by runofors
36 replies | jump to latest

Because Space Cop turned out by incident to be very much the same movie as Kung Fury but worse and that makes Space Cop seem like a cheap rip-off, even though it's been under development over 12 years. I can understand the RLM crew therefor having some bitterness over this and dissing Kung Fury in Half in the Bag last year.

The similarities between the movies are plenty:
Both leading characters are over the top cops with forced tough guy voices.
Both these cops are paired together with prehistoric partners by a loud mouth police chief.
Both movies feature 80's style music and similar style of cartoon violence and effects.
Both movies features time travel.
Both movies features cars that defies gravity.

Blah blah blah, the list goes on and I'm sure I've could have continued this list forever but I keep falling asleep trying to pass the first 15 minutes. It's Evan's sudden high pitched scream during the foot chase scene that momentarily wakes me up but then I settle in for another pleasant nap the rest of the movie.

[–] renaisancebill 8 years ago

Space Cop is not a great movie, but it has heart and you can feel the work that went into it. Kung Fury is pure crap made for 12 year olds.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] graemeevans1986-788-217421 8 years ago

its free because people gave them hundreds of thousands of dollars to make kung fury...just saying.

[–] runofors 8 years ago

Space Cop has heart? It took'em 12 years to get this made and that's not because of lacking money. They simply prioritized other projects during all those years.

Kung Fury on the other, now THAT'S heart. David Sandberg made one hell of a job to get his movie made against all odds in an isolated little town in Sweden and had to use huge amount of creativity to work around the limited resources.

To say Kung Fury is just crap made for 12 year olds, that is incredibly ignorant. Sure, 12-year olds might find the fast pace and action enjoyable, but it's the people in their 30's that will enjoy it the most because of the endless amount of nostalgic details of the 80's era.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] stro-2 8 years ago

> around the limited resources.

Haha, "limited resources" of $630,000+.

If RLM had that amount of money, they would hire competent lead actors, competent sound engineers, competent screenwriters and maybe even some extras for strip club scene.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 8 years ago

Sure, 12-year olds might find the fast pace and action enjoyable, but it's the people in their 30's that will enjoy it the most because of the endless amount of nostalgic details of the 80's era.

People in their 30s? In other words, people who barely remembered what the 80s were like and thinks it looks like the stuff they see in parodies about the '80s. 

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[–] runofors 8 years ago

I'm born 1980. That makes me 35 today and I grew up in an era when Internet and cellphones were barely invented. Spent my days playing 8-bit NES, watching A-Team, Airwolf, Nightrider, Miami Vice, Robocop, Commando, Rocky IV, Back to the Future, Karate Kid and all those other TV shows and action movies typical of the 80's. I was only I kid back then but I have very strong memories from those early years, especially the stuff on TV, early computers and videogames. I have every reason to feel nostalgic about that.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 8 years ago

You were born in 1980. You were literally 3-7 years old when you were watching all these shows and movies you mentioned, so how can you know for sure exactly what the 80s were like? I was born in 1973 and I didn't feel nostalgic at all watching Kung Fury, because it was an over the top, bizarre idea of what '80s pop culture was really like. It was like someone took the most superficial artifacts of the 80s and threw them into a blender without actually capturing that era.

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[–] runofors 8 years ago

Yeah, well maybe I have photographic memory and you don't. If I catch a glimpse of a movie by random I always recognize the movie within a second unless it's a movie I haven't yet seen of course. My first visual memories from childhood comes from TV rather than my own life. I remember sequences from "The greatest american hero" although I was only 2 or 3 when it aired in my country and it had no re-runs in Sweden.

Kung Fury is filled with 80's movies/video game references in almost every scene, Some of them very obvious, some of them hidden. it's your loss if you didn't notice them. And it's meant to be over the top and bizarre, nothing wrong with that.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 8 years ago

What stupid logic.

No, what's stupid logic is thinking that because you grew up watching TV shows and movies from a particular decade when you were in diapers that you have an intimate familiarity with what that decade was like.

I was born in 1973 and "grew up" watching nothing but 1950s, 60s and '70s TV reruns and movies. Shows like "I Love Lucy", "The Honeymooners", "All in the Family", "Mary Tyler Moore", etc. played ad nauseum when I was 4, 5, 6 years old. Are you now going to tell me that I know exactly what 1950s, 60s and 70s culture were like because I grew up watching this stuff? Why not? It makes as much sense as saying, "Yes, I was a toddler in the 1980s, but I can arrogantly state what the 80s were like better than a person who was much older at the time."

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[–] JackNimble82 8 years ago

If you were still wearing diapers when you were 7-9 years old then it's no wonder your intelligence is so lacking. Everyone should just stop replying to atomicgirl24 as I imagine she's still wearing diapers to this day. It's cute they let her on the internet though.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 8 years ago

Yeah, well maybe I have photographic memory and you don't.

Yes, 3-7 year old you remembers what the 80s were like better than the person who was much older at the time. Whatever.

Kung Fury is filled with 80's movies/video game references in almost every scene, Some of them very obvious, some of them hidden. it's your loss if you didn't notice them.

Found the hipster. Hipsters always think they're the only ones to "get references," and are fond of bragging about it, too.

So go ahead--tell me what references I missed. Please enlighten me. Keep in mind that you're talking to someone who was 7-17 in the '80s. Apparently, I was asleep this decade and have no idea what went on at the time. So please, O Enlightened One, tell us.

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[–] 8 years ago

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[–] c-m-cook 8 years ago

@atomicgirl

Thank you so much, this is the first time I have seen someone else write exactly what I have thought for so many years.
All these 'only 80's kids remember' BS articles are aimed at people born in the 80's, and they are invariably written by people also born in the 80's.
So unless you are born in the first 2 - 3 years of that decade you were barely out of nappies and walking when you claim to have built up all this nostalgia for the TV shows, chocolate bars, toys and songs of the era.
I was also born in 1973 and apart from some photographic evidence of me dressed in some wild brown and orange knit jumpers and sitting on a Chopper bicycle I have no real memories or connection to the 70's.
I am firmly in the 80's for music, TV, and chocolate bars, because that was when I was coming home after school and putting the TV on, making decisions about which chocolate bar I was going to have, listing my favourite toys for Santa and buying that particular single with my pocket money.
Making these choices, I believe, are what make you nostalgic, not just being a living organism laying on its back in a cot during that particular decade.

By the way the other posters comment of 'maybe I have a photographic memory' made me laugh harder than any joke in Space Cop, and I really enjoyed that film!

[–] JackNimble82 8 years ago

So even after reading all the replies you still thought it would be smart to ignorantly reply and agree with atomicdunce? FFS man. Go back to licking the window. Here's some nostalgia for ya. Remember the days before every idiot in the world was on the internet and it was actually a place to escape those morons for a while? Well I suppose you wouldn't, since your memory is failing and you are one of those morons.

[–] NiteOwl94 8 years ago

12 year olds? Seriously? No.
No 12 year old gets all the irony on display in Kung Fury.
They wouldn't get the massive joke of it.
They wouldn't get it, because your average 12 year old hasn't seen all (if any of) the movies Kung Fury is parodying.

You just sound like a RLM fanboy. Kung Fury was amazing.

[–] evil_henchman 8 years ago

Completely agree. I'm usually a great fan of their work (Plinkett Reviews, Half in the Bag) but this movie feels like something they themselves would be making fun of. In a way I can't believe it is made by the same people who completely "destroy" many other movies for reasons you could easily apply to Space Cop...

I expected much more of them.

[–] alex-simmons-843-329258 8 years ago

"This movie feels like something they would be making fun of"

That's kind of the point. Space Cop actually feels like a cheesy bad B movie from the 80's, while kung fury is just non stop references

[–] evil_henchman 8 years ago

It didn't to me. It wasn't funny and it wasn't otherwise engaging - they had short little pieces in Half in the Bag which were much better. Even the typical cheesy 80s movie isn't anywhere near this ridiculous and other than Space Cop, lots of those had other entertaining qualities.

I just don't understand why they made this movie. I have no idea what they wanted to achieve here.

The difference between Plinkett reviews and Space Cop is like the difference between first and second Star Wars trilogy.

[–] NiteOwl94 8 years ago

See, here's the problem- Space Cop doesn't feel like a cheesy bad B movie from the 80's.
Cheesy bad B movies from the 80's- provided they're also sci-fi action movies, didn't have dumb gags like the webcam *beep* or the baby in the boiling water, or the internet popup jokes, or any of that.
Cheesy 80's B movies were bad because they were trying to be good and failed miserably. Space Cop is actively trying to be that specific kind of bad, and actively missing the mark. First off, having Space Cop be a fat guy was a joke that undermined the whole movie for me. Go back and look at nonsensical *beep* like Abraxas or Samurai Cop. They hired either beefy muscle dudes for the leads, or handsome guys with mullets- both had the acting capacity of a brick wall.
I don't get why space cop had to be a fat slob. If it was supposed to be funny, it never made me laugh. It wasn't even the setup to any good gags.
Kung Fury might be nonstop references, but it's also a fraction of the length that Space Cop is. It also understands the genre it's parodying much better. Space Cop would've worked better as nonstop references because none of the 'original' humor they wrote was funny in the slightest.
Kung Fury got the visuals right, the tone right, the casting right, the absurdity right, and the story right. Space Cop got absolutely nothing right. Nothing. I hate it. It was a complete and total waste of my time.

[–] Heigen1 8 years ago

I liked Space Cop but it was pretty damn lackluster, not what I was expecting and it would been funnier if they made it better and not just straight go into *beep* territory. For example even if Space Cop was a joke character he should've had a real looking uniform.

[–] karolisd 8 years ago

Haven't seen Space Cop yet, but Kung Fury is terrible. It has a very lazy story, no good jokes and its references and style isn't that of an 80s movie. Most of Kung Fury isn't even reminiscent of the 80s. It tried too hard and failed miserably. And it had way too much special effects which made the matters worse.

[–] NiteOwl94 8 years ago

Ever seen Cobra? Masters of the Universe? The Terminator? Cyborg? Escape from the Bronx? Weird Science? Nemesis? Ninja III: The Domination? You didn't get Kung Fury at all. The whole story was a joke. That's the gag. The angry police captain? Paring up the rogue cop with a weird partner/sidekick? The over-the-top backstory? Absurdly improbably villain? It was all perfectly 80's. It didn't fail at all. YOU didn't like it, and that's fine, but currently right now... it has 24,260,416 views, with 558,306 likes against 9,401 dislikes.
And that's just on youtube.
If you genuinely think that's failing, I've got wings and can fly to the moon. I'd say it succeeded. I'm a huge fan of 80's cinema- mainstream, popular, cheesy, unknown, and obscure. All of it. And just because this movie didn't tick your boxes, or make references that you'd get, doesn't mean it wasn't extremely 80's. Everything about it was 80's.

[–] nightmare111 8 years ago

ive seen all those movies you said, KF was meant has a parody of the 80s but it should have been just the 3 minutes trailer that was released firt after the sucess they made a 30 minutes short movie but felt like a very long music videoclip the story was a mess just some random jokes connected... woulda been nice to have hasselhof has a main character in a sci fi movie but they didnt had the budget for him just for the music soundtrack, maybe they should seek finance for a sequel 700k is too short to really make anything coherent.

[–] NiteOwl94 8 years ago

It's not that they didn't have the budget for Hasslehoff, he only got involved after they were basically done anyways. And no, having him as a main character would've been mad distracting.

[–] sagerbj 7 years ago

Space Cop isn't good, but Kung Fury is terrible. It's simply filled with a bunch of references to what 20-somethings to remember from their childhood, mixed with a bunch of silly non-sense. It's one of those annoying parody movies where I think "have these people ever actually seen an 80s movie?" There's a lot of spoof horror movies that do the same thing. Unlike great spoofs like Naked Gun, which is a cop movie set in a ridiculous world, Kung Fury is like an 80s movie set in a retarded world, including a cast of 100% hipsters.

[–] NiteOwl94 7 years ago

And yet another case of someone who doesn't know what Kung Fury is parodying.
Oh my god I'm so tired of explaining this. Kung Fury isn't parodying mainstream 80's. It's not parodying stuff like Beverly Hills Cop or Lethal Weapon. It's parodying the extreme low budget OTT nonsense like Steele Justice, Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, Miami Connection, American Ninja, Cobra, Commando, Masters of the Universe, and rest of Cannon's film library.
The Naked Gun is a different kind of parody because it's parodying a different kind of movie. Kung Fury is making fun of movies that were already over the top and retarded.

[–] sagerbj 7 years ago

I'm aware of this. I've seen most of those movies. It's a parody in as much as it recreates the tropes, somewhat effectively in a few cases, but mostly it's "Seth McFarlane" humor where the joke is the reference. Which isn't funny. Then you see a busty woman riding a t-rex (or whatever) and it dawns on me that taht's just something the director thinks is cool. I've seen a lot of Cannon movies, I don't recall a t-rex in any of them (and don't throw out Theodore Rex, that's completely different.) It's not like the director taking a trope to it's extreme endpoint (like the animated cat in Last Action Hero.) It's just something they thought was cool and weird. As a satire of 80's action, I think it fails on most levels. Where it does succeed is mostly on surface-level aspects (which is actually pretty appropriate). Compare it to something like Turbo Kid, which is a satire of the same movies, yet manages to capture the feel of those movies, and it's night and day.

It reminded me of the Final Girls, which was supposed to be a satire of 80's slashers, but didn't manage to get past "well there's a silent killer and it's set at a camp." Great.

[–] NiteOwl94 7 years ago

Again, the T-Rex was there to show the extreme inaccuracies in the time travel movies of the 1980's. My Science Project was one, and there was definitely a T-Rex in that movie. You still sound you don't get it at all. I'm sorry, but Kung Fury just wasn't for you. In the same vein that the meme-heavy, and *beep* Space Cop wasn't for me. Also, the whole entire point of Kung Fury is that a lot of 80's movies simply did what looked cool rather than what made sense. Even the title character is a blend of like, Samurai Cop and Cobra. There's precedent for every one of it's jokes, and even the most extreme ones- it fits the nature of the parody. If movies in the 80's simply did what looks cool, then a parody of that same mindset is going to be absolutely *beep* absurd. Turbo Kid isn't a parody, it's not even a satire. It's an homage. You can't compare the two, and AGAIN they're both reflecting vastly different kinds of movies.

[–] rj-rijkers 8 years ago

majority of the audience didn't get the jokes and references....
p.e. when the guy in the harbor showed up they all thought the big mobile carphone was the joke and were glad they got it...but totally missed the actual conversation the guy had on the phone which was the joke about failing his bloodtest yet thought it was ok since it tested positive...

ontopic: spacecop was very hard to get through, I don't mind the cheese but it all looked like a comiconskit on the parkinglot filmed with somebody's malfunctioning phonecam.

[–] taylordomek 8 years ago

Kung Fury itself is a rip-off of the much-better Australian TV series Danger 5

[–] avortac4 (3458) 2 years ago

I think they could've succeeded if they started from a really good story.

A good story that INSPIRES everyone involved to surpass their usual self and give us their best.

Then you can have some bad effects or bad props, and it won't matter. The bad props/effects/B-movie stuff shouldn't be the POINT / CORE of the movie, it should be the thing the audience forgives, because you have a VISION, a story, something you genuinely want to tell.

They didn't go that route, so the result doesn't work. It's basically 'B-movie for the sake of B-movie, laugh now that we bumble around and act badly deliberately'.

If the story was their driving force, and the effects were 'whatever', and sometimes they could even be good, it could be a beautiful expression of love for the craft instead of 'trying to manipulate the audiences with cheap tricks', as it comes off as now.

[–] 8 years ago

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