When I read the summary of "The Fury", it sure didn't sound like something I'd love. However, I am glad I decided to watch it anyway, as it's well made but more importantly, quite entertaining.

When the story begins, what appears to be a terrorist attack occurs. However, it's actually a ruse...and a chance for a secret government agency to kidnap Robin (Andrew Stevens) and kill his father, Peter (Kirk Douglas). But Peter is a survivor and manages to escape...though his son is taken. Peter knows what really happened...that $^%@ Childress (John Cassavetes) wants to have Robin for his experiments on psychic powers....and Robin has very unusual and powerful skills.

Some time passes and Peter is out to find his son and get revenge on Childress. At the same time, another psychically gifted young lady, Gillian (Amy Irving),has been identified and Childress is interested in adding her to his collection of psychic weapons! How do Gillian and Peter's paths converge and what is going to happen to this sick and twisted program run by Childress?

I read that John Cassavetes hated the film. Well, it's nothing like the films he directed....as his films tended to be very artsy and slow. Well, I like some art films but also am not a film snob and sometimes just want a mindless film for pure entertainment value...and that bill is met with "The Fury". It's well written AND cheesy....but I mean this positively. Sure, it's all silly...but the film is constructed so well, acted and directed so well that it works and manages to keep you on the edge of your seat. I usually hate films about ESP and psychic stuff...but this one won me over and is well worth seeing...and is among director De Palma's better films.

By the way, if you do watch it, you'll LOVE the portion early in the movie where Douglas' character takes a family hostage. Mother Nuckles is a most unusual and VERY funny character....see it and see what I mean.

Following on from the success of CARRIE , Brian de Palma gives us another movie about psychics and telekinesis - except this time, it's mixed up in a taut thriller concerning Kirk Douglas hunting, and being hunted by, a secret government agency who have kidnapped his son. This is an example of de Palma at his best, with lots of style and Hitchcockian moments, plenty of action, and some real show-stopping scenes. While the film may feel episodic in nature, with a number of plot strands eventually tying together, a stellar cast help to make this one unmissable.

Kirk Douglas is the good-natured hero, a role he had played a hundred times, so as you would expect he's naturally good at it. Andrew Stevens appears in a minor yet pivotal role as his son, and is scarily convincing. Carrie Snodgress lends solid support as Douglas' lover, while Charles Durning - an actor usually playing the hero's partner in films like COP - is surprisingly good in an understated role as a doctor. However, acting honours should go to Amy Irving - frequently moving as she struggles to come to terms with her new-found psychic abilities - and John Cassavetes, who steals his scenes as the chief villain of the piece.

From the unexpected and shocking opening - where a beach resort is the scene of a violent shootout - right up until the truly epic finale, this is a film which does everything right and keeps you riveted to the screen. While the plot may be a typical one, seen in the likes of King's FIRESTARTER, it's what de Palma does with it that makes this watchable. Good scenes include a car chase through fog-bound streets (watch out for a very young Dennis Franz as one of the drivers),another moment which highlights just what slow-motion was made for and obviously took a long time to get just right, and the climax, which brings a whole new meaning to the term 'tragedy'.

Horror fans will no doubt be delighted by the wealth of bloody scenes and glowing eyes on offer, climaxing in a shocking moment where Fiona Lewis' bloody body is twirled through the air like a broken puppet. But of course, this is just to make way for the real finale, where chief villain Cassavetes gets his just desserts as Irving makes him literally EXPLODE! This effect, shot from thirteen angles by de Palma, is simply awesome. It would make the film worth sitting through even if the rest of it was worthless, which of course it isn't. Created by Rick Baker, the special effects work here wasn't even matched by Cronenberg's later SCANNERS. These moments and more make THE FURY a must see for movie fans.

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.