User reviews

Marvel's hard-boiled hero (David Hasselhoff) is brought to TV. He is brought back to fight the menace of Hydra after exiling himself in the Yukon since the end of the Cold War. The children of the former Hydra head, Baron Von Stucker, have taken charge of the terrorist organization.

I did not expect much from this one. A made-for-TV movie starring David Hasselhoff that never made it to DVD... that should be a series of red flags that scream "terrible movie". But I figured it would be entertaining -- not good, but bad enough to be fun. Instead, it was just bad.

Hasselhoff did alright and actually looks a lot like Nick Fury (with all due respect to Samuel L. Jackson, who now ones the role). The general plot was good. The effects were weak (but not awful). The biggest mystery is Sandra Hess' voice -- she was born in Switzerland, but has no ability whatsoever to have a German accent.

Watching this with two non-comic book fans made another shortcoming abundantly clear: the film did not adequately explain what Hydra or SHIELD were. I know because I grew up reading comics, but within the film it is not very obvious who is who and what is what. I am also unclear about Baron von Strucker being born in 1932... that makes him a bit young to be a Nazi serving alongside Hitler.

Before anyone complains about me voting this five out of ten, let me explain where I am coming from. There are many people out there, like me, who watch bad movies to enjoy them. This is one of the greatest bad movies I have seen in recent years.

To the unfamiliar, the enemies Hydra seem like self styled "Commie Nazis." When in fact they are, well, self styled commie Nazis. And those who don't know Marvel should easily be able to figure out that Nick Fury is a secret agent in a secret government organization, that is located in a flying base that is made up of sets from the cult classic TV show Sliders. Every set in here looks stolen from Fox's Sliders, and most of them probably were.

Of course, cheesy sets go with bad camera work. Bad Camera work goes well with bad special effects. Bad special effects go with bad acting. And bad acting is perfect with lines like "Colombian Tree Frog. The most deadly venom on Earth" or "That's the problem with the Third Reich. No sense of humor." Yes. No sense of humor. Our hatred for Nazis has nothing to do with the attempted Genocide of the Jews. This movie was, of course, made for Fox. And was a lot better, surprisingly, then fox's other made for TV superhero crap fest, Generation X. That isn't even a good bad movie. It was just painful.

The pain that is Nick Fury, of course, you get used to. Or you can self medicate with a bottle of Jack Daniels, and have yourself one hell of night.

Sticking to the content better than the still enjoyable telefilm Generation X, Nick Fury still provided a lot of enjoyment for fans of the comic who got to see their favorite characters brought to life. Having read the comics I found it fun seeing Fury, Gabe Jones, Dugan (Who was never called "Dum Dum" as he is in the comics, thank God), Quartermain, Viper and even Baron Von Strucker.

Hasselhoff did a good job, playing Fury much like he is in the comics, tough as nails yet likeable. Neil Roberts was a standout as Pierce as well, and I particularly liked Fury's line after he seemingly died ("I got better"). When have comic fans not heard that.

A great film. I watched it again not too long ago, and liked it still. A lot of fun for fans and anyone who enjoys stuff that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Have a good day then.

No really. I have NO idea why I'm even rating this movie. I mean commenting on it. FIRST, I gave it (2) pts. for NOT taking itself seriously (that would surely have been a disaster). After all, how serious were they, casting Dave H. as Nick Fury. I'm laughing at that last sentence: "David Haselhoff as Nick Fury". Is there anyone further from Fury than he? Why am I doing this!

S * P * O * I * L * E * R's coming right up!

First, I guess its only in the future aboard the 'helicarrier'. Down on the ground no one owns a vehicle made in their timeline. Not to mention, one of the computers the bad guys were using had a keyboard from a PET computer. Okay, low-budget, I can let that one slide.

Second, more SPOILS here: Viper takes away all his guns, devices, and even his eye-patch electronic lock pick - scoff. Kind of cool was that he had a false eyeball. Actually a plastique bomb that he used to blow the freezer door they were locked up in. The BIG 'climax' of the movie. It apparently was the ONLY weapon he had left at his disposal, yet, he's pacing in the cell/freezer wondering, 'What ever will we do next? How is the great Nick Fury going to get out of this one." While all along he has this eye-bomb. Maybe he should have left it in his socket when he set it to explode -god knows how long- later. The other two were somewhat subdued by the cold... good thing he had a fever.

Which brings me to another major beef with this plot. Now in all fairness I can't hold this 'beef' solely to this flick. Many plots involve some long drawn out method for killing the hero. Why not just kill him when she zapped him in the beginning of the movie. I'll never understand how writers can even use that one anymore.

There's much more, but I already feel kind of dumb picking apart this movie. Its a bit like making fun of the blind or crippled and now I'm ashamed of myself. Oh well.

Like I wrote earlier, I gave this one 2/10. 2 for casting Haselhoff as the lead role, thus warning us that its not to be taken seriously. So, I guess I shouldn't...

thank you.

This is based on a comic strip ? I guess that's why there's a total sense of unreality pervading throughout the whole movie which will be a massive turn off for a mainstream audience and it appears that even comic book fans ( I won't flatter them by calling them " graphic novel " fans ) don't think much of NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD and who can blame them

What this adaptation does is fail to treat the audience with any type of respect as if the producers are saying " Don't worry about plot holes or anything like that , it's based on a comic strip so only schmucks will be watching it " hence we're treated with a totally non functional opening and unless you've read the comic strip in question you'll be at something of a loss as to why he's a big honcho who this secret organization want back

Did I say it's a secret organization ? I guess that's why its agents wear boiler suits while the top agents strut around in leather cat suits . Yup nothing like wearing a leather catsuit in you want to blend in . Anyway if you think the good guys are being illogical wait till you see the baddies who are anarchist multi-ethnic neo Nazis ! Isn't that a contradiction in terms since

1 ) Nazis were stateists Ie They believed that the government should run industry and the financial markets . The word " Nazi " comes from the amalgamation of the words " National " and " Socialist " Anarchists are egalitarian who despise the concept of stateism

2 ) Nazis despise the concept of multiculturalism but racially diverse people like Slavs and Asians seem to be in this organization . Do I have to point out that the foundation of Nazism revolves around ethnic Ayraen purity ?

3 ) Anarchists also despise the concept of hierarchy so what the head villain is doing spouting stuff like " People need a strong leader " is beyond me . Not it's not beyond me since it became obvious as soon as the movie started that the producers were going to treat the audience with total contempt

And the contempt continues throughout the movie as Fury and co escape from one tight spot after another in a ridiculous " One leap and they were free because the writers seem to be making things up as they're going along " manner

As you would expect the production values are almost every bit as bad as you might imagine . I say " almost " because you have to bare in mind that this is effectively a TVM and the budget is tight but that's no excuse for the terrible acting with the Nazi female villain played by an atrocious actress who's only saving grace is that she's very attractive , in fact most of the female cast is attractive which probably explains why David Hasslehoff seemed to spent more time in rehearsal staring at his pretty co-stars instead of learning to say his lines in a convincing manner . But that's no excuse for turning in a bad performance and NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD is a very sorry excuse of a movie

I'm an old-school Marvel fan. My Nick Fury was a hard-bitten, cigar-chomping Sergeant who ran a multi-cultural commando platoon in WW2, later a CIA Colonel who fought the Hate Monger (in reality Adolph Hitler) alongside the Fantastic Four in 1963, then turned up as the one-eyed director of SHIELD in 1965.

The Samuel L Jackson version is a 2002 construct created by Mark Millar for the Marvel alternate universe series The Ultimates. That version didn't fight in World War 2 and is not, technically, part of the main Marvel Universe canon. I guess the opportunity to actually cast Jackson in the role proved too great a lure for the film-makers, so they conflated the two universes.

This version of Nick Fury really does not deserve the hate from the other reviewers here. It really isn't that bad. The Heli-Carrier is great. All the supporting characters are here: The Contessa, Dum-Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones (thought he's morphed from a bugle-player into a scientist) and Burt Lancaster look-alike Clay Quartermaine (though he dies in the first few minutes). And Fury actually chomps a cigar all the way through.

I like the weird Hydra agents with their shaved heads and Matrix-style sunglasses. I loved Strucker's creepy daughter Viper, obviously channeling the sadistic Fah Lo See, portrayed by Myrna Loy in Mask of Fu Manchu (1932). I was glad to see the SHIELD agents' trademark black leather jumpsuits. And it's got The Hoff as Nick Fury.

Couple of small points - the junior agent Pierce should have been the boy-scoutish Jasper Sitwell from the comics. The Contessa should have had the fetching white streak in her hair. And instead of Viper, I'd have love to have seen Madame Hydra ... but you can't have everything.

Don't get me wrong ... this isn't even close to the level of the more recent Marvel movies, but it's not the worst of the other Marvel screen adaptations of the same period - The Punisher (which scored higher on IMDB) doesn't play as well. Blade, also scripted by David Goyer, fares a little better, but all in all, I quite enjoyed The Hoff as Nick Fury.

I have honestly not read all that much about S.H.I.E.L.D.(though I wouldn't mind doing so), but I would wager that those in charge of this haven't, either. They certainly don't manage to raise the characters presented in this above base stereotypes by endowing them with a shred of actual personality, make this anything more than a forgettable, unintentionally campy and cheesy B-grade action-flick or treat the medium of comic books with greater respect than Schumacher did, or that Batman got on TV in the 60's. So, Nick comes out of retirement to combat bad deeds, in the form of hideously overdone German accents(so thick that one has to be in awe of the... sigh... actors' ability to actually deliver lines without choking), as spoken in by the villains, with pure evil particularly being incarnated in Andrea, who has a serious fixation on her pinkie, and Werner's eyes that were cast primarily because they come off as being up to no good. All four of them ham it up enough to cause the entire vegetarian population worldwide to stand up and protest. How will the continually grumbling Hasselhoff ever defeat such wrong-doers? Don't worry. He's got Lisa Rinna, Rex Buckland and I Can't Believe It's Not James Earl Jones backing him up. You don't need depth perception to realize the sheer enormous amount of clichés in this(they may very well succeed in fitting every single one of them in). The plot is standard. Casting varies, David wasn't the worst possible choice. Fights and the like are relatively dull. This is mostly predictable. The effects are unimpressive. You get to see the Albatross... in fact, they were so proud of the one or two passes they did on it, they kept showing us that whenever an image of said vessel might help. Don't forget, in a movie put together by blind people, the one-eyed man will be spared at least some of the horror. Fox... why? There is relatively moderate and infrequent language, and violence and sexuality are similarly mild. I recommend this to those who must watch every single one of these, as well as anyone who wishes to MST3K it. 1/10

This movie was atrocious. There, I said it. The only good part, sadly, was the Hoff. I found him to be a believable Nick Fury. Everyone else on the other hand, whoa! Boy did some of them suck. Viper? Holy cow, someone give her some anti-pyschotics. There is a difference between acting in a comic book movie and acting like a cartoon character. She was WAY over the top. I was afraid she was going to jump out of the TV and stab me with her pinky nail. She reminded me of the over acting from the Dick Tracey movie villains. And what's with her and her brother? I really kept getting that weird incest vibe from these two. I half expected them to start making out in front of their froze fathers corpse. And that English dude? WTF was up with his over the top accent? It's like they said, "be REALLY English, people will love it." It's really distracting. And speaking of distracting, was anyone else really distracted by Val's HUGE F'ing lips! Sweet Jesus, I thought Angelina Jolie had huge DSLs! I wish they'd not let some of these people's performances detract from this film like they did. I don't even really know what the story was now, but it doesn't matter. I couldn't sit through those peoples' garbage again.

what were they thinking? this film was quickly lost in the sea of forgetfulness -- there is a very,very good reason for that. The special effect are terrible, the acting is very bad. the story is extremely dull. there are real action scenes. but the girls are cute. the women in this are pretty hot and look very sexy in those skin-tight outfits, and that is the only good thing i can say about this movie - 1 out of 10 stars

How on earth the scribe responsible for the Blade and Batman Begins screenplays was also the mastermind behind adapting this abomination shall forever remain one of history's great mysteries. It really is staggering in its ineptitude.

David Hasselhoff plays Nick Fury, whom exiled after retirement, returns to battle Hydra, who is threatening to destroy America with a virus - as you do. Explaining the various galaxy-sized plot holes - among them being Nick contracting a terminal illness, intellects apparently all looking like Lisa Rinna and in one ludicrous scene involving Viper escaping from the authorities - would be a futile exercise. The film never starts to make sense. But funnily enough that actually makes the film fatuously hilarious.

Whereas stinkers such as Space Truckers and Battlefield Earth are just so appalling that you may just die of boredom and anger, this film actually has the reverse effect. It's no wonder David Hasselhoff is a joke to everyone, he probably knew this film was going to stink when he signed on for it. As did everyone else. Either that or they just wanted to get famous. If you're a devout fan of abhorrent cinema (although this one never actually made it onto the big screen) then this one's for you. Without doubt the worst film I've ever seen. But at least it made me laugh.

Truthfully, for a made for TV movie, it was actually pretty good. I liked the actors playing the subordinate roles. The special effects were passable since this was not a full feature film. The only problem I had was that the actress playing Viper was way, way too hammy. As for David Hasselhoff (beside the fact that it was David Hasselhoff, which I overlooked), I thought he really looked the part of a retired Nick Fury. He captured the Nick Fury mannerisms pretty well. Too bad the audience didn't give him the pass that were given to other actors from bad series (cough, Smallville, cough). I would have really liked a series made of Nick Fury. If the critics were as harsh on the Star Trek series as they were on this movie, Star Trek would never have survived. And most of the early episodes in each of the Star Trek series were far worse than this movie. Give this movie a break. We all missed out on seeing Nick Fury every week. Which is a shame because it would have only gotten better!

Out of interest, after never watching this movie until tonight on TV to get more information on it.

First of all I thought it was entertaining!

So much so I'd say a lot of the other reviews are just being to critical and on the "Hasselhoff is xxxx, haha, bandwagon".

Yea maybe David Hasselhoff is pretty cheesy in a lot of the shows he's been (or otherwise produced), and sure maybe he's no silent tough guy (like Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, etc.) but if you look past the stigma it's a pretty entertaining movie..

If you can catch it on TV, give it a go..

This movie received a lot of flack, and it's not all undeserved. Yes, Andra Hess is an absolutely terrible actress who can't resist camping up the series and turning Hydra into a complete parody as opposed to a legitimate threat. Yes, the story could have used a bit more work. But where this film got things right, it REALLY got them right.

The Agents of SHIELD are all well-cast and did great work in their roles. But I want to bring special attention to David Hasselhoff. The man gets a lot of flack for his performance in the role and I think a lot of that is just because he's David Hasselhoff. But in truth, this is probably the finest performance of his career. Hasselhoff nails not only the look, but the personality of Nick Fury and he looks like he stepped right out of a Steranko comic.

It really is a shame that Hasselhoff's performance and potential future as Nick Fury was completely overshadowed both by his own reputation and by the bad elements of the film. Given a proper villain in the form of a well-cast, well-written Baron Strucker, this would have been an incredible telefilm that would have led into an amazing television series.

Erm was this supposed to be serious? I really hope not, as this has to be one of the worst comic book movie adaptations ever. I don't mean to hastle the hoff, but c'mon the guy cant act and as for the supporting cast to be out acted by David Hasselhoff should tell you something about future career prospects.

I have only a vague knowledge off the Nick Fury comic books but I can imagine how fans must have felt watching this. I just don't know how it's possible to make a film so bad, I just can't think of anything good to say about the movie.

If your into so bad their good movies you may get something out of this anyone else should avoid, especially Nick Fury fans who will no doubt be upset to see their favourite character ruined.

Maybe not the worst movie ever but pretty close 2/10

I'm giving this movie a 4, which is better than it deserves, but I had an extremely entertaining Saturday afternoon when this came on the TV.

Want a clue about how bad this movie is? Nick Fury is played by David Hasselhoff. David frigging Hasselhoff. That's right. The guy from Baywatch. When you see this guy's name in the credits, you know you're in for a treat.

Probably the best thing about this movie is the villianness, who takes megalomania to the extreme, giving the classic diabolical villain laugh every thirty seconds. It's just so far over the top that you could swear this was a parody.

Before you watch this movie, here are some facts to remember: 1. Nazis = Evil. Therefore, Evil = Nazis. If you're evil, you must be a Nazi, even if the things you are evil about are completely contrary to Nazi ideals. 2. The best way to fix a faulty elevator is to shoot it. 3. Contrary to popular belief, it is in fact possible for your brain cells to commit suicide during exposure to excessive stupidity.

What to say about the movie where David Hasselhoff is the brightest point ... At first glance, compared to this, "Baywatch" looks like Oscar material. It has typical S.H.I.E.L.D. story, but it is linear, undeveloped and without surprises. Characterization is nonexistent, characters are two-dimensional and without background. And I better not even mention special effects. Still, David is visually impressive and, his over-acting aside, good fit for this role, and movie has decent atmosphere that somewhat leaves comic-book impression. Bad, but not tragic.

4,5/10

This was quite simply a complete and utter suck-fest. It sucked out loud, in stereo. David Hasselhoff successfully completed the mission that HYDRA agents have been attempting for years: He brutally murdered Nick Fury.

Hasselhoff doesn't even LOOK like Nick Fury. He's white, and he's got brown hair. That's where the similarities end. He doesn't look grizzled, he doesn't look tough, and he doesn't look smart. He is a German Pop-Singer. I really, really hope that they make a good movie for this character, because this one doesn't cut it. Not by a long-shot.

As I've been ranting and ripping on this movie for a while now, I will say this: if you want to read some good Nick Fury story lines, try these: Strange Tales #135 - First time Nick Fury is seen with SHIELD. He is elected to lead the organization.

Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD - The Jim Steranko stories are amazing, nostalgic fun. Try it out, even if you don't like comics. They're like watching old episodes of "Mission: Impossible" or "the Avengers".

Whatever you do, DO NOT take this "movie" as being in any way definitive of the great spy-character known as...

Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD

a truly awful film, from start to finish, no redeeming features at all, i hate myself for having wasted 90 minutes of my life, 90 minutes i will never get back on this unmitigated howler of a film.

i know it was based on a comic book character so is supposed to be tongue in cheek, but they just didn't manage to purvey this on screen. I can take ludicrous plots if i feel that anyone involved actually wants to be there, it just seemed that they were all "mailing in their performance"

The plot, if it can be described as one, involves a deadly death virus about to be unleashed on the world by the offspring of a nazi officer who has been preserved in some gas. They are part of a terrorist cooperative called hydra, and the goodies are part of an international agency called the shield. Baywatch star hasselhoff is the cigar chomping hero.

I say this movie's horrible, but if you love comics, you must see this.

This movie lowered the bar so much that any other movie to follow would be amazing. That's why we loved X-Men and we loved Spider-Man.

Let me explain what's wrong with this movie.

1. David Hasselhoff is in the film. 2. David Hasselhoff is Nick Fury, the protagonist. 3. The overall casting is horrible. 4. This was early David S. Goyer writing... and it shows. 5. There is very little plot... it was probably developed from one issue of a SHIELD comic... 22 pages becomes a 2 hour movie. 6. This movie was shot in 2 weeks. 7. The special effects are completely non existent. 8. This movie makes Dolph Lundgren look like a great actor. 9. Nick Fury lives in a cave with concrete walls that, for some unknown reason, he bashes with a pick axe. 10. There are no shots of SHIELD's base (which is supposed to be flying above the earth). 11. The continuity of the film is horrible. 12. Their are several times when the sound doesn't match the movie. 13. David Hasselhoff is Nick Fury.

I hope I covered it all.

First of all, I gave this film a 10/10! It's Hasselhoff at his best! The truly not-talented actor and personality that we love. His acting is wonderfully pathetic, it's what made him famous, along with his "good" looks. I recommend it to all the true fans of David!! I just cannot understand something: at the scene when Hasselhoff comes in, we watch him banging the wall with a pick... Now, maybe it's just me, but...DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE? Why would he do that? The rest of the film doesn't help us to unravel this mystery. A wonderfully surreal film, if I ever saw one...

I've never been a big fan of superhero comics, but I still try to keep an open mind about them. I have read very little but still enough about Nick Fury, and I must say that they could have made a worse choice then to let Hasslehoff play the title role. If you haven't read any of the comics you will miss out on some of the stuff in the movie, but considering it is mainly one-liners to empathize how bad of an ass Fury is it's not much. The dialog feels pretty tame, as if the script writers were on a very limited time and had to come up with something quick. But the actors does a good job to take it all serious, can't blame the actors for a bad script. There are, of course, plot holes or just unrealistic stupidity with the plot. I think most people want more from a villain then just "Oh I'm going to terrorize the world with my global terrorist organization because I am evil! Did I also mention terrorism?" which is all background story we are handed over about the bad guys in this movie.

However, I would like to point out that Sandra Hess as the crazy evil lady villain is damn sexy and should have gone for a career of fascist sexploitation films instead, and watching this movie is worth it for her alone.

I'm not spoiling anything by telling you the most important thing about this movie (mmm..do I *HAVE* to use that word?!?)...that one thing would be...

David HASSELHOFF.

Oh. Seems I have to include at least ten lines of text. Well, lets see then... the key ingredients to this train wreck are:

David HASSELHOFF.

Wow. I just tried typing a list of David Hasselhoff's name for each and every reason this is a dreadful waste of time. But I'll be danged that this IMDb software is so clever it can tell that I'm trying to pack the review. What can I say? Nick Fury: Agent of Shield is not really worthy of ten lines of original text. I mean the movie itself doesn't contain 10 lines of original text. Horrid.

A horrid piece of garbage.