{"id":24832,"date":"2017-04-04T06:03:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T10:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=24832"},"modified":"2017-04-04T07:51:52","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T11:51:52","slug":"nick-fury-agent-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-1998","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/04\/nick-fury-agent-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-1998\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D (1998)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Before the public at large were aware of Nick Fury, ABC\u2019s long struggling \u201cAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D\u201d and the overall organization from the Marvel Cinematic movies, there were 1998\u2019s \u201cNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.\u201d Long ago when comic book movies were still concepts and properties that studios were hesitant to touch, FOX Studios in America aired the TV movie\/pilot movie to little fanfare. Said movie starred David Hasselhoff (cast by virtue of the fact that he looks like classic Nick Fury and nothing more) fresh off of \u201cBaywatch,\u201d and starring as the classic Nick Fury before his re-imagining in the aughts in the Samuel L. Jackson mold. The classic Col. Nick Fury was a tough and grizzled war veteran with dark hair and signature white on the sides. He also donned the trademark eye patch and cigar, leading one of the most covert and top secret organizations in the Marvel Universe.<\/p>\n

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FOX had the foresight to turn the idea of S.H.I.E.L.D in to something of a team spy show much in the vein of \u201cMission Impossible\u201d long before ABC did. And while the series never took off, you have to appreciate their ambition in taking what was then an obscure element of the Marvel Universe and molding it to fit a weekly action series. Veteran TV director Rod Hardy and writer David S. Goyer turn the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D in to a decidedly roughneck group of ragtag superspies a la \u201cA Team\u201d with a dose of \u201cAirwolf.\u201d During the late nineties with Marvel selling every property they could, \u201cNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D\u201d had potential for something of an over the top but enjoyable series where the Hoff could ham it up as the old war dog. If anything the biggest flaw to \u201cNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D\u201d is that writer Goyer turns Nick in to a pseudo-Snake Plissken.<\/p>\n

Hasselhoff seems to be playing more toward Kurt Russell than an old army veteran, and Fury is even given a contrived motivation in the plot like Plissken. Here, Fury is poisoned by Viper, the daughter of Baron Von Strucker, and Fury is doomed to die by the poison. He has 48 hours to track down Viper and garner blood from her to synthesize an antidote, all the while helping S.H.I.E.L.D stop the activation of a weapon of mass destruction known as the Death\u2019s Head, which promises to destroy the world. \u201cNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D\u201d is unabashedly silly and relies a lot on camp, when it could have been a stern spy thriller with Hasselhoff taking a more dramatic angle as the show\u2019s titular hero. In spite of that though, \u201cNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D\u201d is at least ambitious and very sleek looking.<\/p>\n

Star David Hasselhoff seems to be having a ball playing the cigar chomping spy who\u2019d probably roll his eyes at Spider-Man and challenge Captain America to a drinking contest. I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t mention the performance by Sandra Hess who is sexy as villainous \u201cViper,\u201d who looks like she was lifted right out of a 1930\u2019s movie serial. Lisa Rinna also gets points for her spy character Contessa Valentina de Allegro Fontaine. The name just rolls off the tongue, doesn\u2019t it? \u201cNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D\u201d no masterpiece compared to the contemporary Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it gets points for effort and entertainment value. I definitely enjoyed it more now than I did back when I was fifteen. You have to wonder how different today\u2019s live action comic book landscape would look if \u201cNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D\u201d took off as a hit series, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n