The Furious
- 2 minutes ago
- 4 min read
A masterpiece of mayhem and the best pure action film since Gareth Edwards "The Raid 2: Redemption", THE FURIOUS is a hellbent thriller packed with some of the craziest, most lethal fighting in film history. It's a jaw dropping, hilarious, brilliantly choreographed symphony of violence that rarely stops to take its breath.
Along with most of the audience last night, I not only laughed out loud, but I did the rarest of thing in a dark theater for me, I said the same thing out loud at least three times...."holy sh*t"......maybe not the most eloquent theater commentary, but well earned.
The film starts off with journalist Matia (JeeJaw Yanin) investigating the disappearance of yet ANOTHER young child in her Southeast Asia city. She follows that trail to where a bunch of young children are being held in cages. The film dances very close in this opening in going too far against my cardinal rule of what I won't ever watch, which is children in any kind of torture endangerment. Nope. Director Kenji Tanigaki takes things right up to that edge to establish just what our heroes will be fighting against for the rest of the film. Matia squares off a trio of violent dudes in a killer fight scene that whets your appetite for the feast that's about to follow.
We meet Wang Wei (Miao Xie), a mute, hardworking father to his young daughter Rainy (Yang Enyou). About to enter her teenage years, Rainy spends most of her time worrying about her Dad as she is about to head off to China to be with her Grandmother for awhile.
In the first of countless incredibly staged chase/fight scenes, Rainy is kidnapped by the child trafficking ring and thrown in the back of a construction flatbed truck. Her Father hears her screams and runs down the truck in a scene of relentless, full speed running that would make Tom Cruise proud.
Wei battles on top of and all over that vehicle to get his daughter back against men twice his size. It's thrilling, creative as hell and absolutely brutal, especially the way it ends.
It's clear by now that Wei isn't just a handyman. He's got a very particular set of skills and a 100% commitment to finding his daughter and making those that took her pay the ultimate price.
Wei tracks the one clue he has to a massive nightclub with an MMA style fight ring in its center. He follows the clues to the first level of very bad dudes and starts climbing the villain food chain.
We've all scene plenty of martial arts in films. I love the best of these films, like the aforementioned Gareth Edwards "The Raid" series that incorporate original and creative staging to the vengeance. WOW, does THE FURIOUS absolutely sing in this department.
Back in the 80's we always got a great scene in Rambo with our hero strapping on 15 different armaments and ammunition belts while Jerry Goldsmith's music belted out the signal to get ready for some serious ass-kicking.
Nah, just give Wei a good hammer. He's got all he needs.
The club scene sets up so many great stages for fighting, including a sequence in that MMA ring in which Wei piles up so many bodies that he just keeps stacking them until he can climb out of the ring.
In that club, Wei also connects with Navin, the husband of that missing journalist from the opening. Navin is played to perfection by Joe Taslim, who memorably played Jaka in "Raid: Redemption". That's the third time I've mentioned that movie, a sure sign that if you haven't seen it, rush out immediately and do so.
The two pair up to continue following the chain of bad guys to find their loved ones.
They're up against a corrupt police force as well, help is NOT coming in their quest.
The film deftly stacks its action into one massive sequence after another. Every time you think it can't top itself, Tanigaki says "hold my beer" and blasts your senses with an even crazier action scene.
He and his production crew have also perfectly cast each level of crime boss. They get crazier, more committed and more refined as they go, ending up at the palatial doorstep of Paklung, a dapper young, aspirational killer who would fit right into any corporate boardroom. Well played by Joey Iwanaga, he's the next generation who's sick of watching the old men run the syndicate.
Tanigaki, a former stunt coordinator for major Hollywood films serves up a banquet of ballet-like violence, delivering plenty of things I've never seen before on screen. He also blends that touch with a seriously respectful nod to the past, including some Sergio Leone split screen in the finale that took me back to "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly".
If you love the "Crazy 88s" scene in QT's "Kill Bill' fasten your seatbelt.
THE FURIOUS packs one sequence like that after another in a wild orgy of hand-to-hand combat with everything from ball peen hammers to bicycles. It's imaginative, fast paced and exhausting in all the right ways, earning an A.
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