The Furious Is an Action Nerd’s Dream

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Okay, so I just finished watching The Furious, and it’s a really interesting film. It’s set in this unnamed city somewhere in Southeast Asia – Bangkok, actually, but the location feels more like a backdrop than anything. What’s cool is how international the whole production is: it’s a Hong Kong movie with a Japanese director, mostly English dialogue, and stars from all over. You’ve got Xie Miao, who actually played Jet Li’s son years ago, alongside Joe Taslim, who you might recognize from Warrior and Mortal Kombat. Even the supporting cast is a mix of Asian and Asian-American talent, like Joey Iwanaga and Brian Le. But honestly, watching the opening fight scene with JeeJa Yanin, it hit me: this isn’t about the story. The Furious isn’t for everyone; it’s for those of us who live for action. It’s the kind of movie where seeing Yayan Ruhian on screen is enough, and Scott Adkins not being in it barely registers because the focus is purely on incredible physical feats. Plot takes a backseat to pure, raw action, and that’s exactly what I wanted.

Okay, so The Furious has a basic plot – two women go missing, and the film follows the men trying to find them. We’ve got Wang Wei, a silent handyman, whose daughter Rainy vanishes while visiting. She’s lured away under false pretenses, and he starts desperately searching for her. His investigation crosses paths with Navim, the husband of a missing reporter. Navim’s been living in a van, pretending to be a buyer to uncover what his wife was investigating. They join forces to find this guy, Mr. Song – a gangster who thinks he’s a big shot, but is really just a mid-level guy working for a seriously corrupt network. The whole operation is run by Paklung, who’s surprisingly…normal looking, like a young businessman expecting a baby. Honestly, though, the story is pretty thin. It feels like the plot is just there to connect all the absolutely insane action sequences. And those sequences? They’re incredible. Seriously, the variety of locations is amazing – everything from a typical nightclub to a freezer full of…well, let’s just say frozen things. The action is really the point of this movie.

When Rainy is kidnapped and tossed onto a garbage truck driven by a huge man named Ho, Wang pursues them relentlessly – even running across the wet, empty stalls of a market and after the truck in just his flip-flops. He clearly believes practical shoes aren’t necessary when you’re on a mission. We don’t know why Wang has been in hiding, but actor Xie portrays him as a man driven by pure determination to rescue his children, fighting with reckless abandon and exceptional skill. Their first encounter happens at a Muay Thai fight, where Wang unexpectedly ends up in the ring, climbing over a pile of opponents while brutally – and almost comically – knocking them out with a hammer. The fight is so over-the-top and energetic, it’s exhilarating to watch.

Tanigaki is one of a spate of directors, like David Leitch, Chad Stahelski, and Sam Hargrave, who made their way into the role from a stunt background, and he showcases action rather than shooting around it. It’s an old saw that fight sequences are a lot like dance numbers, but The Furious approaches its clashes the same way, using longer takes and wide shots so you can see the entirety of the actors’ bodies as they collide and retreat. Its cast is made up of trained martial artists who are doing the work themselves, so there’s nothing to cut around. When Le, who has a surprising, Sammo Hung–like litheness in defiance of his formidable build, takes on both Wang and Navim, it’s obviously him in the frame and him swinging a sledgehammer around like a Norse god with a head injury. The Furious doesn’t treat its subject matter with anything other than bleakness — it takes place in a not-unfamiliar world in which the rich operate with impunity and the systems intended to keep order, including the police, are all corrupt. But it makes room to acknowledge the absurd excess of the action it puts onscreen and takes an obvious pleasure in the people who enable it. When Ruhian, the diminutive Pencak Silat master who became an action nerd shibboleth after his role in The Raid, turns up in a tracksuit and a malevolent grin while wielding a bow and arrow, The Furious takes palpable delight in his presence, even before he climbs someone like a ladder to attack them. Look what the guy can do, it seems to say, hands outspread. Isn’t it incredible that we get to witness it?

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2026-06-12 22:54