Jay Rohr
The Furious moves martial arts movies forward by borrowing from the past. Inspired by older Hong Kong action flicks, director Kenji Tanigaki alongside action choreography Kensuke Sonomura have developed something uniquely special. Instead of a mess of blender cuts, they have composed a martial arts masterstroke with a style all its own that’s guaranteed to thrill audiences.
Events open with journalist Matia Pham (JeeJa Yanin) investigating the disappearance of children in a city located “somewhere in southeast Asia.” When she infiltrates a location where hideous deeds are being done, she disappears. The plot then shifts to local handyman Wang Wei (Xie Miao) and his daughter, Rainy (Yang Enyou). It isn’t long before she’s kidnapped by human traffickers. Attempting to rescue her, Wang crosses paths with Navin (Joe Taslim), Matia’s husband searching for his lost love. Together, the two team up to battle the fiends who’re trafficking kids.
It sounds absurdly simple, perhaps even formulaic. That’s because it’s hard to express how well each moment is integrated into the next without spoiling the film. Every scene fits like clockwork. For example, Matia’s opening establishes the overarching evil organization then ends on a cliffhanger leaving her fate in question for the rest of the film, while at the same time establishing suspenseful speculation about what will happen to this child, Rainy, the audience has just been introduced to.
Formulaic as portions may seem, the filmmakers behind The Furious have stripped the narrative down to the essentials, making it easy to follow. Not to mention allowing them to cruise at an actioner’s ideal pace. Scenes without combat are essentially set ups containing just enough information to understand events. Every breather between brutalities is a moment to get to know characters as well as see the consequences of combat.
The Furious is one of the few films to really incorporate some degree of pain permanence. Though there are ample amounts of power fantasy fulfilling displays of epic action, it is kind of nice to see protagonists get winded, or notice that as the adrenaline wears off, wounds become inhibitive. This stems from action choreographer Kensuke Sonomura utilizing a kind of Japanese drama four act structure in fights. Essentially, this means a main character gets into trouble, must recover using a combat technique, then turn things in their favor before the concluding blows. Thus, every fight has a storyline.
What helps is that the different characters each have their own style. Navin primarily engages with Judo, while Wang has unconventional Chinese martial arts at his disposal. This results in disparate styles which Sonomura composes into knots clinging bodies together into tight scrambling brawls. To escape most situations, the fighters rely less on punches and kicks, bashing each other with hips, shoulders, and body checks. The result is an uncommon close quarters crush resulting in ferocious devastation and furious desperation.
There is an emphasis on impacts woven into the choreography as well as the cinematic stylization that makes many blows visceral for the observer. It certainly helps that director Kenji Tanigaki opted to film the majority of fights in long takes. In addition, most of the action is captured in wide shots, giving the audience a prime view as the lack of cuts makes everything feel more real, reducing any sense of cinematic artifice. That’s to say, for instance, the speed of these artful struggles isn’t an illusion produced by blender edits but rather an actual flurry of fiercely flying fists.
The Furious uses a simple premise to quickly get viewers involved, but there’s a clever configuration at work. Each narrative scene establishes circumstances which then result in a captivating action set piece. The result is a structure like plot point, pummeling, payoff. And this narrative deftness combined with engaging martial arts mayhem captures the viewers’ attention so completely the filmmakers are able to throw in things from out of nowhere that fit while catching the audience entirely off guard.
I defy anyone to watch this movie without shouting in shock when certain events occur. In addition, The Furious manages to be violent, humorous, and occasionally horrifying. The final fight turns into a bloody mess that would amuse Art the Clown. Yet, these various moods always fit the tone of the moment they’re in. The outcome is a blend of visceral emotions that will have audiences cheering aloud when fiends get vanquished, and at risk of implicative spoilers, perhaps even misty when certain characters get gravely wounded.
The cast is perfect, benefiting from interesting script choices. Xie Miao (Eye for an Eye) gives his mute character a surprising amount of personality for someone who never speaks though manages to say a great deal through action. Joe Taslim (The Raid: Redemption) is verbose enough for the duo, saying all that needs to be said, taking the role to a surprisingly heartbreaking place. Yang Enyou (Eye for an Eye 2) is fabulous as the precocious Rainy, a proactive protagonist who doesn’t just sit around waiting to be saved.
Yayan Ruhian, who has appeared in numerous action films — Boy Kills World, The Raid, Star Wars: The Force Awakens — provides an absolutely sinister villain as the dread-inducing Tak. Brian Le (Everything Everywhere All at Once) imbues Ho with a comic as well as tragic appeal, while being a believable danger. Finally, Joey Iwanaga (Enter the Fat Dragon) is deceptively charming, allowing his character, Paklung, to be an utterly unsettling psychopath.
The Furious is everything audiences should want in an actioner. There’s a straightforward story that’s easy to follow four beers deep. Visceral combat choreography full of unique martial arts maneuvers dazzles without being lost in a blur of aimless quick cuts. Instead, director Kenji Tanigaki lingers, allowing audiences to truly perceive what’s going on. The weight of every impact is then emphasized by cinematic stylization as well as enhanced by audio turning things like hammer whacks into grimace inducing moments as they produce gruesome squishes. The Furious is a must see for action aficionados.
