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 (070126)
I’ve always been an aficionado of Asian action films. Some of the finest movies
in the genre include Yojimbo (1962), Come Drink with Me (1966), Enter the Dragon
(1973), Drunken Master (1978), Once Upon a Time in China (1991) , Supercop (1992),
Drunken Master 2 (1992), Fireworks (1997), Battle Royale (2000), Police Story 2,
Supercop (1993), Naked Weapon (2002), 13 Assassins (2010), and The Assassin
(2015).
But their American counterparts like Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), which starred Jet
Li, and Shanghai Noon (2000), which starred Jackie Chan, often came up short in
comparison. American action films often lack the sheer joy in movement and the
dazzling athletic feats of their Asian counterparts. Also, films like Rumble in
the Bronze (1995) are diluted with unnecessary weak drama and lame comedy. For
insurance purposes, American studios sometimes discouraged Jackie Chan and other
martial arts stars from performing their own stunts, which were often the best
parts of Asian films.
A few years ago, I saw the release of
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
(2021), which featured major Asian action stars such as Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh. I found it sporadically entertaining, but also a bit watered down. It
never came close to the brilliance of the original Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy
comic series, which was arguably one of the best long comic runs of the ‘70s.
The Shang-Chi film is fine, but it is definitely not one of the greatest martial
arts films.
On the other hand, The Furious ranks right up there with the very best films the
genre has to offer. The Furious is a gloriously off-the-wall, wildly inventive,
brutally violent, and outstanding action film that follows a pair of
super-skilled martial artists as they take on a child-trafficking cartel. A mute
handyman teams up with a journalist to find a missing daughter and wife, and
they take on an army of hoodlums with their peak fighting skills.
The Furious is a Chinese-Hong Kong co-production, and it was entirely shot on
the streets of Bangkok, Thailand. The film is a true international piece of art,
with characters speaking English, Thai, Tagalog, and Mandarin, and the main
character is mute. Yet everyone inexplicably understands each other all the
time.
The film was expertly directed by the Japanese choreographer, Kenji Tanigaki,
who is particularly well-suited for the martial arts film genre. He emerged from
Hong Kong cinema and worked on the classic Fist of Fury (1993), and most
recently on Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024).
A horrible, depraved gang snatches kids off the street, and it seems like
everyone who tries to find the missing kids disappears without a trace as well.
Maria, a socially conscious journalist (well played by the action star Jiji
Yayam), investigates and finds that the police are doing very little to help.
It’s almost as if someone high up is being paid off to deflect the investigation
(followers of the Epstein saga might find this plot element familiar). But she
is quickly and brutally dispatched with an arrow to her head. One of the few
disappointing aspects of the film is that this great star and character have
very little screen time.
Matia’s husband, Navin (Joe Taslim, who was in The Raid), is understandably
distressed over his wife’s disappearance. He goes off to find her, and after
briefly fighting him, he teams up with Wang Wei, a mute handyman who is a
Chinese wushu champ (played by Xie Miao), who is trying to find his own missing
daughter.
Meanwhile, Wei’s tough-minded daughter, who obviously has had some martial arts
training, finds an ally in captivity. She befriends a younger orphan boy and
promises her family will take him in if they make it out alive. She also makes a
brave effort to free the captives, although some of the other prisoners won’t
help because they fear being apprehended and beaten. Will the kids be able to
survive and defend themselves until the adults arrive to save the day?
Although they are seemingly hopelessly outnumbered, the two protagonists often
use household objects such as hammers to attack their opponents in a way similar
to Jackie Chan’s characters in previous films. Although the fights here are not
comedic (there are other parts of the film that are darkly funny). To the
protagonists, almost any household object can become a lethal weapon in an
instant.
When Navin and Wei invade the criminal stronghold, it leads to some of the
best-executed, well-thought-out fight sequences I have seen in ages. One of the
highlights includes a frantic fight between Wang and a street fighter on the
moving flatbed of a transportation truck. Another exciting fight takes place on
a bus that is about to fall, teetering on the edge of a cliff. It all culminates
in a glorious, impossible-to-forget five-way martial arts battle that lasts over
15 minutes. It was like a martial arts equivalent of a John Coltrane solo,
reaching a peak of improvisation, and I can still picture the legs kicking and
hear the bones crunching, even though I saw the film almost a full week ago.
The Furious has been compared to Taken (2008) and John Wick (2014) because they
share some similar plot elements, but this film is infinitely better. The
Furious is filled with real martial artists, but it's also like Charlie’s Angels
because, in this world, no character uses a gun.
Like most action films, this movie is not always credible. The heroes in the
film are repeatedly hit with enough force to kill anyone, but, like Wolverine or
Deadpool, they always get right back up. So, like
The Punisher: One Last Kill,
the film requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, but The Furious
was so well done that I was almost always able to get past this.
The Asian action film genre, like the comics industry, has been fading over the
last twenty years, and there have been few new developments or classics.
Therefore, when a film like this comes along, which is among the best in the
genre, it is very inspiring. Hopefully, this will inspire younger filmmakers and
lead to a kung-fu film revival.
This is one of the most exhilarating, exciting, and satisfying martial arts
films I have seen in a few decades, and it provided an unexpected colossal
adrenaline rush. It helped that I saw it with a live audience in a theatre, and
it was obvious that the other viewers’ loud reactions showed that they were as
delighted and dazzled as I was.
The film even compares well with the likes of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,
Battle Royale, Sword of the Immortal, and the two Kill Bill movies. It helped
that I had not seen a great Asian action film in such a long time. Now, if only
someone would make a great Western. Maybe Clint Eastwood has some free time.
The Furious is a must-see film for all true cinema lovers except those who
positively despise the action genre. It is one of the most impressive and
inspiring films I have seen so far this year. It will definitely be on my best
films of 2026 so far list, which will be posted next week.
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