Goddamn! I didn’t realize how badly I needed an action flick the caliber of The Furious in my life. It’s been way too long since I sat at a film festival and took in something with this much ferocity, energy, and unchecked rage. The Raid 2, maybe? That director Kenji Tanigaki fills his cast with familiar martial artists from that film and its equally-classic predecessor is alright with me, and that it follows similar story beats is just fine, too. You won’t give a damn when you’re watching a five-man-rumble to end all rumbles in the movie’s absolutely incredible final sequence. For fans of Hong Kong action flicks, a new champion has entered the ring.
The plot is simple and the title is apt. Xie Miao, who played Jet Li’s young son in The New Legend of Shaolin and My Father Is a Hero, plays mute tradesman Wang Wei. Wang Wei’s beloved daughter Rainy (Yang Enyu) wants him to leave to live with her in China, where she can look after him (he suffered a deadly head injury some time ago) as much as he can look after her. When Rainy’s kindness gets her kidnapped by human traffickers, there’s nothing in the world that’s going to stop Wang Wei from finding her. The police, naturally, prove less than helpful.
The Raid‘s Joe Taslim enters the picture as Navin, who has been hot on the traffickers trail since his wife Matia (Jeeja Yanin) went missing during her investigation. A hot opening brawl between Matia and the trafficker goons not only kicks things off, it establishes a very high ceiling for the rest of the film to match. And boy, does it ever. The Furious doesn’t blow its wad early. Each fight sets a new high mark to be surpassed, increasing in violence, size, and novelty. We get a taste of Wang Wei’s skills as she literally chases down the speeding truck carrying his daughter, proceeding to fight like a newly uncaged animal to get her back. He fights like a demon possessed to get back the one person he cares about in the world, and that rage is always something we can feel.
That the villains are human traffickers of defenseless children, only makes us want to see them brutalized even more. Of course, Wang Wei and Navin eventually cross paths and team up to face a common foe. Both men are on the hunt to rescue the people they love, but they are not the same. Wang Wei is an enigma with a mysterious past. The speed, power, and precision of his technique suggest he’s had extensive, lethal training. And with his daughter’s life on the line, he puts every bit of it to destructive use. You don’t ever want to meet a guy with his particular set of skills.
Meanwhile, Taslim’s Navin fights differently. This isn’t his natural element and you can see it. He can fight his ass off, too, but his style is more natural, less focused, like a brawler who learned his craft on the streets. The mixing of styles works beautifully and makes for some incredible battles to the death. One involving a massive sledgehammer and a freezer full of ice blocks will blow your mind with the shocking athleticism of hulking behemoth Brian Le as Ho, the dim-witted muscle for his crime kingpin father. Le, easily the largest man in the cast, moves around with the agility of a cat, and the powerful grapples of a professional wrestler. He’s simply incredible. In a cast that is stacked with awesome fighters from top to bottom, Le is a standout.
When Yayan Ruhian is in the cast, you already know he’s going to be the baddest wildman in the room. As Tak, an arrow-wielding assassin who shows no mercy to adults and kids alike, Ruhian is an absolute force to be reckoned with. We’ve seen him and Taslim throw down before, and this is another one for the ages. It begins with four men engaging in crazy one-on-one duels until an unexpected fifth element comes barrelling in and EVERYTHING changes. You have no idea the kind of shit that’s about to go down and nothing I can say will prepare you for it.
While the English dubbing has some translation issues that lead to corny dialogue in key moments, you won’t give a shit for long. There’s always another jaw-dropping slugfest right around the corner, and through the relationship between Wang Wei and Rainy, who team up for some father/daughter ass-kicking too, The Furious delivers the best straight-up martial arts flick in years. If you’re a fan of the genre this one can’t be missed. You’ll be furious with yourself if you do.
