The Fight Flick of the Decade
Summary
The Furious is easily the year’s best action movie and has to be seen to be believed. The fight scenes are insane but despite the carnage (and there’s a lot) it keeps its heart and the fact the villains are human traffickers means no matter how violent it gets, they still deserve worse. Any new movie from Kenji Tanigaki will be on my must-see list going forward; hopefully this gets a proper theatrical release in North America, so you can see the best of the best on screen.
Plot: THE FURIOUS follows a simple tradesman (Xie Miao) who fights his way through a complex web of criminals and evil agents in a frantic attempt to win back his kidnapped daughter by any means necessary.
Review: I haven’t been to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for several years, but I saw tickets were available for a screening of Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious last night, so I had to check it out.
I’ve been reading about this film for some time and it promised some incredible fight scenes and stunts… and it delivered in every way possible.
The story is straightforward enough and is your typical father hunts down the people responsible for kidnapping his daughter tale however, this movie is more thrilling than a hundred Takens.
Xie Miao plays the mute father Wang Wei who fights his way through endless hordes of henchmen and he (like everyone else in this movie) is an incredible talent. Joe Taslim is one of the most charismatic actors working today so the two actors bring some depth and emotion to the carnage.
Yayan Ruhian we all know is an incredible martial artist and this is arguably his best role yet as the sadistic henchman who uses a bow and arrow on his victims.
I can’t stress enough how jaw dropping the fight scenes are in The Furious; this is easily the best fight flick of the decade with the final 30 minutes turning into a spectacular bloodbath. You could have heard a pin drop as Joe and Xie take on multiple opponents at once with more blood than a slaughterhouse.
The pacing is relentless and yet despite all of the violence The Furious never loses its heart as we are 100% rooting for Xie and Joe to rescue the kids.
Director Kenji Tanigaki is one of the all-time great action directors and is a master of the craft; things get crazy in this movie and yet we always see everything that’s happening.
The music is particularly awesome with some electric guitars kicking in during the action and it just adds to the sheer adrenaline rush of it all.
If you don’t like movies such as The Night Comes for Us or The Raid then this may not be your cup of tea as its as hard hitting as they come however, if like me you love those movies then prepare to be blown away. You simply won’t see a better action movie this year that delivers such bone-crunching action and memorable characters.
It’s nice to see Jeeja Yanin show up in a brief role and I really hope she decides to return to movies full-time as Chocolate is a personal favourite of mine.
After the movie we got to meet Kenji, Joe, Xie and Yayan who were all just chilling outside the theatre chatting with fans and taking photos. I will do a separate post about that but this was the best TIFF experience I’ve ever had.
Overall, The Furious is an action masterclass with Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian and Xie Miao proving they are the best at what they do. The fight scenes and choreography are incredible and the violence unflinching making this a must-see.