The Furious Movie Review

“The Furious” is an old-school Martial Arts Action movie. This is type of bonkers action-packed movie that would star Jackie Chan, or Chow Yun-fat, or Jet Li. So, do you want ‘fast and furious’ action? To paraphrase Colonel Nathan Jessep, from “A Few Good Men” — “You can’t handle the Action!”

 

 

The totally-unnamed grimy city in Southeast Asia (which is more than likely Hong Kong) — the crime is greater than the grime. A brave, yet under-prepared investigative reporter is in a pickle. Matia (played by Jeeja Yanin) has broken into a place holding kidnapped kids. She is trained in Martial Arts, but she gets outnumbered in a fight.

 

Not that far away, a very low-key dad is taking care of his daughter. Wang Wei (played by Xie Miao) has a great love for his little girl, named Rainy (played by Yang Enyou). Wang Wei had an accident many years ago, and this has left him mute. Unable to talk, he is still able to communicate to Rainy how much he wants her to be safe.

 

They train on Martial Arts together. He is very skilled in kung-fu and many other fighting methods. Yet, he maintains a very quiet life as a repairman. He never brings attention to himself. That is, until one day when Rainy is abducted by a child trafficking ring. As soon as she is found to be missing, he gives chase to a large truck. The truck is filled with even larger thugs.

 

The lone Wang Wei runs barefoot to catch up to the truck. He is almost able to handle each of the henchmen. But there is one Brahma bull of a man called Ho (played by Brian Le). This guy marks off all the ‘B’s — Big, Beefy, Bald. Ho gets rid of Wang Wei by throwing him in the street.

 

Wang Wei decides his next move is to get the local police involved. But they are led by an incompetent and corrupt Police Chief. Back to square one — Wang Wei remembers a clue from the truck. There is a local nightclub, and this place has a Mixed Martial Art ring in the center of it.

 

There is another person on the trail of the child kidnappers. It is the reporter husband of Matia, who went missing at the very beginning. This is Navin (played by Joe Taslim) and he is undercover to catch the leader of the crime group. He is pretending to be in market for buying lots of kids.

 

Navin is meeting with Mr. Song (played by Sahajak Boonthanakit) at the club. Wang Wei is in the club, but he is spotted by big, bad Ho and some of the other henchmen. Wang Wei is armed only with his ball-peen hammer. But he has the skills above and beyond a normal repairman. He can fix a fence, but also clear the nightclub floor of numerous thugs.

 

Wang Wei finally finds Navin, and thinks he is also a bad guy. But they both realize that they are on the same side. So, they team up to get to the bottom of this child trafficking ring. Both of these them are searching for loved one, and they will only get justice by getting to the top man in charge.

 

Little do they know that the unhinged big boss is a man named Paklung (played by Joey Iwanaga). He is pretending to his family and in-laws that he is a just regular guy. But they do not know that Paklung is creating mayhem in the streets. He works with a real sicko named Tak (played by Yayan Ruhian). This guy chases down and kills people with a bow and arrow.

 

Navin and Wang Wei find a place where the kids had been held earlier. They run into a large number of henchmen and thugs. This includes Mr. Song and that not-so-gentle-giant named Ho. There are lots of Martial Arts fights, kicks, punches, feints, and even more action. Mr. Song almost ruins it by bringing a shotgun to a kung-fu fight.

 

Wang Wei and Navin soon learn that a place called the Snake Pit is where the kids are now being held. They head over there and are able to use a lot more kung-fu action to locate and free the kids. Rainy is a smart one, and she is able to help and guide the other kids to safety.

 

Rainy is brought back together with her dad, Wang Wei. The local police have taken control from the corrupt Chief. But now Wang Wei and Navin are going to be held at the Police Station overnight. They will get all these matters corrected in the morning, so they say.

 

Everything is now calm and settled. Or at least it might seem that way. There are good cops at the Police Station there to protect Rainy and one other unclaimed child. A judge will review the situation and will release Navin and Wang Wei in the morning. But they will stay in lock up until then.

 

But right outside is trouble. Paklung has gone off the deep-end. He killed all his family, who are all connected to the local crime syndicate. Also, by accident, he kills his wife. Opps! He is waiting outside with his main henchman Tak. He is the deranged man who kills people with a bow and arrow. And of all things, there is the big, beefy boy — Ho. He was not dead after all.

 

All of these folks are getting ‘Ready to Rumble’. It will be easy picking’s for all of them to take out Wang Wei and Navin. That will put an end to all those problems. But those two are sneaky rascals, and they are no longer in the jail cell.

 

Now be prepared for a wild and action-packed sequence of non-stop Action. Navin, Wang Wei, along with Rainy and the other kid — they will face off against Ho, Tak and Paklung. All five of these Martial Arts experts can duke it out for a crazy series of Kung-Fu Fighting.

 

Will there be any survivors? Will the hurt and pain be overwhelming? Can the theater hold all that Action up on the screen without falling apart? Will every sound of each punch, kick and hit resonate in your eardrums? Yes, that is the correct answer to all these questions…

 

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“The Furious” is a heavy dose of adrenaline that goes straight from the screen and right into your system. The Director, Kenji Tanigaki, has done a masterful job at getting fight sequences that will crush your Fortune Cookie. The stunt work and fight sequences are excellent.

 

The work from Xie Miao (Wang Wei) and from Joe Taslim (Navin) is amazing to watch. Then pairing them up with Joey Iwanaga (Paklung), Brian Le (Ho) and Yayan Ruhian (Tak) brings the action up another level.  It is simple wonder to behold.

 

However, the story line is not spectacular – seeing it a basic retread of ‘Taken’ (and half a dozen other movies). There are some weird overdubbed dialogs segments that take you out of the moment. There are a couple of jarring scene transitions. The movie is sometimes dark and gritty. But that helps to set the overall mood.

 

Many people have some really bad-ass fight scene at the top of their list. Such as the hallway fight section from the movie “Oldboy”, or potentially all of the “The Raid”. Well, it is time to have those other classic gems slide over to make room for “The Furious”. It will deserve it!

 

“The Furious” creates a new Kung-Fu Fighting masterpiece with almost non-stop action and brutal stunt work. No need to be too ‘fast’, when you can see “The Furious”!