THE FURIOUS: A Bruising Benchmark in Martial Arts Action Cinema

Fifteen years have passed since director Gareth Evans unleashed The Raid upon unsuspecting audiences, and it’s impossible to overstate just how the overarching that film’s influence has been. A lean, mean, fighting machine, much of The Raid’s success laid in its simplicity, which was handily summed up in the tagline that adorned on all promotional one-sheets: “1 Ruthless Crime Lord. 20 Elite Cops. 30 Floors of Chaos.” Hard to get more pared down than that, and the film followed through with one of the most viscerally entertaining experiences about lethal Indonesians practicing the art of Pencak Silat money could buy. In the intervening decade and a half since, The Raid has paved the way for several like-minded brawlers, so much so that “Raid-esque” became a nifty shorthand for comparing the two, and it also brought international recognition to stars/expert ass-kickers Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, and Yayan Ruhian. Many have tried to take on The Raid, but few have been able to surpass it.

source: Lionsgate Films

Stepping up to the plate in an incredibly major way is The Furious, a Hong Kong actioner – spoken mostly in English – from Japanese director Kenji Tanigaki, who recently contributed impressive work as the stunt coordinator on Soi Cheang’s sensational Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. Feverishly adopting The Raid’s “all thrills, no frills” ethos, The Furious boils down all aspects of narrative, character, and setting to their most primitive elements in favor of showcasing some of the most spectacular bodies in motion ever committed to film. In that regard, the feature is absolutely astonishing, a bona fide barnstormer that spends more than half of its sub two-hour runtime engaged in the most, well, furious forms of close-quarters combat, existing purely as an exciting, pain-delivery vessel. If The Furious somehow does not get hailed as the latest and greatest successor to The Raid, then it’ll certainly do until that film gets here.

More Than Just A Father

Set “somewhere in Southeast Asia,” The Furious follows mute Chinese immigrant Wang Wei (Xie Miao), who lives a quiet life as an industrious handyman, raising young daughter Rainy (Yang Enyou) as a single parent. When not engaged in his trade, Wei keeps up his practice of kung fu, encouraging Rainy to do so the same so she can defend herself when he’s not around. Wei clearly has a violent past, but aside from his physical prowess, lack of speech, and a fleeting glimpse of a bullet hole-sized scar on the back of head, Tanigaki – who is working from a screenplay credited to four writers, likely to cover the multitude of languages mingling on set – thankfully never bogs the proceedings down in anything resembling a backstory or a haunted past. It’s all a rush of forward momentum, all the time.

It’s not long before the unthinkable happens, and Rainy is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of miscreants servicing a clandestine human trafficking ring, overseen by the nefarious Mr. Song (Sahajak Boonthanakit) and Pak Lung (Joey Iwanaga) and enforced by HD (Brian Le), Mr. Song’s childlike adult son. Wei puts up a considerable fight in an attempt to thwart them, but he is ultimately bested, left bloodied and alone as the criminals make their getaway. As local law enforcement fails to act with with any kind of urgency, Wei takes matters into his own hands, harnessing his very particular set of skills to hunt down those who’ve wronged him and rescue his daughter. While on his mission, Wei’s story collides with Navin (Joe Taslim), an investigator who similarly lost his wife to the same group traffickers. Together, the two men set out to fight anyone foolish enough to stand in the way of reuniting them with their loved ones.

source: Lionsgate Films

By foregrounding the bond between father and daughter, The Furious appeals so sympathetic audience members, as any doting parent would surely attest to the great lengths they’d go, short of scoring the earth, to protect their children. Thankfully, Tanigaki does not waste time for Wei to exact revenge, sending the wronged man into a nightclub with steel-toe boots and a ballpeen hammer to bust in some unsuspecting heads. It’s the first of several extended action sequences that demonstrate Tanigaki’s penchant for shooting clean choreography, brutal hits, and escalating the violence through multiple planes on the screen. It’s also here that Wei meets Navin, finding the two like-minded men physically matched and pursuing the same goal.

Feint East, Attack West

While the plot to rescue Rainy takes narrative precedence, the real function of The Furious is to exhibit the marvel of the human body. The actors aggressively punch, kick, jump, throw, climb, and dive like no others in motion picture history, twisting and bending in such ways that it’s a wonder nobody was grievously injured during production. The characters never let up, but thankfully neither does Tanigaki, who stages several intense showdowns, keeping the film on the move. There’s a thrilling setpiece in an ice block factory, another that takes place up and down multiple stories of the interior and exterior of an apartment building, all the film climaxes with a rollicking five-man battle royale inisde a police station. The Furious more than earns its title.

source: Lionsgate Films

Answering the call of the fury is the cast, who all impress in a myriad of ways. Miao makes for a compelling leading man, embracing his characters taciturn nature to become an architect of punishment. Taslim matches him well, quick to remind us of his standout performance in The Raid, or even his own starring vehicle The Night Comes for Us. Iwanaga does not enter the fray until the third act of the film, but he proves himself to be a long-legged, high-kicking menace, deadly in all the right ways. But the person who absolutely steals the show is Brian Le, who graciously throws himself into every encounter like a human wrecking ball, hellbent on demolishing anyone unwisely standing in the path of his unstoppable mass. With a film full of seasoned pros, Le is a relative newcomer and an absolute delight, relishing the opportunity to play a force of nature with abandon. Rounding out the formidable cast is Yayan Ruhian, who is never far from trusty his bow and arrow.

Conclusion: The Furious

A few quibbles remain. Digital body doubling becomes apparent for some of the dicier shots, offering some fleeting uncanny valley work. Narrative strands form the most tenuous connections, as there is no real mystery in Wei and Navin’s quest, bouncing the men from Point A to B to C as if they were avatars in a video game. Much of the film’s dialogue is also delivered in very halting English, which is more distracting than anything else. But plot mechanics and dialogue are all secondary to an enterprise like this, which is allowed to exist an astonishing feat of beautifully shot bodies in motion, frequently harming other bodies in motion. The Furious is a stupendous motion picture, arguably the reason why cameras were invented in the first place. Seek it out immediately, but just remember: feint east, attack west.

What do you think? Does The Furious have what it takes to become landmark action film?

The Furious will be released in theaters on June 12, 2026.