The Furious ★★★

The Furious is a surprising Hong Kong action film about a man who goes to great lengths to save his daughter from kidnappers. The synopsis alone recalls an often tired strain of rescue-driven action films: Taken, Man on Fire, Sound of Freedom. However, despite the simple plot, The Furious distinguishes itself with creative martial arts choreography and compelling characters.

The Furious follows two justice-seeking men: Wang Wei (Xie Miao) and Navin (Joe Taslim). Wang Wei is a hardworking handyman in Southeast Asia, trying to provide for his daughter Rainy (Enyou Yang). Wang is mute and communicates with her through sign language. He is a caring father, providing for his daughter and teaching her Kung Fu so that she can protect herself. One day after an argument, his daughter storms off and is kidnapped. Wang chases after her and fights with all he has to save her from the kidnappers, but he is overpowered and outmaneuvered. With suspiciously little help from the police, Wang must fight for his daughter himself.

Navin’s story begins with his wife Matia’s (JeeJa Yanin) disappearance. Matia, like her husband, is a journalist, and she is investigating a kidnapping and child-trafficking network in Southeast Asia. However, one night when she tries to free a child, she falls into the hands of the traffickers, her fate unknown. Navin resolves to go undercover to try to find his wife and finish the work she started. Later, while undercover and posing as a buyer of trafficked children, Wang bursts onto the scene like a Kung Fu whirlwind of fury and vengeance. Eventually, the two realize their common motives and team up against the corrupt and despicable establishment responsible for the missing children.

A rough estimate of The Furious would put fight scenes at approximately 80% of the runtime. With so much combat and so little spoken exposition, one would imagine characterization and depth of the plot would suffer as a consequence. However, the film shines in how it lets action do the work of characterization and exposition. Every major character has a distinct fighting style that reveals more about them than dialogue alone could. The two main protagonists primarily fight with their bare hands and martial arts skills, implying that they are principled and self-reliant. One hulking bald character relies on brute strength, often literally diving head-first into fights, demonstrating his pure brawn and lack of forethought or technique. Another character wields a longbow and bowie knives, highlighting a menacing savagery behind his weapons of choice. The main villain is incredibly fast and technical, but uses whatever tools are available to gain an advantage in a fight, even if it could be perceived as cheating. All of these choices are purposeful and add a meaningful depth to the fight scenes.

The choreography of the fight scenes is truly something to behold in The Furious. The director, Kenji Tanigaki, built a seasoned career as a stuntman and action choreographer before stepping into the director’s chair. Tanigaki’s expertise in directing fights is apparent in the technical prowess and visual dynamism of the combat. There are times when you can feel the impact of every punch and every blow. Other times, characters are so fluid in combat that the greater motion of the bodies becomes a hypnotizing dance. Tanigaki certainly knows how to shock audiences as well, in a variety of ways. Various moments in melee elicit laughter at absurdity, horror at cruelty, and gasps at brutality.

The simplicity of The Furious works because its moral framework is direct and its characters have depth. The choice to have the villains be greedy child traffickers in an uber-violent film is an effective one. It allows for the villains to become the object of gruesome violence without much moral complication. It would be difficult to find a more evil villain, and the film draws on a broadly felt anger towards the exploitation of children. Additionally, characters’ motivations are shown through their actions more than through dialogue. The choice to make Wang mute shows that he’s not there to speak on issues, interrogate, or root out motivations. He’s full of fury at the wickedness of evil men and motivated by a paternal love that drives him to fight with every ounce of his being. Navin, on the other hand, is motivated by truth. Both as a journalist and a fighter, he rages against corruption and secrecy, fighting to expose and find the truth of what happened to his wife. Other characters are clearly motivated by greed, pride, and revenge in all their actions, giving them a tangible sense of depth.

The Furious is not a film for everyone. It necessitates a stomach for gruesome violence and an appreciation of action choreography to realize its full force. The technical prowess of the martial arts scenes is striking, and the protagonists’ emotional stakes give weight to every blow. The Furious differentiates itself from films with similar simple plots through its purposeful, combat-driven show-don’t-tell storytelling.