Directed by: Kenji Tanigaki
Written by: Mak Tin-shu, Lei Zhilong, and Shum Kwan-sin
Starring: Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Brian Le, Yayan Ruhian, Joey Iwanaga, and Yang Enyou
Runtime: 113 minutes
‘The Furious’: Xie Miao and Joe Taslim are a Dynamic Duo in this mind-blowing action film
“Bam!”
“Pow!”
“Whamm!”
“Biff!”
Batman and Robin were officially crowned their Dynamic Duo title in 1940, but it’s 2026, and Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson should hand over that famous moniker to Wang Wei (Xie Mao) and Navin (Joe Taslim), the marvelous lead characters in director Kenji Tanigaki’s wildly entertaining martial arts action picture, “The Furious”.
Wang Wei is a reliable but humble handyman. He lives a modest, content life with his elementary-school-aged daughter, Rainy (Yang Enyou), but he’s a bit of a mystery. Wang Wei does not have a formal employment record. He has no police record and is nonverbal, but he communicates easily with Rainy through sign language.
Meanwhile, Navin is an accomplished investigative journalist, and so is his wife, Matia (JeeJa Yanin). Tanigaki and Taslim imply that Navin and Matia have a supportive, loving relationship, but she goes missing – very early in the first act - during her search for a child trafficking operation.
Now, Navin is desperate to find his spouse.
Furthermore, Rainy is forcibly kidnapped by the same group of villains, and Wang Wei is equally desperate to locate his daughter.
These two gentlemen are furious!
In a Phoenix Film Festival May 28 interview with “The Furious” producer Bill Kong (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), “Hero” (2002), “House of Flying Daggers” (2004), “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!” (2019), and “Mulan” (2020)), he explains the film’s title.
“The title of the film is ‘The Furious’, so you need to be really, really pissed off to be furious, okay. In order to really, really piss off people, have their close ones taken or (be) in danger. That’s how people will accept (and think), ‘Ah, he’s really furious,’” Kong said, and he adds, “Kenji and (I) wanted to live up to this. We want to see the fire in (their) eyes.”
Xie and Taslim display their fiery martial arts skills and their characters’ fury in this relentless, nonstop 113-minute sensory encounter for movie audiences.
The straightforward, rescue-mission premise - set against a nefarious business led by dastardly human beings - doesn’t overcomplicate life for the audience to discern good versus evil. Conversely, Tanigaki – a longtime stunt choreographer – takes immense measures to feature intricate and elaborate stage combat with delightfully extended scenes in which protagonists and antagonists serve their unrelenting will to inflict savage personal destruction.
Admittedly, this critic is not a martial arts film expert, but the mind-blowing stunt choreography feels on par with “The Raid” (2011) and the “John Wick” series. Here, our leads and a small collection of villains proudly carry masterclass martial arts skills, Cirque du Soleil-like acrobatics, and cage-fighting killer instincts.
Although there is a setting where seemingly hundreds of antagonists pour on-screen, almost every other battle features a combination of only a few villains, and casting director Yong Lu and the costume design team shifted into overdrive to feature two physically imposing ruffians to potentially run over Wang Wei and Navin.
Ho (Brian Le) is a bald, instructible, and hulking brick wall of a human being, and Tak (Yayan Ruhian) is slim, deadly marksman who always carries a fearsome bow and collection of arrows and dons a red tracksuit. “The Furious” has a few more key baddies who join the hand-to-hand combat, but Ho and Tak are the most memorable and have a future in several “The Furious” sequels or new James Bond flicks.
This flick is set in an undisclosed Southeast Asian location, but the cast and crew filmed in Bangkok, and Tanigaki, production designer Pongnarin Jonghawklang, and set decorator Kasi Faengrod gladly worked on this Thai canvas.
For instance, Wang Wei chases kidnappers, who take Rainy and attempt to make their getaway in a garbage truck on the open streets. A warehouse and a blue-collar business – that sit in industrial locations - host two insane fist-fight clashes, and an apartment building is the spot for an extensive pursuit with a sea of humanity pouring into narrow hallways and stairways.
There’s also a police station scene reminiscent of “The Terminator” (1984), but this critic doesn’t know if the locale was an actual vacant law-enforcement base or if the production team configured it into one. Either way, the station looked authentic.
This ground-level approach to showcase the local Bangkok setting adds to the realistic ambiance on-screen, even if the avalanche of physical punishment that Wang Wei, Navin, Ho, and Tak (and another key villain who will not be revealed in this review) absorb is absurd. Tanigaki hands his actors countless creative instruments – like daggers, hammers and sledgehammers, ladders, and more – to maim the opposing characters, but both sides continue to recuperate and revive their brawls.
Some of these moments actually have “Batman” (1966 – 1968) vibes, but that television show should send accolades to “The Furious”.
Jeff’s ranking
3.5 / 4 stars
