Just like one of its two lead protagonists, "The Furious" doesn't waste time getting to business. The plot is wafer-thin, but who goes to these films for the plots? Unless, of course, we are talking about something like, say, Zhang Yimou's "Hero" (also produced by Bill Kong), which not only had an ingenious Rashomon-inspired screenplay, but also stunning setpieces (all those gorgeous colours!). "The Furious" isn't ambitious in the storytelling department, because like "The Raid", to which it is often compared, in terms of balls-to-the-wall action. I still think "The Raid" established a benchmark when it comes to non-stop action. That one didn't take many pauses.
"The Furious", relatively, seems to have more pauses, because it also involves another hero, Joe Taslim, who was in "The Raid" as well, before Iko Uwais became a one-man army in a dilapidated building, taking down every mad dog thug in that claustrophobia-inducing building. In that regard, "The Furious" is relatively more... realistic. It knows that one hero cannot handle everything on his own since he is going up against a large syndicate that often meets up, unlike the "Raid" gangsters, in a freaking palace! There's also the challenge of one hero being a mute (Mo Tse played the skilled blind swordsman in "Eye for an Eye" and its sequel). Taslim, as the undercover journalist, is doing all the talking here.
But talk in a movie like this is just... functional. Just to get to the next action sequence, and establish reasons for why the heroes need to, err, fight a bus load — no, a train load — of bad guys. Here's the interesting thing, though. Despite the generic dialogues, we begin to care for these heroes because they have both lost someone close to them. And when the daughter of Tse's character, a widower, is kidnapped, we know that this father will move heaven and hell to rescue her. We are not told what this handyman's former profession was, but given the moves that he makes at the very sign of trouble, we get the hint that he was, and is, LETHAL.
For Taslim fans like me, too, "The Furious" is a delight, since he gets plenty of moments to shine. Anyone who grew fond of him after seeing his work in "The Night Comes for Us" and "Warrior" will find the film demonstrating further what he is capable of. He is the Chow Yun-Fat of this picture, while Tse is Jackie Chan. I've not seen anyone move the way the latter does — how effortlessly he does it, decimating opponents as though he is swatting flies. Quick, crisp, instant.
But not every thug goes down easy. Not to give anything away, but there are instances where things are not as... resolvable... as they seem. Because "The Furious" isn't interested in making things easy for its heroes. A special shoutout to Brian Le, who is hilarious and menacing at the same time. And do I need to even mention what kind of mayhem can be imaginable whenever Rayan Ruhian ("The Raid", "The Night Comes for Us") shows up in an action movie?
Like I said, you're prepared for anything to happen, one of the joys of watching a film from a team that swings for the fences. When it's time for the main villain of this film to make his entry — that is, after he dispatches all his impressively formidable henchmen — he turns out to be quite a surprise, because until that point, we are led to believe that he is just another incompetent white-collar dude. But, man, what he does in the film's third act is nothing short of an apocalypse. It's one bloody mess after another. That climax fight alone — should I call it a five-way fight? — is worth the price of admission. So unbelievable and worthy of repeated viewing that one is willing to overlook the awkwardly abrupt ending — nothing important, but could be a sequel (or prequel?) tease. Give all the stunt awards to this one, please.
Film: The Furious
Director: Kenji Tanigaki
Cast: Mo Tse, Joe Taslim, Brian Le, Joey Iwanaga, Rayan Ruhian
Rating: 4.5/5
