Wang Wei is a handyman trying to look after his daughter, Rainy. He cannot speak, so the two communicate through sign language. When criminals kidnap her, he runs after them barefoot and clings to a garbage truck rather than let them escape. The Furious makes his desperation easy to understand before asking us to watch him fight.
Xie Miao plays Wang, whose search brings him into contact with Navin, a journalist played by Joe Taslim. Navin’s wife has disappeared, too. With the police unable to help Wang, the two men take on the people involved in the disappearances themselves.
Director Kenji Tanigaki gives the pair plenty of opponents and very little time to rest. The attraction is watching these actors perform difficult, fast-moving fights without losing track of who is hitting whom. The story that connects those fights is much less interesting.
Wang fights with tools, furniture and his bare hands
Wang and Navin fight through cramped corridors, an ice factory and a nightclub with a fighting cage. These places change what the actors can do. A narrow passage restricts their movement; tools and furniture give them something to grab when their hands are not enough. The surroundings become part of the fight instead of just a background.
That is why the use of ladders, hammers and even bicycles is so much fun to watch. You can see an ordinary object, understand how someone might use it, then watch a fighter try something much more difficult than expected. There is enough variety that a new location usually means a different kind of struggle.
Tanigaki also lets us see the work. The camera often stays far enough back to show the fighters’ whole bodies. Rather than cutting away at every impact, he gives a movement time to finish. We can follow a kick, the other person’s response and the next attack. The speed is impressive because we can actually see it.
Xie makes Wang quick and stubborn, constantly changing direction as he looks for a way past someone. Brian Le, who plays the bald enforcer Ho, provides a very different challenge. Ho is difficult to put down, even after taking punishment that would stop a real person. His size and refusal to stay down make encounters with him both threatening and ridiculous.
That exaggeration is part of the fun, but it has a cost. After enough characters recover from terrible injuries, another hard hit stops feeling like it will end the fight. The film keeps finding inventive attacks. It does not always know when a fight has gone on long enough.
The English dubbing makes tense conversations sound flat
The early scenes between Wang and Rainy give the violence a reason beyond showing off the cast. Their signing establishes a father and daughter who already have a life together. We want Wang to find Rainy because we have seen them together before she disappears. Xie does not need a speech explaining how much she matters to him.
Navin gives Wang a partner who has his own reason to investigate the criminals. Taslim is especially welcome once the two men have to act together. Their teamwork during the fights is more engaging than their conversations about the case. You get to watch two skilled performers handle the same danger in different ways.
The English-language dialogue is a problem. Some dubbed lines sound flat, even when the characters are worried about their missing families. It is hard to believe their fear when they speak that way.
There is also little depth to the criminal organization. Its members are cruel enough that we want Wang and Navin to stop them, but the film is more interested in how its villains fight than in who they are. Anyone hoping for a detailed crime investigation will probably find the plot too simple.
The violence is not all playful, either. The story involves child trafficking and threats to children. There are bloody injuries and attacks with weapons. The US R rating is worth taking seriously; this is not a light adventure just because some of the fighting is deliberately absurd.
Should you watch The Furious?
Watch it for the martial arts, especially if you like being able to follow every move. Xie Miao and Joe Taslim are excellent together in action, and the changing locations give them more to do than trade punches. The father-and-daughter relationship also gives us a reason to care who wins.
The stiff English dialogue, thin criminal plot and overlong fights keep it from being as good between attacks as it is during them. Those weaknesses matter, but they do not outweigh how exciting the best sequences are. Pixel Twelve’s score: 8.0/10 — Great.
The Furious runs 113 minutes and is now streaming on STARZ in the United States. Availability varies by country. See the film page for the cast and more images.
More from The Furious
2 screenshotsFilm stills: Lionsgate.
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