The Furious – Review

Action! Action! Action! Action! Action! Action! Action! You now are filled in on what to expect. Somewhere in southeast Asia a woman desperately tries to connect clues on local missing children and kidnappings. This is reporter Matia Pham (Yanin), and she’s found a sinister industrial building in an abandoned part of town.

She goes in alone, which may seem like a bad idea, but good thing this lady has insane “foot-kicking-face” skills. What follows next is a preview of the upcoming non-stop ride into fast and furious action, this time without many cars.

As mute repairman Wang Wei (Xie) fashions a makeshift kung-fu training doll, and then wakes his daughter for work. It is the day of a handyman, and Wang is hard at work fixing local restaurant pipes and his daughter Rainy (Enyou) streams his progress for social media. His daughter heads back to China in two days where she lives with Grandma, so he makes the most of his time with her.

As another player enters the scene, Navin Pham (Taslim), he tries to dig up information on a missing journalist, and his wife, Matia. As a tense event shakes Wang’s life, he is sent on an energetic and intense chase to get back what he lost. Maybe Navin will be an ally in this desperate search?

The Furious is a fairly simple action film plot, but it delivers a decent setup for its main characters which helps give it a bit of an emotional baseline. While it’s not a major feature, it at least did put in a bit of work in the setup, which was for the best as when it gets moving there is no stopping this train of furious fighting.

So, let’s get to that breakdown. Is this a good action film? Yes, it definitely is, and should deliver on all levels for those looking to get their juices flowing. The shots are sleek and well staged to match the intense choreography that the scenes demanded. The camera glides smoothly through the close proximity fighting but it is not a traditional shaky cam type filming and the action is easy to watch while still feeling frenetic and visceral.

There is a lot of running, jumping, kicking, punching, flinging, swinging, crunching, slapping, chopping, growling, kneeing, smashing, slashing, pulling, crashing, blocking, pushing and more. The chases are designed to bring thrills and get your heart racing, while all the fighting relentlessly keeps you out of breath. There are few moments of respite, but they do give a chance to calm briefly.

With just enough plot to justify its non-stop fury, this film may not rock your world story wise. There is really absolutely nothing new in that regard, but the actors all do just fine while bringing their mostly basic characters to life. While the tale doesn’t demand a ton of brain power to follow, its main attraction will be the stunts, fights, and action scenes.