If you’re an action fan, the phrase “fight choreography” probably means something to you. But it’s been a minute since I’ve seen a movie commit to the idea of fighting as dance as much as Kenji Tanigaki’s “The Furious.” The movement is like ballet, operatic, almost – just with more gore.
The Hong Kong action movie follows a tried and true set up. We meet Wei (Xie Miao), a handyman whose daughter Rainy (Yang Enyou) is kidnapped by a shadowy child trafficking ring, following him as he fights his way through a myriad of goons to get her back. “The Furious” does a better job at sketching out the emotional crux of Wei’s quest more than most, but the martial arts is really the calling card of the film, and it speaks for itself – acrobatic, gritty, and bonkers in equal measure.
With screenplay credits from Mak Tin-shu, Lei Zhilong, Shum Kwan-sin, and Frank Hui, “The Furious” follows Wei, but quickly sees him team up with Navin (Joe Taslim), who has been independently trying to infiltrate the trafficking ring ever since his journalist fiancée went missing while doing her own investigation. From there, the duo takes on copious amounts of gangsters while Rainy tries to rally the other children she’s been taken with to take control of their own fates.
The specifics of who is running this whole shindig and for what purpose don’t really matter all that much (spoiler alert – never trust the rich, smarmy, handsome guy). And to its credit, “The Furious” is not really interested in the plot specifics beyond what influences the emotional stakes of the film. The beginning of the film sets up the relationship between Wei and Rainy with efficiency that still feels imbued with warmth. Wei has a mysterious past, one that has made him believe his daughter is better off living with her grandmother in China rather than with him. Rainy visits in the summers, and it’s immediately clear that all this little girl wants is to be with her father all the time. She trains in kung fu (literally, every Joe Schmoe on the street in this movie trains in kung fu), but she doesn’t actually like it all that much – she just wants something that she and her father can do together.
It doesn’t take long for Rainy to get kidnapped, but by the time she does, the emotional stakes are set. From there, we’re off to the races, each fight sequence building on the last. But it says a lot about Yang as a performer that the movie doesn’t lose steam when we cut to spend time with Rainy and the other children. Yang has a lot of confidence for a young performer, and plays tough extremely well. She’s often in peril, taking kicks from grown men and playing them off with a furrowed scowl and a quick swipe of her hand to get the blood off of her face. It’s a little impossible to not be endeared to her.
But, despite how cute Rainy is, the fighting is what we’ve all come for. And it doesn’t disappoint. Each sequence tells a story all its own, with ebbs and flows along the way. There’s an intricacy to the way the hand-to-hand combat unfolds that makes it feel like a dance, but at the same time there’s a brutal physicality to each punch and kick. Xie Miao moves with dexterity and unparalleled force, his acrobatic skill on full display – in one sequence that takes place in a club, he somersaults from a balcony down the backs of numerous opponents, moving on air.
As the movie roars on, the context for each fight gets wilder and the opponents get stranger (my favorite final boss? A stone cold killer with a bow and arrow who always wears a red tracksuit played by Yayan Ruhian). Despite its dark setup, “The Furious” never takes itself too seriously, preferring to up the ante on outrageous action as it goes, all underscored by a harcore heavy metal-esque score. And “The Furious” is hardcore to the end.
