The Furious delivers pure fighting action.
There are more remarkable stunts in a single sequence of Kenji Tanigaki’s fantastic action flick The Furious than most other similar films could hope to contain in their entire runtime. But if there was one moment that best encapsulated the energy the committed team of stunt performers and action choreographers bring to every single frame, it would be the moment when protagonist Wang Wei (a magnificent Miao Xie) takes off sprinting down a dusty street early on in the film.
He’s desperately chasing after a group of kidnappers who’ve taken his daughter, doing so while wearing flip-flops. Rather than let this slow him down, he takes off like he’s strapped to a rocket before getting in the first of many wonderfully kinetic fights. It’s as if the film itself is saying, whatever your action lead can do, ours can not only do better… but backwards and in flip-flops.
The film that follows is an action thrill ride so assuredly shot and choreographed that you’re more than willing to forgive the way some parts of it don’t always hold together. Rather than get too hung up on the story, which centers on the aforementioned patriarch trying to rescue his daughter and uniting with the journalist Navin (the always joyous action star Joe Taslim), who is searching for his wife, it works best if you accept that the priority always remains the action.
In many regards, this is the language the film speaks in, with Wang Wei being mute while communicating his emotions mostly through the intensity of his expressions and the force of his fists. Just as the nearly nonstop action gets more elaborate, with one standout sequence seeing the committed father turning each new foe who foolishly comes his way into a part of a human tower he scales while wielding a hammer, you’re locked in on each of the performers. Each is so in control of every stunt that it’s like watching a dancer who’s been training for decades at work.
The action itself also communicates so much about the characters, like in a moment where Navin takes a move that was used against him in one sequence and deploys it himself to his favor in the next. You can see how, just as he is fearless in every fight, that doesn’t mean he is reckless. For those who’ve seen Taslim in films like The Raid: Redemption (which remains the pinnacle of modern action cinema) or the series Warrior, you’ll know he’s got not just the physical prowess to make you believe in every madcap move he makes, but a more astute charisma to make even the quieter in-between moments soar. Even as he and the other characters are doing things most human beings are incapable of, this is an action film that’s sufficiently grounded to ensure you feel every blow just as you marvel when they leap through the air or wield a bike as a weapon.
When other action stars enter the fray, especially the outstanding Yayan Ruhian (also of The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2), it’s all just another way The Furious keeps outdoing itself. Each new character has their own specific fighting style and set piece that builds around them, with the film finding creative new ways to upend our expectations for how it will go. That each of the fight scenes are captured in largely unbroken shots and with wide framing (something many other haphazardly cut modern action films could take a lesson from) to ensure we can see all of the magnificent action choreography only makes it that much more engaging. The action is often joyously ludicrous, but it always remains legible to us as the audience, never once needing to fall back on using overly quick cuts or shaky camera when the stunt work is so spectacular.
When this all builds to an extended action fight scene that just keeps going on and on, you find yourself holding your breath as you marvel at just how well it all flows together. It may not rise to the same level as the aforementioned Raid films, but it boasts the same commitment to craft, leaving you feeling like you could sprint (even in flip-flops) right through a brick wall yourself.
