With “The Furious,” we’ve all seen this story before. A father’s daughter is kidnapped, the police are useless and the bad guys are monsters, and the father goes after them himself. On paper, the film doesn’t reinvent that revenge formula for a second.
It doesn’t have to.
What director Kenji Tanigaki does instead is build one of the most exhilarating action films I’ve seen this decade. This isn’t a movie that lives or dies by plot twists or emotional speeches, but a spectacularly directed movie that understands exactly what its audience came for and then proceeds to deliver some of the most astonishing fight choreography imaginable. If you’re someone who appreciates martial arts cinema as an art form, mark this on your list as absolutely essential viewing.
Stunt master Kensuke Sonomura crafts fight scenes that are nothing short of breathtaking. Every punch, throw, elbow, and kick feels purposeful, brutally physical, and astonishingly intricate. In an era where so much action is chopped to pieces with frantic editing and buried beneath CGI, these fights are refreshingly raw. You can actually see the performers doing the work, and the complexity of the choreography is nothing short of incredible. It’s violent, relentless, and beautifully staged. Your jaw is going to drop.
The violence is completely over the top, and the movie is dark, bloody, disturbing, and thoroughly unapologetic about it. Bones break. Bodies crash into walls. Weapons slice through flesh. Every encounter escalates the brutality until it becomes almost operatic. It’s deliciously excessive without ever feeling cartoonish because the action remains grounded in real physical performance and sheer athleticism.
The cast is stacked with martial arts talent. Xie Miao is terrific as Wei, a father driven by the primal need to protect his child. He brings equal parts determination and quiet heartbreak to the role. Joe Taslim is every bit the badass you’d expect, making a perfect partner as the relentless journalist searching for his missing wife. Then you have an incredible lineup of opponents, including Yayan Ruhian, Joey Iwanaga, and Brian Le, each bringing their own unique fighting style and unforgettable screen presence. Watching these performers collide feels like a dream matchup for action fans (and it is).
The movie never loses sight of its priorities, either. The revenge story is lean, straightforward, and effective, and it doesn’t bog itself down trying to become a sprawling crime epic or a complicated conspiracy thriller. The narrative simply gives the action a reason to exist, and that’s all it needs. Every fight pushes Wei one step closer to his daughter while feeding his growing rage and thirst for vigilante justice.
And just you wait until the finale. The last thirty minutes are absolutely insane. A sprawling five-way showdown erupts into one jaw-dropping set piece after another, and it’s hard to imagine many action movies topping it. Every new matchup somehow raises the bar, constantly surprising you with fresh choreography and escalating intensity. I wanted to stand up and cheer for the sheer audacity of the cast and crew pulling this off. This is a style of action filmmaking that’s becoming increasingly rare, a reminder of the raw pleasure of watching gifted performers execute impossibly complex choreography in long, brutal exchanges that will have you on the edge of your seat.
“The Furious” is an exemplary entry in modern martial arts cinema and, without question, one of the very best action films I’ve seen this decade. If you love expertly choreographed fight scenes, this isn’t just recommended — it’s absolutely unmissable.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 