Kenji Tanigaki's martial-arts showcase The Furious opens in generic dadsploitation territory, with a caption placing the action "Somewhere in Southeast Asia". Mute Chinese handyman Wang Wei (Miao Xie) tears off after traffickers who have nabbed his daughter (Enyou Yang). Having Hulk-smashed its way out of the Taken box, the film starts to crank up the intensity. The closing half-hour achieves a pummelling intensity unlikely to be matched by any other release this year.
Plot and buddy dynamics
There are one or two plot developments. Cribbing from John Woo's buddy movies, Tanigaki has his hero run into an undercover journalist (Joe Taslim, a Danny Dyer lookalike) with his own reasons for chasing the traffickers. This route-one approach bears out the advantages of keeping things simple while turning the dial to 11. The complexities are reserved for the frame itself: jaw-droppingly limber, seemingly boneless performers pull off bruising manoeuvres on concrete floors.
Action choreography and direction
Tanigaki's well-placed cameras capture unexpected delicacies and flourishes amid otherwise crunching dustups. It is as if someone has brought a crossbow and a ballpeen hammer to the dance, and they are intent on using them. The Saturday night crowd will not care, but Tanigaki does not quite have the architectural sense that elevated the Raid films. The precision of its set pieces, however, is inarguable, with the editing crafting soaring rhymes between bodies in motion.
Climax and overall impact
Climaxing with a royal rumble for the ages, Tanigaki's film is not quite as bludgeoning as it might have been, tempering its ferocity with athletic and technical skill, matching that intensity with invention and delivering as much exhilaration as evisceration. One note of warning: you may require a long lie down afterwards. The Furious is in UK cinemas from 26 June.
