SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
Somewhere in South Asia, there have been a rash of children who have gone missing without much effort from the police. Fast forward to just days before his daughter has to leave to be with her mom, local handyman Wang Wei (played by Xie Miao) takes Rainy (Yang Enyou) to get a haircut. In the barber chair, the two fight about how short her hair should be. Rainy storms off and the hairdressers encourage Wang to let her blow off some steam. While doing so, a young boy runs up to her claiming his sister was hit by a car, asking for her help. He leads her around a couple corners where she’s kidnapped and throw into the back of a truck. By this time, Wang knows something is wrong and tears out of the salon in a desperate attempt to find his daughter. Running barefoot through the streets, he catches up with the truck and ruthlessly fights the kidnappers one-by-one until they get away and his search truly begins. With very little to go on — but certainly more than the police have — he goes to the local authorities for help who basically dismiss his urgent pleas. This refusal sparks his relentless desire to hunt down and punish whoever took his daughter.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Holy crap. I’m exhausted.
If you think the JOHN WICK franchise is relentless in action, welcome to THE FURIOUS!
Far too often, this genre sacrifices substance in story in favor of “what cool action scenes can we put in?” The best examples have more weight through a thought-provoking premise. INCEPTION used dreams, MINORITY REPORT used crimes that hadn’t occurred yet and TERMINATOR 2 used time travel and a heel turn. All the audience can ask for is a compelling story and THE FURIOUS uses child trafficking as it’s catalyst.
Miao is outstanding and the viewer buys into the horror of a missing child and a parent’s quest immediately. The fact that his character is mute forces Miao to use only expressions and body language to convey emotions and he does so in spades. Furthermore, Enyou is great and not only plays the victim extremely well but flawlessly shows character growth on screen, from a whiny child into a leader.
Director Kenji Tanigaki pulls this off, truly understanding the assignment. It would be very easy to let the action control the flow but Tanigaki manages to keep the plot at the forefront and add touches of flare along the way to take it from “good” to “great.”
The only draw back is the final scene. The epic battle goes on far too long and, about halfway through, the audience is actively wondering when it’ll be over. It’s fun, don’t get it twisted, but after the onslaught of action in the first 90 minutes, the viewer feels like they haven’t been able to catch their breath along with the characters. So adding a nearly 20-minute relentless fight scene is too much of a good thing.
If you are a fan of the action genre at all, THE FURIOUS is required viewing. And don’t wait for it to come to streaming of video on demand either. Make plans to see it on the big screen but pack an IV drip. You’re going to need all the stamina possible to get through this one.
JKG SCORE: 8.0
Untitled Film Project 