The Mosley Review: The Furious
Its truly a damn shame that we don't have martial arts films any more in cinema. Particularly, American cinema. Many will point to the John Wick franchise, but that was gun fu and not kung fu. Films like Ong-Bak and The Raid revitalized the genre and were really the last time we had a proper and original martial arts driven film. I'm truly saddened by it, but partially happy because every time we get one, it is fantastic and truly scratches the eternal itch for hand to hand combat. This film truly scratches that itch deeply with its brutal and hard hitting fighting styles that showcases the technical, physical and visual storytelling missing in the action cinema today. The story itself may be simple, but it was not without the perfect amount of drama, heart, tension and charm. Hopefully, this will signal the world that the genre needs to return.
Xie Miao was fantastic as the honest tradesman with a past, Wang Wei. He was a hard working dad in place that wasn't so peaceful and he did his best to make a life for his daughter. I loved that the decision to make the character mute due to an brain injury and how it effects him as the film goes along. Yang Enyou was outstanding as his daughter, Rainy. The chemistry and heartfelt moments between them were wonderful. He may speak through sign language, but he could hear her every gripe with her training. The moment Rainy is taken from Wang, it was truly heroing to watch him fight so hard to get so close to saving her in the inciting incident of the film. As the story goes along, Xie delivers some of the most impressive combat and physicality I've seen so far this year. He was a brutal, efficient and creative fighter in some of the most fluid and sometimes comedic ways possible. Joe Taslim was great as the journalist, Navin and I liked that his story was sort of connected to Wang's. Joe delivers his alarming amount of charm to Navin and I enjoyed his investigative and strategic mind. When its time for him to get into the fight, he doesn't disappoint. He was equally powerful in all of his fight scenes and I loved that he showed the physical strain of the intense movement. The skill of both him and Miao were a treat to witness during the finale of the film. Brian Le stole the film as one of the main henchman, Ho. The man was truly unstoppable and truly a physical force to be reckoned with. He had a childish charm about him that was funny and intimidating as well. Joey Iwanaga was great as the sociopathic child trafficker, Paklung. Joey nailed the spoiled child of a crime lord archetype very well and his fighting prowess was equally unhinged. Yayan Ruhian is always awesome and scary when he is on screen and as the bow caring right hand man of Paklung, Tak, he delivers yet another powerful performance. He was the most deadliest killer in the film and by far the bloodiest as he truly puts his bow to work. I haven't seen this much carnage with a bow on screen before and it was glorious.
The score by Elliot Leung brought the intense and pulse pounding action to life with his bombastic and lively score. The cage fight and cold storage sequences were the highlights of his action prowess and the more somber moments between Wang and his daughter bring to the life heart of the score. Like I said before, we don't get action like this anymore! It was visually satisfying in every way and the brutality was enhanced 10 fold by the outstanding sound design. Every punch, drop kick or bone crunching impact of the ball peen hammer was delicious. Let this film be a wake up call to the world to produce more martial arts films as we are in desperate need of them. I rarely do recommendations in my review, but if you liked this film, then I highly recommend another great martial arts film with heart and brutality, "The Man From Nowhere". Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
