The Furious (My Opinion)
Just got to see The Furious a few weeks early and oh my god you guys. Believe the hype. It’s definitely one of the best modern martial arts films to date. It can be argued it might be on The Raid: Redemption‘s level. Maybe not as brutal as The Raid or The Night Comes For Us but it’s definitely close.
Story: 7/10
Very straight forward no subplot or anything extra. Certain decisions some characters made outside its core fighters was iffy. It felt like an arcade beat em’ up game in live action. They knew what we were there for and gave it their all.
Acting: 8/10
Everybody is a seasoned actor so they all kill it. The only issue is the ADR (it wasn’t bad but not the greatest) but it didn’t bother me cause it reminded me of the old school 70s-early 80s kung fu films by Shaw Brothers.
Action: 12/10
The action in this film is out of this world. As I said before the fights get better and better as the movie continues. Every martial artist in it got to shine in whatever their style or characters’ styles were. Joe Taslim got to fully incorporate his Judo to its full degree. Joey Iwanaga is a kicking machine similar to Ken Lo in Drunken Master 2 maybe arguably even better. Jeeja Yanin does a little but she gets a dope moment. Brian Le is a powerhouse beast moving like a young Sammo Hung mixed with the Toad character from 5 Deadly Venoms. Yayan Ruhian doing his thing as usual murdering and beating up guys in the most ferocious ways. And last but not least the lead, Xie Miao, I’m 26 and I grew up watching him since I was a kid when he played Je Li’s son in My Father is a Hero aka The Enforcer and New Legend of Shaolin and his recent films have been outstanding but in this movie Xie moves like a young Jet Li in his prime and I wonder if certain moments was he paying homage to him. I guess like on screen father like on screen son. That final fight between the heroes and villains is, oh my goodness it’s phenomenal. I won’t spoil too much of how it goes down but think of a modern day version of the finale of 5 Deadly Venoms. Everyone has their own style and they brawl like they have never brawled before. Hopefully a sequel happens with even more hitters in the cast.
Overall Movie Rating: 9/10