A Geeky Guy's Guide to The Furious

I just saw The Furious in the theater and man are my eyes tired.

When I saw the description of The Furious... a combination of John Wick, Taken, and The Raid, I knew I had to see it ASAP. Of those three, by far my least favorite is Taken. It was a good action movie but not one of my favorite. Luckily, that is the smallest ingredient in this perfect Frankenstein of an action movie. You see, the "plot" of The Furious is basically Taken. A father's daughter is kidnapped. A reporter's wife is kidnapped. For some unknown reason they both have "a very particular set of skills; skills they have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make them a nightmare for people like you." How did this regular dad and reporter get such skills? Who the fuck knows?! More importantly... who cares?! They are the best martial arts fighters on earth and that is all that matters. I don't even think we know either of their names during the movie. But who cares? Who needs names when you can take on thirty trained fighters and beat the shit out of all of them?

We all know I hate spoilers, so I won't provide any here. Oh one thing though, I just gave away the entire "plot". that's literally it. Two badass go after human traffickers. But the spoilers I will not reveal, the ones that really matter, are all the ways the two fight their enemies. After over 50 years of watching action movies, I thought I had seen it all. i was terribly wrong. Let's just say there are some fighting styles and weapons of choice that shocked and delighted me. One of the weapons of choice was so unbelievable absurd that I actually burst out laughing in the theater. Then I proceeded to enjoy the next five minutes of combat.

The movie stars Miao Xie and Joe Taslim. I had never seen or heard of Miao Xie before. But apparently he has been performing in action movies for over three decades. And damn was he good... at fighting. I'm guessing he is not much of an actor as they decided to make his character a mute. that is one way to lean into a performer's strengths. On the other hand, I have seen and thoroughly enjoyed Taslim in several projects including Warrior, Mortal Kombat (the fight sequences), the Night Comes of Us and of course The Raid. As always, Taslim's fight sequences were impeccable!

Speaking of The Raid, I am on record saying it is the most action packed movie I have ever seen... until today. While The Raid has about 10 minutes of story, The Furious seems to only have a few seconds here and there. The rest is insane hand to hand combat sequences. They include the best choreography I have ever seen. Kenji Tanigaki, who choreographed the fights, is truly the star of this movie. He has made an action masterpiece. The only way it can be surpassed would be if a movie were longer so they could fit in more fights.

If you like action movies, you must see The Furious!

While you do, please remind yourself of Curly from the Three Stooges. believe me, you'll know why later.