Xie Miao powers The Furious through a near two-hour stretch in which barely five minutes pass without someone being punched, kicked, or slammed through a table. Empire’s review treats the film as a brutal martial-arts workout built around Wang Wei, a mute father trying to rescue his kidnapped daughter.
The review under the title The Furious Review: Hong Kong classics inspire a 'bone-crunching beast' of a martial arts epic describes the film as a repackaged version of Taken and says Kenji Tanigaki, the action choreographer-turned-director, keeps the violence moving with little pause. That pace is the film’s main selling point for viewers who want action that barely breaks stride.
Kenji Tanigaki’s fight design
Near the start, Wang Wei launches into a Jackie Chan-inspired kung fu sequence to get his daughter back, and the film keeps escalating from there. Empire says, “There’s real creativity in how the action escalates.” By the time the police-station brawl arrives, the choreography has widened into a mix of wushu, judo and more.
The review also points to the film’s sound design, which makes the audience feel every crunch. That kind of approach gives the action a tactile edge rather than turning it into a blur of edits, and it is why the film is being framed as a Hong Kong martial-arts homage rather than a generic revenge vehicle.
Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Brian Le
Xie Miao carries the central role as Wang Wei, while Joe Taslim plays journalist Navin and Brian Le shows up in a mid-movie warehouse fight with a sledgehammer. The warehouse sequence puts all three into the same collision course, which is the sort of staging that lets the film keep changing gears without losing its bruising rhythm.
Empire says, “The Furious clearly isn’t afraid to go over the top.” That is the point of the casting and the choreography together: the film does not hide its influences, and it does not slow down to apologize for them.
Hong Kong echoes in The Furious
The review links the film to Hong Kong references including Jackie Chan, John Woo, First Strike, The Raid and Everything Everywhere All At Once, and it closes with “More of this mayhem, please.” For readers tracking action cinema, the useful takeaway is simple: this is not a film built on setup, but on how long it can keep the fights coming while still landing a final showdown that ends in blood-soaked style.
