Pick a scene, any scene, from “The Furious,” and it’s likely to have the best action beats of any film this year.
Put them all together, and you have a cinematic experience akin to a roller coaster ride – one that lasts for nearly two hours.
Sure, the story couldn’t be more basic. And, thanks to a mute lead character, dialogue is sparse. No matter. “The Furious” is a visceral experience you won’t soon forget.
Wang Wei (Xie Miao) is a widowed handyman doing his best for his young daughter, Rainy (Yang Enyou). She’s tough on her old man, a sassy kid who clings to him following her mother’s death.
They only have a few scenes together in the first act, but director Kenji Tanigaki makes them count.
That’s huge. Why?
A gang of child traffickers snatches Rainy early in the film, and while her father puts up a valiant fight, she’s whisked away to parts unknown. Dad tries to enlist the local police to track her down, but they couldn’t be less interested.
That element of the film – police corruption of the highest order – could be the film’s flimsiest element. Even movies built around crooked cops show more nuance than what’s displayed here.
So Dad goes it alone. Except he gets some unexpected help from Navin, (Joe Taslim), a journalist with a personal stake in corraling the human traffickers.
“The Furious” opens with a delirious prologue and never lets its foot off the accelerator. Need a flaw, beyond that silly cop element? The film peaks with the father’s attempt to rescue Rainy in the first act.
The sequence is like watching a dozen stale remakes before stumbling on a Quentin Tarantino film. It’s that refreshing.
The battle goes down on, and off, a flat-bed truck, a wonder of action choreography and pinpoint editing. Just watching Miao run at top speed to catch the kidnappers would make Tom Cruise blush.
Miao’s physical performance is what sells “The Furious,” but he makes sure we never forget the stakes in play. Yes, any film involving child trafficking tugs at our heartstrings.
This father makes it clear that he’ll never stop until young Rainy is safe. The character may be mute, but his determination speaks volumes.
He will not be stopped.
It helps that “The Furious” serves up delectable villains, from an indestructable brute (Brian Le) to a refined scoundrel (Joey Iwanaga) pulling the strings.
Need more? Yayan Ruhian plays an archer who never seems to miss, and his oily presence spikes the film’s adrenaline levels.
As if this barnburner needed it.
Choreographer Kensuke Sonomura summons unexpected objects (even bicycles) to be used in mortal combat. It’s too soon to know, but “The Furious” could impact action movie aesthetics like “The Matrix” did back in 1999.
At least it should.
“The Furious” offers some surprisingly bloody moments, and audiences will be recoiling in their seat, even when they think they know what’s coming next.
Likely, they won’t.
This has been a banner year for theatrical films, suggesting reports of cinema’s death was an exagerration. You won’t find a better ride, minute for minute, than “The Furious.”
Buckle in.
HiT or Miss: “The Furious” is flat-out the best action movie of the year, no matter what movies come next. Maybe last year, too.