The Furious is playing in select UK cinemas now from Lionsgate.
Synopsis
After the daughter of Wang Wei (Xie Miao) is kidnapped by a criminal network and he receives no help from the corrupt police, Wei sets out on a rampage to find her himself. His only ally is Navin (Joe Taslim) — a relentless journalist whose wife has mysteriously disappeared. Fueled by a furious vengeance, the unlikely duo ruthlessly fights against the kidnappers in this explosive martial arts showdown.
Review
Every so often, an action movie comes along that resets the entire baseline for what onscreen fighting can be. In 2011, it was The Raid. But now, in 2026, it is officially The Furious. Directed by legendary stunt coordinator turned visionary director Kenji Tanigaki, this film is not just an adrenaline rush—it is an absolute marathon of pure, unadulterated martial arts mastery that demands your full attention.
The setup is brilliantly simple, Xie Miao stars as Wang Wei, a quiet, unassuming handyman mute whose daughter is snatched by a ruthless regional trafficking gang. When the local authorities prove to be entirely useless, Wei essentially turns into a human shit storm, tearing through the criminal underworld with an unrelenting, unstoppable, terrifying focus. He finds an unlikely but equally lethal ally in Navin, played by the ever talented Joe Taslim, a chain-smoking journalist on a desperate hunt for his own missing wife. Together, Xie and Taslim form a devastating duo who will not stop until their have achieved their goals.
What separates The Furious from the endless sea of modern, hyper-edited, quick cut Hollywood blockbusters is the sheer physical exhaustion radiating from every single frame. Tanigaki clearly understands that for combat to carry genuine weight, the audience needs to feel the toll it takes on the human body. The choreography doesn’t just showcase flashy moves; it puts these characters through their absolute paces, testing their limits and demonstrating the absolute skills these incredibly talented people have. Every punch lands with a sickening thud, every block feels precise and purposeful, and by the final act, our leading guys are visibly battered, bloody, and running entirely on the fumes of their fumes. The film utilizes its various environments with brilliant ingenuity, staging massive set-pieces inside an ice factory and culminating in a crowd cheering five-way showdown in a police station that will leave you gripping your armrests.
When I walked out of the screening, I was still trying to the entirety of this visual onslaught I had just witnessed. For every “oh that moment was amazing” I was reminded of the other amazing moment, the pace is brutal throughout, barely letting you or the characters catch their breath before more enemies rock up to continue the fight. The Furious is an absolute visceral assault on all of the senses. Pure, bone-crunching, blood-spewing adrenaline.
Verdict
For years, action fans have treated Gareth Evans’ Indonesian masterpiece as an untouchable holy grail. The Furious doesn’t just challenge that legacy; it actively draws a new line in the sand for heavy, physical martial arts cinema. It is a stunning reminder of what can be accomplished when world-class martial artists are given the space, the camera work, and the creative freedom to perform real, astonishing feats of physical throw downs. If you have even a passing appreciation for the art of the intense combat film, run to the biggest screen you can find. It is a sweet, beautiful concussion of a movie, and an undisputed five-star classic that will now be the baseline for other films to challenge and hopefully one day, dethrone.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
