‘The Furious’ review: Action spectacle built on body-breaking blows
By The New York Times, June 11, 2026Xie Miao and Joe Taslim deliver sharp, high-impact performances in Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious, an Asian action film built on precise choreography, physical endurance and relentless momentum.
The film follows Wang Wei (Xie Miao), a mute single father searching for his kidnapped daughter Rainy. He teams up with Navin (Joe Taslim), a journalist investigating his own wife’s disappearance. Their separate cases converge through scattered clues that lead them to a child trafficking ring run by the wealthy criminal Paklung (Joey Iwanaga).
What unfolds is a tightly structured action thriller driven by sustained combat and escalating confrontations.
Action precision craft
Directed with a steady hand, Kenji Tanigaki leans into clarity and control, delivering set pieces that prioritise clean choreography over visual excess. The fights are composed with wide framing, allowing every strike, block and movement to remain visible.
The result is a series of sequences that feel grounded and physically demanding, drawing on the discipline of 1990s Hong Kong action cinema, where movement carries the story as much as dialogue.
The film uses its Southeast Asian setting to bring together a cast of performers from across the region, blending different martial arts styles into a unified combat rhythm.
Xie and Taslim carry the emotional weight of the story through physical expression, carving character depth through movement rather than dialogue-heavy exposition.
The action is intensified by genre veterans, including Yayan Ruhian, who appears early as Tak, and Brian Le as Ho, whose speed and unpredictability raise the stakes in later encounters.
Key sequences, including a brutal confrontation in an ice factory and a climactic police station raid, push both cast and choreography into extended physical exchanges that test endurance and precision.
Visual discipline focus
Cinematographer Meteor Cheung complements Tanigaki’s approach with controlled framing that avoids distraction. Wide shots and tight pans are balanced to keep focus on the choreography’s centre, ensuring clarity even in chaotic sequences.
The screenplay leans on familiar action tropes, children in peril, revenge-driven missions and organised crime networks without attempting to reinvent the genre.
Instead, Tanigaki focuses on refinement, aiming to perfect established action formulas rather than reshape them.
Physical execution highlight
The film’s biggest strength lies in its commitment to realism and sustained physical effort. Long takes and continuous movement sequences highlight the stamina of both cast and crew, creating an action experience defined by intensity and precision.
In the end, The Furious stands as a disciplined action film where storytelling is carried through motion, impact and controlled chaos, delivering a spectacle rooted in pure physical craft.