The Best New Hong Kong Action Movie Being Hailed as This Decade's The Raid
When the first-look trailer for Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious arrived online, it immediately caught the attention of action fans.
Early festival screenings of The Furious have all praised the Hong Kong actioner, with many calling the film this decade’s answer to The Raid. Those are strong words, with Gareth Evans’ 2011 movie viewed as a modern masterpiece, but having already seen The Furious, which is releasing on June 26, there is no denying the comparisons.
With its focus on in-camera action, insane fight sequences, and blistering pacing, The Furious is the perfect successor to The Raid’s crown. Set to become the best action film of the year, here’s why you don’t want to miss The Furious.
What Is The Furious About?
The Furious stars Miao Xie as Wang Wei, a mute father whose worst nightmare comes true when his young daughter is abducted. Desperate to track her down, Wang teams up with journalist Navin (Joe Taslim) to take down the criminal empire responsible for the abduction. Right from the cold open, which sets the stakes of the child trafficking ring, The Furious makes its intentions clear. Once Wang’s daughter has been taken, there is a breakneck race to the finale, full of all manner of fighting sequences.
Expect fists pounding, towers of adversaries, and a little bit of bicycle-fu as The Furious makes its bid for action movie glory.
How Does The Furious Stack Up Against The Raid?
In The Raid, rookie commando Rama (Iko Uwais) finds himself the prized target of a tower block full of bad guys. After the cover of the rest of his team is blown during their mission to take down crimelord Tama (Ray Sahetapy), Rama becomes enemy number one as Tama offers sanctuary to his criminal colleagues in exchange for Rama’s head. Rama is an exceptionally skilled fighter, though, and proceeds to battle his way to the top of the tower, leaving a rather large pile of bodies behind him.
With bonecracking ultraviolence from the start, The Raid took audiences by surprise and The Furious is set to do the same. Although the plot is different, The Furious fully embraces the no-holds-barred ethos of The Raid, presenting some jaw-dropping action sequences that will have you scratching your head.
One aspect that made The Raid so appealing was that the cast was primarily made up of martial artists and stunt performers. This meant that there was no need for Gareth Evans to cut around the action; instead, he could just let the camera roll and allow the audience to marvel at the incredible feats these performers could achieve. The Furious not only follows that methodology but has found new ways to induce shock and awe. Just when you think the film has reached its limit, it finds a new way to outshine itself.
The Raid and The Furious’ Cast Member Crossovers
It isn’t simply the action that makes The Furious akin to The Raid; the two movies also share some key cast members. Both Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian appeared in The Raid playing Sgt. Jaka and Mad Dog, respectively. The pair are also present in The Furious, with Taslim taking on the role of Navin, and Ruhian present as one of the key villains.
Given their history in The Raid, fans will be delighted to see them going toe to toe once more, and a late showdown featuring them is set to be one of the best of the year.
The Furious Has a Deeper Story Than The Raid
When it comes to the narrative, The Furious might actually be better than its predecessor. The Raid makes it its mission to get to the fighting as quickly as possible, using the cops and robbers approach to storytelling to cut through the noise and get to the action. In contrast, The Furious has a little more depth and heart to it, but still jumps headfirst into the action.
The film also explores the horrific topic of child trafficking. The issue is sadly one that is prevalent in many parts of the world, and however fleetingly it is delved into, its presence alone helps raise awareness of these crimes, and just how fast the criminals can work. The heart comes from the central story of father and daughter, and The Furious is sure to include some moments of comedy so as not to bring the tone down with its darker elements.
Like The Raid, The Furious is best viewed with a large crowd. Settling in for a high-adrenaline movie like this warrants being surrounded by like-minded people, and hearing everyone shouting, wincing, and whooping along with the visceral action is what truly makes movies like these so special.
Other Shows & Movies Like The Raid That You Need To Watch
With The Raid, Gareth Evans proved that action cinema was not dead, and whilst The Furious is the film that has since come the closest to capturing the spirit of Evans’ titan, there remain several shows and films that still come close.
The first item to get on your watchlist is the incredible crime series Gangs of London. Inspired by the video game The Getaway, Gangs of London was co-created by Gareth Evans, and although the director left after the show’s first season, his DNA remains within it. Set in modern London, Gangs of London joins police officer Elliott as he goes undercover to unearth dirt on the criminal underbelly led by kingpin Sean Wallace. Packed full of twists, turns, and exceptional action, television has never been this frenetic.
Whereas Gangs of London is co-created by The Raid’s director, action flick Boy Kills World stars Mad Dog himself, Yayan Ruhian. In Boy Kills World, he plays a hermit shaman who takes in Bill Skarsgård’s mute Boy after his family is executed. The shaman spends years training Boy until eventually he is ready to go on a one-man revenge spree. Not only is the action in Boy Kills World impressive, but there is also a lot of comedy thanks to Boy’s internal monologue, which is delivered by Bob’s Burgers’ H. Jon Benjamin rather than Skarsgård himself.
Other films to help tide folk over until The Furious arrives – or fill the hole after it's over – are Dredd and the John Wick franchise. Playing very close to The Raid, Dredd centres on the infamous Judge Dredd as he and a new assistant find themselves trapped in a tower block of bad guys. Karl Urban stars as the title character, and despite spending the entire film hidden under a helmet, his performance is stellar, and fans have spent the last 14 years begging for a sequel.
When it comes to Hollywood action, there are few films as fun and frenetic as John Wick, thanks in part to former stunt performer Chad Stahelski being at the reins. Across four movies, the series has given audiences gun-fu, car-fu, exceptional dog actors, and a mind-blowing sequence involving dragon’s breath ammunition, making them an action fan’s paradise.
