Review: 'The Furious' Lives Up to the Hype
Yes, the fight scenes are astonishing, but they are in service of a thriller that unfolds in unexpected ways for a film that actually improves as it goes along
The Furious (2026)
- 113 minutes
- Rated R for “strong bloody violence language.”
- Directed by Kenji Tanigaki
- Written by Mak Tin-shu, Lei Zhilong, Shum Kwan-sin and Frank Hui
- Produced by Bill Kong, Frank Hui, Shan Tam
- Starring Mo Tse, Joe Taslim, Yang Enyou, Jeeja Yanin, Brian Le, Joey Iwanaga and Yayan Ruhian
- Cinematography by Meteor Cheung
- Edited by Chris Tonick
- Music by Elliot Leung, Olivia Xiaoli and Flying Lotus
- Production Companies: Edko Films, Zhejiang Hengdian Films and XYZ Films
- Distributed by Lionsgate (everywhere, except Hong Kong, mainland China and Macau)
- Opening in theaters on June 12, 2026
More than a beat down
The Furious’s fisticuffs are as jaw-dropping and crowdpleasing as you’ve heard. Yes, Mo Tse (playing a single dad attempting to rescue his daughter from human traffickers) and Joe Taslim (as a guy looking for his missing journalist wife) perform a near non-stop barrage of seemingly impossible martial arts, which will constantly make you ask, “Wait, can a human body do that?” I’m not well-versed enough to note or name the differing fighting styles or explain how this movie is different from any number of other acclaimed recent-ish (The Raid is already 15 years old) Asian martial arts spectaculars. I will note that our mute hero seems like a boneless worm of a man, constantly contorting his body while switching up the means and methods of his righteous retribution. It’s not easy to (almost) make a guy like Joe Taslim look like a proverbial Chris Tucker or Owen Wilson-ish tag-along, but… wow.
Like Triple Threat, a late-2010s metaphorical VOD Expendables, The Furious is another “Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue” concoction. It stars a guy who got his start playing Jet Li’s son in the early 1990s and teams him with one of The Raid’s two leading men while pitting them against (among others) one of The Raid’s key antagonists (Yang Enyou, who, unlike Iko Uwais, found time for this AND Liam O’Donnell’s fourth Skyline) and Brian Le (whose Gladiator: Underground is the best Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat movie ever). JeeJa Yanin, whose Chocolate is so hilariously punishing that I still assume that its end-credits outrun reel was for proof-of-life purposes, appears as the lone sympathetic cop. Helmer Kenji Tanigaki has a decades-long resume going back (even before) to helping Donnie Yen choreograph Blade 2’s action. Among more recent action-director credits, he’s a key reason I somewhat liked Snake Eyes and adored Yen’s Raging Fire.
