They took his daughter. He’s good at martial arts. There’s your film. Do you need anything else?
You shouldn’t, really. But I’ve made a habit of reviewing movies using, in fact. More than twelve words, so I’ll give this one its due, too. In other words, I won’t be fast with The Furious.
“Somewhere in Southeast Asia” is what the first title reads. Do we need to point out how large SE Asia is? 1.7 million square miles. That’s over six Texases. Ah, but only 670 Million people live there. Yes, that’s twice the entire population of the United States BUT … considering how many people live in Asia, we’re getting off easy.
Given the size and the population, one wonders if the camera has identified the correct story. Ah, never mind. The Furious is about “ordinary tradesman” who just happens to be an eyewitness to his daughter’s kidnap. Man, you guys are not subtle at all … you won’t even wait for the single dad to start single-dadding; you just gotta bait ‘n’ grab right on the spot, huh?
Turns out these fools have grabbed the wrong kid, because Wang Wei (Mo Tse) is The Furious, and he will run down moving vehicles on barefoot, while weaponless, to wrest his kid away from evil. Getting hit by said vehicle? Just part of response. Wang is not aided by being mute and his frustration with police procedure makes you wonder if there is any 
percentage at all in contacting the police after a child abduction.
Wang mostly uses his fists, but when the seemingly infinite pile of bad guys show up armed, he’s prepared to take them down … with a hammer. Shades of Oldboy, amIright?
The Furious has B+/A- fight choreography, which is why you’re at this film. The plot is straight out of Taken, except luckily this hero is mute, so we don’t have to spend any time discussing his particular set of skills. We just know he’s going to get the kid back or die trying. Simple plot, simple excuse for excessive violence, no need for a silly adult-white-slavery premise, which already makes this film better than Taken. If martial arts did it for me, I might be in heaven. But they don’t. Not generally, at least.
There’s once was a mute dad called “Wei”
His daughter was abducted today
The cops seem inept
He’s punching; they slept
And he has to sign the phrase, “hey, make my day”
Not Rated, 113 Minutes
Director: Kenji Tanigaki
Writer: Frank Hui, Zhilong Lei, Tin Shu Mak
Genre: Rescue, kung fu style
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of martial arts
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fans of child abduction
