By Gene Ching                

Go see The Furious now. It’s sets a new standard for fight choreography, raising the bar on everything we’ve seen before. It has the most bone-crunching, visceral, bloodiest fight sequences so far. The action doesn’t just hit hard; it rewrites how fight choreography can be – complex, intricate and totally insane. Every fight scene is an awe-inspiring display of martial artistry and mastery. It’s an absolute triumph for film fight scenes.

At the start of the Year of the Fire Horse, we predicted it was going to be ‘hot, fast and raging.’ But what we didn’t foresee was that all that heat, speed and rage would be at the movies. So far, this year has been a glorious stampede of martial cinema, beginning with Blades of Guardians, one of the best wuxia films we’ve seen in decades and an early candidate for best martial arts film of the year.

But Blade of the Guardians just got dethroned by The Furious. Enjoy it on the big screen to take in all that gory spectacle. When it comes to video, we’ll be too busy dissecting its choreographic compositional intricacy to appreciate its fundamental entertainment value. There’s this spontaneous wincing groan from a theater audience when its shocked by hardcore ultraviolence, a shared sympathetic reaction like a gut punch, often followed by satisfied chuckles. The Furious achieves that sound repeatedly from its relentless brutality.

Titled Hou Ze Yan (fire protect eye 火遮眼) in Chinese, The Furious hits U.S. theaters with a lot of good buzz from fans of martial cinema. For those in the know, the cast of The Furious is enough to sell it. Director Kenji Tanigaki and stars Miao Xie, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian, Jeeja Yanin and Brian Le may be unfamiliar to those outside our genre’s fandom, but this is a top-notch ensemble of movie martial masters. For the uninitiated (or anyone needing a refresher), here’s a quick rundown on who these masters are, why they’re inclusion in The Furious is significant, as well as some recommendations to see more of their unparalleled fight choreography. A film like this can only be achieved by the best in the business.

Kenji Tanigaki is one of today’s foremost action directors. He first captured the spotlight as the Stunt Coordinator for several of Donnie Yen’s first hard hitting films, SPL: Sha Po Lang (a.k.a. Flashpoint) (2005), Raging Fire (2021) and most recently Sakra (2023). He was also the action director for the samurai swashbuckling in the Rurouni Kenshin tetralogy (2012, 2014 (2 films), 2021). Hollywood might only know him for his work on Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021), but check out his recent Hong Kong gangster epic, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024) to get a better sense of what he can bring to the table when unleashed.

All these Tanigaki films are worth a view if you haven’t seen them. And there are many more. Tanigaki has amassed over fifty credits for choreography for a diverse range of movies including classic period movies, fantasies, comedies, kid films, and gritty ultraviolent modern martial arts like The Furious. On some levels, The Furious is his mayhem masterpiece, bringing all his hardcore combative visions to one savage movie.

Miao Xie (a.k.a. Mo Tse) plays Wang Wei, a father whose daughter is kidnapped by the most despicable villains of all, human traffickers. Xie was a youth Wushu champion who broke into movies as a child actor in Jet Li’s The New Legend of Shaolin (1994) and My Father is a Hero (1995). He’s now 42 (how time flies) and has appeared in a handful of other films over the years, most notably The Thousand Faces of Dunjia (2017) which was Yuen Woo-Ping remaking his 1982 celebrated classic The Miracle Fighters. However, Xie only has a minor role in that as hunchbacked elder.

Since the pandemic, Xie has stepped up to lead roles in two expanding martial franchises. The two Eye for an Eye (2022, 2024) movies are Xie’s take on the ‘blind swordsman’ trope. Xie can deftly wield a sword from his Wushu days, but Xie’s blind Cheng-Yi lacks the awkward charm of Zatoichi, Shintaro Katsu’s iconic character. All blind swordsmen are in the shadow of Katsu’s Zatoichi. Nevertheless, Xie delivers some solid swordplay.

Xie also headed a trilogy of pugilistic cop actioners more in line with the chaotic tone of The Furious. The Fight Against Evil (2021, 2023, 2026) films are set in modern China, and Xie plays Li Hongji, a policeman with indomitable fighting skills. Xie’s first two films with Jet Li are worth the watch just to see how he started. Fight Against Evil 2 delivers a taste of the brutal action choreography akin to what Xie brings to The Furious. His nascent techniques of rolling atop his opponents’ bodies and sliding through their legs can be seen here. Those come to fruition in The Furious, so much so that they establish Xie’s signature style.

Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian both broke out in the Indonesian gamechanger The Raid (2011). Like how the Shaw Brothers classic Five Deadly Venoms (1978) launched the ‘Venoms mob’ (a band of martial actors dubbed as who would go on to star in countless actioners), The Raid jump started the film careers of Taslim, Ruhian, and of course, Iko Uwais. It put Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat on the cinematic map.

Joe Taslim plays Navin, who is searching for his wife, a reporter who went missing when she was investigating child disappearances. Taslim was an international Judo champion in real life who has also studied Taekwondo, Wushu and Pencak Silat. After Uwais, Taslim has broken into Hollywood the most with roles in blockbusters like Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Star Trek Beyond (2016), and Mortal Kombat (2021, 2026). He also had a major role in the Bruce Lee inspired TV series Warrior (2019-2023), which showcases his acting chops as well as his fighting ones. To see Taslim in a markedly different role, check out The Swordsman (2020) where he plays a sword wielding villain.

Ruhian plays Tak, a merciless assassin archer. In real life, he is a prominent exponent of Pencak Silat. He’s had cameos in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) as well as a recurring role in the alien invasion franchise Beyond Skyline (2017, 2020, 2026) with Uwais and Frank Grillo. Ruhian has a distinctive look that excludes him from being a leading man and tends to typecast him in supporting roles or as villains. Nevertheless, with his ferocity and precise martial skills, he shines in those roles. Among his lesser-known films, the Karate Kid homage Tarung Sarung (2020), the dystopian sanguineous Boy Kills World (2023), and marooned swordsman versus cannibal flick Lone Samurai (2025) are worth checking out.

Jeeja Yanin plays Matia, Navin’s wife. Spelled as Jija in The Furious credits, she is a Muay Thai expert and Taekwondo black belt who burst onto the scene with her bloodthirsty debut film Chocolate (2008). Her two follow up films, Raging Phoenix (2009) and This Girl is Bad-Ass (2011) attempted to capitalize on her newfound fame but failed to capture the magic of Chocolate. After that, she appeared in several B-grade sequels and threequels: Tony Jaa’s Tom Yum Goong 2 (a.k.a. Protector 2) (2013), Michael Jai White’s Never Back Down: No Surrender (2016), Scott Adkin’s Hard Target 2 (2016) and Jingle European Raiders (2018). She had a role in the highly touted Triple Threat (2019) which like The Furious, boasted together a stellar martial cast including Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais and Tiger Chen as the ‘triple threat,’ supported by Scott Adkins, Michael Bisping, Celina Jade and Michael Jai White. However, despite a high-powered cast, Triple Threat fails to fully deliver. It just goes to show that even with all the ingredients can be there, the movie can still miss the mark. It’s not bad. It just doesn’t live up to expectations. The Furious exceeds expectations.  It’s great to see Yanin back in action in The Furious. It’s her strongest effort since Chocolate and it's great to see her back.

Brian Le plays Ho, the thick burly strongarm villain. He is the youngest of the cast, a breakout stunt person who learned his skills off YouTube as part of a fan stunt group known as the Martial Club. Together with his brother Andy, they parlayed their internet fame into roles in the multiple Academy Award winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) which is an absolute must-see for any fan of the martial arts genre. He also has a role in the indie martial arts sleeper The Paper Tigers, which is another must-see film. The Furious is Le’s third major motion picture role, and it’s also a must-see movie. Le is on a roll. We're eager to see what he does next.

The Furious producer William Kong, who also produced many other martial art blockbusters like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) and Fearless (2006) has already teased the possibility of a sequel. Hopefully this will happen and KungFuMagazine.com will be there for it.

Author:

Gene Ching is the Publisher of KungFuMagazine.com and the author of Shaolin Trips. His long-running martial arts movie column ‘Fast Forward to the Fight Scenes’ can be found in Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine.

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