Words really aren't the best method to communicate my thoughts towards
The Furious. A combination of gasps, guffaws, cheers, claps and winces like the ones that filled the packed theater I saw it in at AMC Boston Common 19 last night is the most effective way to articulate what it felt like to watch such a brain-breaking martial arts extravaganza on the big screen. Not only are the fight sequences absolutely relentless in their length, frequency and bone-crunching brutality, but the precision and intricacy of the choreography are just jaw-dropping. It would take at least three or four slow motion viewings of each fight scene for me to even start to comprehend all of the moving parts in play. Human beings aren't supposed to be able to fly through the air like birds, slide on solid ground like it's a sheet of ice or stack on top of each other like fucking Jenga blocks and yet, the company of virtuoso martial artists led by the five gentlemen on the above poster (Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Brian Le, Joey Iwanga, Yayan Ruhian) are able to make all these things looks as routine as someone tying their shoe. Seeing such remarkable feats of athleticism and pervasive disrespect for the laws of physics in a martial arts movie is a treat of the most special variety and precisely the kind of alien shit that moves the genre forward. Legendary Japanese fight choreographer Kenji Tanigaki deserves all of the credit in the world for assembling a team full of the best screen fighters from all over the globe for his third directorial effort. He'll undoubtedly have plenty of offers to make whatever the hell he wants to make for his next movie and if it's even half as strong as
The Furious, his stock in the martial arts movie community is going to extend beyond the heights of the known universe.
Grade: A
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