Its plot is straight out of Taken; its action looks out of this world. Here’s a trailer for The Furious, starring The Raid’s Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian. Disturbingly, it’s roughly 15 years since director Gareth Evans made his storming action thriller, The Raid. Made in Indonesia for a shade over $1m, that lean and ... The Furious | Forthcoming martial arts thriller features two stars from The Raid, has ace trailer
Its plot is straight out of Taken; its action looks out of this world. Here’s a trailer for The Furious, starring The Raid’s Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian.
Disturbingly, it’s roughly 15 years since director Gareth Evans made his storming action thriller, The Raid. Made in Indonesia for a shade over $1m, that lean and violent epic made an action star out of Iko Uwais, laid the foundation for Evans’ career, and has arguably informed the look of other action films since.
Director Kenji Tanagaki’s forthcoming The Furious has more than a whiff of The Raid about it. Not just in its witheringly harsh martial arts action, which employs all sorts of household tools and other implements, but also in its grungy production design and lighting.
One of the things that makes Evans’ action films unique is that they look and feel at times like horror films, which is something that seems to have seeped into The Furious.
Cementing that loose connection is the presence of two Raid stars among The Furious's cast. Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian had two of the other major roles in Evans’ 2011 masterpiece; the former playing Sergeant Jaka, who led a bloody assault on a gangster-controlled tower block, the latter playing Mad Dog, the toughest and wildest fighter in the building.
The Furious’ plot is familiar action stuff. A middle-aged father (played by Xe Miao) watches as his daughter’s kidnapped by hardened criminals. Roping in the support of a journalist (Taslim) the father fights his way through a city’s grim underbelly on a quest to get his kid back.
The trailer is an absolute belter: a distillation of its no-holds-barred action style, which brings in everything from hammers to ladders to massive lump hammers. Oh, and because we live in a post-John Wick world, it also includes an obligatory nightclub fight scene with lots of gaudy lighting.
No, it isn’t original, but it sure looks exciting. Lionsgate is distributing, and early word is that it’s one of the best martial arts flicks of its type in years.
The Furious is getting a cinema release in the US on the 29th May. If we hear of a UK date, we’ll update you accordingly.
