‘The Furious’ is an instant action classic

Tanigaki, Sonomura and a scintillating cast deliver wave after wave of relentless, inventive action

- Uday Bhatia

Navin and Wang Wei start off with the action film’s version of a meet-cute: a misunderstanding and fight.

They aren’t aware they have a common purpose, or that they've been battling the same crime boss's thugs. As they face off, no words are exchanged—Wei is mute—but there's a conversation unfolding nevertheless, between Xie Miao’s wushu and Joe Taslim’s judo. Since the former is founded on kicking and punching, and the latter on grappling and throwing, it’s an intensely strategic altercation. In judo, if you can grab hold of an opponent, you can throw them. Wei realises this, shrugs off his jacket and rolls up his shirtsleeves, Navin reacts to this by ruefully blowing on his fingers, a judoka automatism from an actor who once represented his country in the sport.

More than anything in The Furious, which released last week in India, this fight is unmistakably the work of Kensuke Sonomura. For the Japanese action director, combat is a series of arguments and counter-arguments, fighting as problem solving. His fighters are constantly sizing each other up, feinting, dodging, skidding. It's a singular and exhilarating approach, dense yet airy, minute adjustments of stance and angle and technique, anything for a sliver of an advantage.