The Furious (2026) Review

Kenji Tanigaki spent three decades in Hong Kong action cinema, coordinating stunts on SPL, Flash Point and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, and his film is a showcase for that craft. Shot in Bangkok, in English, with a pan-Asian cast and a Japanese stunt team, it gives Xie Miao a mute widower with a mysterious past and Joe Taslim a journalist looking for his wife, and sets them against a child trafficking ring and a corrupt police captain.

The fights are the film. Cinematographer Meteor Cheung joined the rehearsals so the camera could be choreographed with the actors, and the result is precise and brutal, with hammers, a bow and a kukri in play. Yayan Ruhian and Brian Le make formidable heavies, and Tanigaki liked Le's character so much that the final fight grew to five. Between the fights the dialogue is stiff, some of it overdubbed, and the plot is a line joining set pieces.

It premiered in Toronto's Midnight Madness section in September 2025 and opened in Hong Kong and the United States on June 12, 2026. Critics were close to unanimous, 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 85 on Metacritic; Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com called the dialogue atrocious and the fight scenes the most impressive in years, which is the fair verdict.