- Actors: Veronica Ngo, Cat Vy
- Director: Le-Van Kiet
- Disc Format: Dolby, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
- Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1)
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 2
- Rated: Not RatedNR
- Studio: Well Go USA
- Release Date: June 25, 2019
- Run Time: 98 minutes
Americans
notoriously avoid foreign films. The sad reality is that even those deemed the
best of all imported cinema (subjectively determined by year-end lists and
awards), are often ignored by a large majority of audiences in this country.
The rare exception of a financially successful foreign film is often completely
distanced from the idea of what wins awards, and tends to exist within a
familiar genre convention. In the past, horror fans have flocked to the
notoriously gruesome offerings of different cultures, but I have noticed the
genre most influenced by foreign markets in recent years has been the action/martial
arts movie. Ironically, while Furie’s
major selling point is the casting of a Vietnamese actress already successful in
Hollywood (Veronica Ngo from Star Wars: The Last Jedi), it is a film
that will likely be an introduction to Vietnamese action for most in Hollywood United States
Although the
terrain and many of the character types in the film feel distinctly Vietnamese,
the plot of Furie is universally
relatable, as well as being a staple in the Hollywood action genre for years.
Ngo stars as Hai Phuong, a former gangster who has put the life behind after
having a daughter out of wedlock. Forced to take a job as a debt collector and
shunned by the rural community they live in, Hai Phuong lives in near poverty
trying to give her daughter a respectable life. Not only does this hard work go
unappreciated by her daughter, Mai (Cat Vy), but her past as a gangster still
haunts her and threatens to intrude upon their new life.
When Mai is
kidnapped from a market, Hai Phuong unleashes the skills taught by her father
and utilized as a gangster and debt collector to chase down her daughter and
take down anyone that gets in the way. It is a decent blend of Taken and Kidnap (even including a variation on the same line Halle Berry
delivered about the kidnappers taking ‘the wrong child’), but with an emphasis
on the martial arts spectacle often associated with Asian action cinema. Ultimately,
there isn’t much more to the plot than this basic set-up, but that’s all it
needs to move the story along from one set piece/action scene to the next.
If the story in Furie resembles many Hollywood
action-thrillers in recent years, the style of this film is actually far closer
to Gareth Evans’ The Raid series.
These films nearly single-handedly put Indonesian cinema on the international
radar, which Furie certainly seems to
be attempting for Vietnam
Furie feels like a movie made through
the help of multi-national influence due to the style of the martial arts and
photography (imitating a film which made by a Welsh director in Indonesia, with
the help of Chinese stunt coordinators), and this melting pot of filmmaking is
blended more with the knowledge that director Le-Van Kiet graduated from UCLA
School of Film & TV. This explains the film’s polished look, and along with
the familiar narrative should make the transition into enjoying Vietnamese
action a seamless one for American audiences.
The Blu-ray
release of Furie comes with a DVD
copy of the film, though no digital copy. The extra disc is always welcome,
especially with the limited extras on the disc itself. Other than the
English-language dubbing available (though not recommended or purists) and a
trailer, the only special feature available is a quartette of brief promotional
behind-the-scenes featurettes, each averaging about three-minutes long.
Entertainment Value:
8.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 7/10
Historical
Significance: 8/10
Special Features: 4/10
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