Mon: Hey everyone! Welcome to another special episode from the Toronto International Film Festival 2025. I’m Mon and today, I’m reviewing The Furious.
Ron: Before we start our episode, we would like to acknowledge that the land we are recording on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. It is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.
Mon: While we are making this land acknowledgement, we understand that this is not enough and that positive action is required by the people of Canada to make substantive change for the Indigenous nations and communities whose lands we now reside on.
What is the film about?
Mon: Ok, so the Furious. I have to say I went into this with very little knowledge. I think it may have been on our original shortlist, and you had wanted to catch it, Ron.
But, timelines didn’t work out so I went to watch it instead.
Well, it was certainly an… experience. In the film, a father is on the hunt for his kidnapped daughter, and many a human trafficker must face his wrath.
Along the way, the protagonist encounters journalist Navin, on the same hunt, but he’s on this mission because his wife Matia was close to the case and has now disappeared.
This film is a throwback to the martial arts films of yore — centred around a social issue, the main point of the film is to showcase all the possible, and impossible, action there is.
And there is a ton of action in here. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I watched a pure action film, and the action was actually good. Superhero films don’t count, they’re their own genre.
What did the film do well?
Mon: I’ll admit, The Furious isn’t exactly the kind of film I’d usually sign up for. It’s just fight scenes, and a story thrown in. That being said, this is exactly the kind of stuff we grew up watching.
Ok, not exactly. This film is way gorier than I remember the Hong Kong kung fu films we used to watch.
But, the action is really spectacular. The stunt choreography, the physicality of the actors, the camerawork, truly spectacular.
Not only did we never lose sight of who was where and what they were doing, but the pacing was superb. Nowadays, so many Hollywood films flub the pacing of their action set pieces. Not so with The Furious.
This is hardly surprising, of course, given that the film is helmed by action choreographer-turned-director Kenji Tanigaki. He knows what he’s doing.
I also want to shout out how the little girl in the movie got a larger role than kidnapped daughters usually get in these stories. That was a nice surprise and shows that we’re making some progress.
What could have been improved?
Mon: Despite the captivating action on display, the film, unfortunately, overplays its hand.
The final act just goes everywhere. I was sitting there like, every dude in this film doesn’t need an action scene. Let it go. They did not let it go.
The final act also just gets too gory. There were some elements up until that point, but this part went too far. I had to look away at times.
My biggest disappointment was that the film kicks off with a female character getting a fantastic action scene. And then the film immediately pivots to only dudes getting action scenes. Really? Not one lady with an action scene?
Mon: I’ll also say that while there were some comedic elements, people were laughing way more than they needed to. I was confused.
Final thoughts
Mon: The Furious is riveting action. It’s relentless in what it does best. If you’re into that kind of film, this is up your alley. For me, I think I’m a little too over these things. The needless gory bits didn’t help. And that last act was one act too long.
And that’s all from this edition of our TIFF 2025 specials. See you next time.