‘The Furious‘ smacks audiences with roundhouse kicks from ‘round the world.
Director Kenji Tanagaki’s latest action flick is an MMA spectacle in the truest sense. The martial arts on display are very mixed indeed, coming from many different countries. So does the cast and crew.
“Each character has their own martial arts background and that’s why they team up,” said Tanagaki, who is himself a martial artist. At the age of 22, he moved from Japan to Hong Kong to be a stuntman in Hong Kong action films. There, he developed an understanding of martial arts which would lead to a fruitful career as an action choreographer and director. He’s been around all manner of fighting styles and his newest is a culmination of that diverse background.
Courtesy of Lionsgate
One such style is Kung Fu. Xie Miao, who plays the lead character Wang Wei, is a master of the art. His character infiltrates a human trafficking ring in Southeast Asia and beats the perpatrators with his fists and even a hammer. But going head to head with different styles like Judo and Muay Thai fighters was new territory. “The physical sensation of confronting them was very unfamiliar to me. I needed a long time to adapt to each person,” he said.
Courtesy of Lionsgate
Xie’s onscreen adversaries were feeling the same way about fighting him. Indonesian Judo champion Joey Taslim said he relies on catching and grappling his opponents. But when Xie’s character takes off his jacket and rolls up his sleeves, that poses quite a problem. “Goddamn. Now what am I going to do,” Tsalim says of his character. “When someone takes off their jacket you can’t do nothing,” he quips on the limitations of Judo.
Although the different fighting styles mismatch (grappling with nothing to grapple, kicking vs punching), their coalescence is a thing of beautfy according to actor and martial artist Brian Le.
“Learning to blend them and making it so seemless was the most beautiful thing working with my costars,” he said. And what does he have to say about all the accomplished and vicious fighters? “As scary as they are on film they are some of the nicest guys you’ll meet,” he concludes.
The Furious is currently playing in theaters. Watch the trailer below.
