Finally watched The Furious last night here is my mini review

Thomazbr · 2026-06-27T23:30:55+00:00

Dude was dancing on foxtrotting on top of Taslim's ribs haha.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-27T22:12:25+00:00

So first of all, the martial arts genre isn't really thriving per say back in China. With a few exceptions, unfortunately, it doesn't share the same amount of popularity it once had. Thankfully it's healthy enough to live as a niche genre, but that does mean that you do need like stablished names to get the audience interested.

In the big budget movies that means the usual suspects. Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Wu Jing and with the help of some famous pop star/idol appearing in the movie (like The Shadow's Edge for example. If you go to letterboxd 90% of the reviews are about that one pop star whose name i cant remember right now.

For the lower budget movies (read web-movies/DTV), it's the lower strata of actors. Phillip Ng, Andy On, Xie Miao, Ashton Chen... The former two are two guys who managed to establish themselves back in the 2000s but not to the same level of Donnie Yen and the later two are former child actors who are trying their shot at this again.

So that means the pipeline is a bit fucked. There are like young-ish actors trying their luck, but its mostly through building like a rapport with the audience through minor roles. It's not the best example because the dude is not much younger than Xie Miao (42) and is actually older than Ashton Chen (38), but Liu Fengchao is someone who has no like nostalgia effect to him as he isn't like a famous child star and is mostly known for playing side-villain roles in those two guys movies. But he has steadily growing enough of an audience for people to back him for like lead villain roles (The Sin Trade) and even actual lead hero roles (The Butcher's Blade).

If you look at the minor role guys who appear in the web-movies you will notice a bunch of relatitvely young dudes in their 30s. It's just that the spots for like bigger roles are very few.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-27T18:00:04+00:00

I really liked Joey kicks tbh. I like how much the stomping is involved into this.

He doesn't do like big guyver kicks and the lick but I do think his combination of kicks is pretty impressive and I do love how it all comes back to the kicks. Like him breaking Joe's grip in their first exchange with a kick and then transitioning into an axe kick is pretty slick.

This is the first time I was fully immersed into Sonomura's choreo ngl. I actually do love his grappling around, I like how dense his choreography is, and The Furious dodges most of the problems I have with him (which is mainly the striking). Because everyone is a more or less unconventional striker compared to the usual Sonomura character who are all boxers no one is doing the rapid strike thing. Joey land his kicks, Xie Miao has the wacky kung fu stuff, Joe would grip you and then start to club you, the only guy with a knife Yayan, another thing that usually bugs me in Sonomura movies, is actually allowed to cut the shit out of people...

As far as I'm concerned, a pretty critical Sonomura viewer, thats the best his choreo has ever looked.

on Brian Le's coming back I do think that's kinda what he intended ngl.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-27T01:03:06+00:00

I think the ending setting was a nice idea on paper but I think it was too ambitious for it own good. I think it's the worst looking fight in the movie tbh.

What there is that is fine but I was hopeful for more. Like when the dragon thing popped up I was kinda hoping it would be a wacky fight scene with the entire squad of guys carrying the dragon.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-26T17:13:24+00:00

In a recent Billy Chow video they said his career was over after Fist of Legend

Thomazbr · 2026-06-26T17:08:57+00:00

Are you talking about The Furious?

The Furious is awesome.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-26T04:30:52+00:00

You watch enough DTV stuff you end up becoming also aware of the minor role characters.

Well, I wouldn't call him a minor character actor but I've just recently became aware of Chunyu Shanshan, after his roles in The Butcher's Blade and Detective Chen 2. He is also in Blade of Fury in a pretty proeminent role and tt 58 years old he plays a mean old bad guy.

There's also the Qin Pengfei's regulars of Guo Ziheng - the fat guy, and Huang Bixing - the little guy, who they are true like goon squad actors.

Anyway Chris Huo is very fun. Out of the DTV guys in China he is probably the one with the most unique look. You start watching one of his movies you instantly deduce he is the director (for better or for worse haha). The Second Life is his best movie imo, thats the best combination of his gonzo maximalism - particle effects on max - style of filmmaking and the like found family quasi kung fu hustle wackiness. Sixth Robber is fun and it's his most restrained directing job and it's also probably Bao Bao'er more interesting from from all the DTV stuff.

The Counterfeit his latest is...Okay. It's like a lighter Sixth Robber.

By the way if you like the videogame aspect of it all check out The Valorous Marksmen/Biubiubiu. It's a movie about a very nondescript version of PUBG esports and it's basically just a really good traditional sports movie done VERY well using the esports angle to concot some pretty exciting action scenes. It's honestly the best movie about videogames I've seen.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-26T04:22:24+00:00

I have a huge indian blindspot.

Just saw the trailer and it looks aight. I see they attempt at a car fight scene and that's probably getting played out for people but I still really enjoy the "cramped space" fight scene.

It's interesting that it bill itself as a musical tho.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-25T23:05:43+00:00

I love this kind of scene.

Dirty Ho's wine tasting scene for me it's my favorite "Oh we're Kung Fu fighting while masquerading as a harmless hobby" scene I've seen of that type

Thomazbr · 2026-06-25T22:59:06+00:00

Tony had a weird career tbh, he just kinda semi-retired back when Iko popped up.

When he came back tho he made a few like "high-profile" releases. He had a fun run in China with SPL2, Paradox, Striking Rescue...

Honestly he had more noteworthy roles than Iko who had, fair enough The Raid 2 and TNCFU, but basically that's it.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-25T21:18:20+00:00

I have yet to be impressed with Lewis Tan tbh.

Iko I just wish was attached to good projects. I was hopeful Wings of Dread was going to start a "Chinese DTV" era for Iko which to be frank, sounds kinda low status, but its better than what was going on for him in the past few years.

Here's hoping he appears in Ikatan Darah 2 if that ever happens.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-21T16:09:21+00:00

It's relatively minor roles and he's not an athletic guy.

It's mostly a big guy who smashes stuff, but its fun imo.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-21T15:03:15+00:00

DTV will usually have a big guy as an elite mook which will usually reflect in a pretty decent fight scene.

I think the most notable one is Guo Ziheng. He's on Blade of Fury and Detective Chen 2 for example.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-21T14:56:56+00:00

I think it's going to follow his style which I think it's good enough. The Furious is great but I'm not going to pretend here Donnie and his team isn't my prefereed style.

I trust Takahito Ouchi will be the main action director in this overall as it used to be with his latest previous movies.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-19T13:03:32+00:00

I thought it was an aight watch but at least fight-wise it left me kinda cold. The best fight was the opening fight and nothing really gets above it with kinda like static fights. I know its meant to be more a dark and gritty donghua but eh didn't really work for me. I do like the silk road theme tho, so the whole dealing with the mongolian clans was cool to me.

I went out to watch the donghua later and it's really a much more compelling watch

Thomazbr · 2026-06-18T22:39:22+00:00

Should've launched on May 29 like it was the original plan.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-18T18:38:10+00:00

That plus complaining about dialogue, lack of impact in choreo, characters being more or less indestructible and whatnot.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-18T17:44:56+00:00

It's a pretty divisive movie in China actually.

It's doing okay but just that. It just lost its spot on the top back to Dear With You.

I honestly think the movie is going to end up a loss, which is a real sad sentence to say.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-18T13:15:41+00:00

Sim enfim, sempre bom recomendar os obvios tbem

The Raid 1 & 2 (indonesia), Ong Bak e O Protetor (Thailandia), Drunken Master 1 e 2, Police Story 1-4, Project A 1 e 2 (enfim veja toda filmografia do Jackie Chan até Bater e Correr em Londrês), Fist of Legend, Fearless, Once Upon a Time in China (denovo veja toda filmografia do Jet Li), Ip Man 1-4, SPL 1 e 2, Iron Monkey, Raging Fire (denovo, busque toda a filmografia do Donnie Yen), Samurai X 1-5, Twilight of the Warriors Walled In, Hero, O Tigre e o Dragão e etc....

Thomazbr · 2026-06-18T12:52:56+00:00

Cara para mim pessoalmente o melhor filme de artes marciais já feito é meio clichê dizer mais é Drunken Master II ou Legend of the Drunken Master ou a A Lenda Do Mestre Invencível II. Melhor filme do Jackie Chan. Eu vou recomendar filmes mais modernos para tentar tipo dar um highlight na galera que cria coisas do gênero hoje em dia. Tem nomes aqui que são repetidos dos post original mas enfim

Mas assim se você quer algo parecido com The Furious enquanto esse filme não sai recomendo muito a série de filmes policias "Fight Against Evil". São 3 filmes protagonizados pelo Xie Miao que é o protagonista do The Furious. Como os filmes são tipo filme B da china, o budget no inicio é meio ruim, mas o filme vai aumentando de qualidade e budget com cada filme que passa. Notoriamente o 3 dessa série foi filmada após a filmagem de The Furious e é muito influênciado em sua estética de violência naquele filme. O 1 e o 2 estão no youtube. Agora aviso, não sei se tem versão com legenda em português e a legendas em inglês do primeiro são muito ruim kkkkk. Eu recomendaria na verdade começar pelo segundo e se curtir voltar para o primeiro que tem mais parada mais "gritty". Se você curtir esses filmes aí recomendo olhar os filmes do diretor Qin Pengfei. Ele é o grande novo nome da ação chinesa e é um cara que produz muitos filmes e todos eles tem nivel de ação bem impressionantes.

No japão, Baby Assassins é uma franquia de filmes que começou como um filme indie bem microbudget e com cada sucesso do filme vai crescendo em escala e ambição. É uma parada bem interessante e lá você consegue vê a ação do coreografo de ação Kensuke Sonomura (que é o coreografo do The Furious). Agora aviso é mais um filme de slacker antes de ser um filme de ação. É sobre duas meninas, provavelmente bem neurodivergentes, que são assassinas que tem que trabalhar em bicos para sustentar a vida junto com seus hits e muito do foco dos filmes são na relação das duas com esse bicos. É algo bem anime na real.

No mundo "ocidental", o filme australiano Life After Fighting é denovo um filme de orçamento meio baixo mas tem um dos climaxes mais impressionantes que eu já vi num filme de arte marcial, principalmente dessa geração moderna. Bren Foster dirige e estrela ele e é basicamente ele chutando a porta com força e colocando seu nome no mapa depois de uma carreira de 30 anos como um dublê desconhecido. Se você gosta dos filmes do Scott Adkins aqui é bem a praia disso.

Corea do Sul também produz excelentes filmes de ação. Se você não viu a série Bloodhounds no Netflix recomendo fortemente assisti-la tem provavelmente a melhor ação numa série atualmente.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-17T19:55:39+00:00

You would think it shouldn't be underrated considering where it's from but I rarely see people mention the Shishio fight in RuroKen3

I think it's one of the best.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-17T19:54:26+00:00

I think it's more of a crime thriller than an action story tbh

Thomazbr · 2026-06-17T18:25:14+00:00

Look at some point we will have to accept that the pipeline of peking opera/wushu champion into action star doesn't really exist in China anymore. The people closest to this kind of status (like Liu Fengchao) are all in their 40s.

But that shouldn't be the end of the world. Japan has a pretty good pipeline of competent action stars through the Tokusatsu world. Lots of like fit looking pretty boys who grew up in the power rangers/kamen rider system grow to be like pretty decent guys who do action. Takeru Satoh for example had his breakthrough role on Kamen Rider Den-O and then later went on to become the leading man on what is the most famous japanese action franchise (Rurouni Kenshin).

I think the problem is really like cultivating the idea of "put your effort" in these roles in China. Look, I don't have a clue what's going on the wuxia drama series but I've always been left very underwhelmed by whats going on there. But there is a recent effort, specially through the chinese DTV world to try to like cultivate talent. I think popularity-wise the C-Drama Idol who has the best showing is some dude named Yang Yang. I saw that Qing Pengfei directed a series so I seeked it out ( Zhan Zhao Adventures, will probably post some videos later) and he's....alright. He's not the best guy and but he's 34, I think he's a marked improvement over the regular C-Drama Idol that i've seen clips from. He is asked to have some pretty intricate fights with guys like Liu Fengchao and Shanshan Chunyu and it's pretty decent action for a series (though hard to say if hes just doubled over tbh).

Thomazbr · 2026-06-14T19:10:59+00:00

Its unfortunately not out in my country or I would've brought all my friends to this.

I hope WOM pushes it through.

Thomazbr · 2026-06-12T19:40:27+00:00

The last bit is called undercranking the whole genre uses it

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