When it comes to the best action movie franchises of the 21st century, few come close to the heights of The Raid movies and the John Wick saga. These hard-hitting, bone-splitting, and lore-rich series pushed the genre to new heights in the 2010s, and there’s a new action flick on the horizon that looks like those two had a baby...an incredibly violent baby. I’m talking about The Furious, an upcoming Hong Kong action film starring some of the best martial artists in the game right now.
This 2026 movie will follow an everyman (played by Mo Tse) as he teams up with a journalist (played by Joe Taslim) to find his kidnapped daughter, one bloody fight at a time. Though The Furious might be flying under the radar right now, this is one bloody, intense, and promising action flick that looks like a must for fans of The Raid and John Wick.
The Furious Trailer Has Violence, Vengeance, And Some Sick Martial Arts
A few days ago, a friend whose opinion I fully trust in matters like this sent me the first trailer for The Furious, and I’d be lying to you if I said it wasn’t the most excited I’ve been for an action movie in a very long time. Filled with violence, vengeance, and some sick martial arts sequences, Kenji Tanigaki’s latest directorial effort checks all the boxes, and now I’m anxiously awaiting its May 29 release. Let me break it all down…
The trailer is a little more than two minutes in length, and in that short amount of time, we see multiple fight sequences (including two involving hammers in incredibly violent ways), people getting stabbed before having their fingers bitten off, and a hallway fight that is giving me some serious Oldboy vibes. Then there’s the drama of the two protagonists searching for kidnapped loved ones (that sounds like something a certain former assassin would do), a mysterious criminal organization, and a showdown with Yayan Ruhian, who has appeared in both The Raid and John Wick franchises.
I don’t want to sound hyperbolic, but all of this makes me think this is going to be the best action movie of the year, and perhaps in the conversation for best of the decade. We shall see…
I Don’t Know If We’ll Ever Get The Raid 3 Or John Wick 5, But This Helps With The Pain
I know that I should just give up the ghost and accept the fact that The Raid 3 will never happen, but I’m still holding out hope that one day Gareth Evans will finish the franchise once and for all. Something similar can be said about John Wick 5, which has been in development with little progress over the past couple of years. That said, The Furious coming out and checking a lot of the boxes for things I love about both franchises is helping with the pain of uncertainty.
Will this replace these two beloved franchises in my heart? I’m not entirely sure. What I am sure of is that I cannot wait to see Mo Tse and Joe Taslim’s characters go to hell and back to find and save their loved ones, kick all kinds of butt, and give audiences some insane fights. I’m even more sure of it that I’ll be there, ready to go as soon as it comes out in a couple of months.
