The Furious (2025) 4K UHD Review

Capturing a paternal rage better than any other fatherhood story, The Furious is too subtle a title. Livid and Enraged is more apt. Powered entirely by instinctual adrenaline, The Furious takes the action genre forward with a balletic brutality that’s ceaseless.

Asian action cinema is a story of moments, from the decadent costume action dramas of early Shaw Brothers to Bruce Lee’s on-camera viciousness into Jackie Chan’s playfulness, and an evolution of the art form like The Raid leading to this, an extension of wanton and justified cruelty. More than just its brutality, there’s an elegance to the choreography, and an inventiveness that goes beyond the jaw-dropping speed of the kicks. Star Miao Xie wields a hammer with more anger than Jason Vorhees does with his machete. The difference is Xie is on the side of right.

It’s clear The Furious exists for its action, not its predictable or obvious story beats

It’s clear The Furious exists for its action, not its predictable or obvious story beats. The Furious isn’t a broad tale of child human trafficking, rather the crime is used as an excuse to justify slamming people in the head with hammers; no further explanation needed to extinguish mounds (literally) of men who take part in this soulless criminality. That’s helped by Xie ferocity, playing a mute, who not only sells his rage through his relentless skull bashing, but even his run, which puts an unmistakable, believable fire in his eyes. This is a child wronged, and a father overdosed on instinctual ferocity.

Designed with theatrical implausibility, the fights turn Xie (and investigative partner Joe Taslim) into a martial arts superhero, impervious to damage by way of sheer will. The same goes for his opponents, all decorated with their own fatherhood scenarios, giving them the same drive to kill. Grandiose showmanship elevates the martial arts film with an unrelenting speed and cartoon-like absurdity that overwhelms with its spectacle.

What matters, regardless of The Furious’ story depth, is there’s enough to make Xie a developed protagonist. This isn’t a story featuring a military man, cop, or other quantifiable. Xie is an average, poor single dad trying to do right, and The Furious doesn’t need more because the character evolves through his fighting. His emotional qualities peer through streaks of blood, crunching bone, and sliced flesh. He’s capable enough to conquer with his fist, but enters an underground fighting arena with a hammer in his jacket purely because he wants to, not because he needs to. This man is dangerous, but no jury would seek to convict him.

Shot digitally in 2K, The Furious doesn’t have a striking visual prowess in terms of raw fidelity. It’s on the softer side, and the upscale of it all is apparent. The Furious doesn’t look bad – far from it – but don’t expect the punch of better 4Ks. There’s texture, with strong facial definition and some stellar city views. Low light noise is common, especially during fights to add to their grit. The encode holds firm, and no loss of fidelity.

Darkness covers much of The Furious, thankfully with hefty shadows keeping depth firm. In Dolby Vision, peak brightness is routine, even unimpressive, although a lot of that comes from the color grading that saps contrast with warm/cool tints. Note that while burned in subtitles are fine, the optional English SDH/Spanish subs are brighter than anything in the movie.

Color is graded with dimmer tones, warmed in the sunlight, chilled via the interiors. Flesh tones are given warmth and vibrancy. Few primaries will reach their purest hues, kept dry within the moody palette.

Mixed low, a bump in volume is enough to compensate and what results in a fantastic bit of audio mixing. The Furious’ underground environments are sources of constant ambiance, from slamming doors to trickling water. Voices echo underground too. The fights are where The Furious impresses most and that might seem obvious, but it’s how well those fights track the action. Kicks and punches have clear aural origin and landing points, using the full width of the front soundstage as much as the rears. Heights capture shattering debris (ice blocks) and swinging weapons (hammers).

If there’s a lapse, it’s the low-end. There’s impact. Each strike is felt, and the score throbs in the low-end, but range isn’t extensive, just functional. A club’s music is the bass’ peak.

A brief slate of bonuses includes an excellent 42-minute making of, a look at the five man brawl (16-minutes), deleted scenes, and a trailer.