Furie - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Furie



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
They say never to stand between a mama bear and her cubs. In my nearly 40 years of existence and decades of camping and hunting experiences, I’ve come to take that statement as bonafide face. In fact, I’d say it translates to most species including humans even. People loved to cheer for Liam Neeson in Taken a few years back, but there is nothing like the ferocity of a mother who is trying to protect her young ones. That is where Vietnam’s Furie steps in. On the surface it’s a Taken knockoff with a Vietnamese vibe, but underneath it all the movie is a bit more complex and fulfilling. Sadly there are a few faux pas during the 98 minute runtime that keep it from being as epic as it COULD be, but Furie is an excellent little actioneer with tons of guns, punches, kicks and the rage and tenacity of a mother searching for her lost child.

Hai Phuong (Veronica Ngo, most notable for playing Rose’s sister in The Last Jedi) has a “particular set of skills”, much like Liam Neeson. She’s a single mother of a child named Mai (Cat Vy), who is making ends meet by being a low level debt collector/enforcer for the local mafia. Hai naturally came from a much higher end area as a younger woman, but giving birth to Mai meant that she had to start over and now she’s at the bottom rungs working this debt collection job. When Mai is stolen right out from under her at the local market, Hai is desperate to find her child. To make matters worse it appears that Mai has been stolen by a gang of human traffickers who is looking to harvest organs from young children and sell them around the world.

Unleashing her particular set of skills, Hai goes on a literal rampage, tearing through Saigon, cutting down each gang member as she works her way up the ladder. Aided by a local Saigon cop who has been working on the case for 3 years, Hai is a literal wrecking ball, determined to get her child back, no matter the cost.

Furie IS a Taken clone in many ways. It has the typical tough guy (girl in this case) who came from a life of using her skills daily. Now she’s retired and living life with her daughter. When her daughter gets kidnapped it’s time to bring those skills out into the daylight once more, with carnage and chaos ensuing. However, it changes things up by actually sporting a backstory and inciting incidents for the kidnapping. Hai and Mai have a lightly strained relationship due to Hai’s job as an enforcer. Mai is bullied at school for being an out of wedlock child, and because of her mother’s unsavory job. When Hai refuses to believe Main didn’t steal a wallet the young girl runs off to hide, only to run right into the arms of the kidnappers.

Hai is also a bit different than what you’d think. Even though she has “a particular set of skills”, Hai is very relatable as a mother. Her desperation grows the longer she’s hunting for her daughter, and she’s being slowly weakened as she has to fight more and more bad guys in between her and her daughter. It sort of grounds her from being the invincible killer like Liam Neeson was. Hai’s rampage is vicious, terrible and full of desperation, making her battles all the more intense (and believe you me, there are a TON of battles). However, we didn’t come her to watch melodrama (which there is some of too). We cam here to watch Veronica Ngo kicks some serious badguy butt and the film really excels when mama bear is in attack mode.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

I couldn’t find much info about the cameras used and the digital master struck, but digging around the internet and through the end credits of the film it seems to imply that the typical Arri Alexa cameras were use. I’d assume a 2K digital intermediate was struck, but you know what they say about assuming things. Anyways, the end result is a rather striking looking film that is covered in deep swaths of blue, purple and greens. The opening 20 minutes of the movie back in Hai and Mai’s home tone is very much neutral in its color grading, but once Hai gets to Saigon and starts delving into the seedy underbelly of the city the blue and purple highlights start coming out. Fine detailing is usually excellent, and the disc really should be 4.5-5/5 rating for picture quality except for one thing. Banding, there is a decent amount of problematic banding running throughout the film, but the last 1/3rd of the movie has some pretty excessive banding and splotching in the dark scenes (that train fight near the end is littered with it). Outside of that, this is a VERY strong looking 2.39:1 framed Blu-ray from Well Go USA









Audio:

Furie sports both an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track as well as a more robust 7.1 DTS-HD MA track in Vietnamese. Comparing both side by side I’m definitely sticking with the native Vietnamese track. The dubbing in the English track is pretty bad and the dynamics of the 7.1 mix are a definite improvement. That 7.1 mix is a BEAST of a track for sure. The film opens up with a powerful bass line that sets the tempo for the movie from moment one, and really grabs you by the hair and doesn’t let go till the end credits finish. The opening backstory for Mai and Hai is relatively subdued and front heavy, but once Hai begins her bloody rampage to find her daughter the track kicks into high gear and encompasses the listener with all sorts of action. The surrounds are wildly active with the sound of bodies hitting the floor, bottles shattering in the background, the rumble of a train and the hubbub of a busy hospital. LFE is simply punishing, pulsating and vibrating the listening position with powerful waves that accentuate the action sequences and martial arts impacts, while ripping it up with the score. Simply put, this is a stellar track.







Extras:

• Trailers
• Behind the Scenes

Final Score: ​

Furie is more than just a Taken ripoff. It manages to create an actual sense of backstory and empathy for the characters involved outside of just pugilism and violence. You can see the suffering that Hai is going through, she is not nearly as invincible as Liam Neeson’s character. You see her take damage and wear down till the final confrontation on the train. It’s rousing, exciting, and full of high octane action. There’s a few moments here and there are kind of awkward, but Furie is a genuinely fun and exciting action film from the Asian market. The Blu-ray’s video encode is solid, and the audio is really just about perfect. The only weak link in the home video package is the incredibly meager extras (which are actually pretty typical of Well Go USA titles), but the film is definitely worth checking out for Asian action fans.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Le Binh, Pham Anh Khoa, Veronica Ngo, Thanh Nhien Phan, Kim Long Theach, Hoa Tran, Cat Vy
Directed by: Le-Van Kiet
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Vietnamese: DTS-HD MA 7.1, Vietnamese DD 2.0, English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 98 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 25th, 2019

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Asere]

Thank you I may buy this one since it is $14.99. Looks like a fun watch indeed with a stellar audio track.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Sounds interesting... this is going to go on my watch/wish list.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will take a look once on amazon prime/netflix.

 

[Asere]

This film will be available on Netflix this Wednesday 9/25.

 

[tripplej]

Great. Thanks for the update. Will check it out.