Furie (aka Hai Phuong) (2019) & Furies (aka Thanh Soi) (2023)

[One Armed Boxer]

On 11/29/2022 at 1:12 AM, Drunken Monk said:

Hopefully someone will pick it up for the US market soon.

It’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be similar calls to boycott this movie as there was to purchasing 88 Films releases considering Bey Logan’s involvement.

[DrNgor]

3 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

It’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be similar calls to boycott this movie as there was to purchasing 88 Films releases considering Bey Logan’s involvement.

It would be tragic if fans boycotted that movie--a Vietnamese film directed by a Vietnamese woman--just because of Bey Logan. It would be tragic AND stupid AND hypocritical if those same fans were the types who gobbled up New York Ninja and the like.

[Drunken Monk]

3 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

It’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be similar calls to boycott this movie as there was to purchasing 88 Films releases considering Bey Logan’s involvement.

Is he a producer on it?

[One Armed Boxer]

8 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Is he a producer on it?

Yes, same role he had on ‘Furie’, but based on his FB posts he was a lot more involved during the filming of this one.

[mpm74]

6 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

It’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be similar calls to boycott this movie as there was to purchasing 88 Films releases considering Bey Logan’s involvement.

I heard through the grapevine that Netflix might have nabbed rights to the sequel. With that said, does this mean that people are going to cancel their Netflix accounts? Should be interesting to see.

Edited November 30, 2022 by mpm74

[Super Ninja]

8 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

It’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be similar calls to boycott this movie as there was to purchasing 88 Films releases considering Bey Logan’s involvement.

I despise the very idea. This boycott might as well include organizing a public burning of HKL DVD releases since Bey surely touched all of them with his filthy fingers? I hope this boycott would never even become a topic of a serious conversation.

As someone who's interested in Veronica Ngo's film career and follows Vietnamese MA/action cinema, I will support both the movie and its release, whatever the kind.

 

[One Armed Boxer]

9 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

As someone who's interested in Veronica Ngo's film career and follows Vietnamese MA/action cinema, I will support both the movie and its release, whatever the kind.

That's probably what 88 Films thought about their audiences approach to releasing deluxe Blu-ray editions of kung-fu movies, and we know how that worked out. 

[Drunken Monk]

Furies hits Netflix on March 23rd.

[laagi]

Yeah this was very OK I guess. That's the best compliment I can make it honestly.

Some truly terrible scenes in the beginning which includes rape of an implied minor as well as LOTS of violence against women.

If you can stomach that ESPECIALLY in context with who's at the helm as a producer (not trying to start something, just saying) than I guess you're up for some decent action choreography here and there and a flimsy plot holding the thing together.

One scene in particular which stuck out negatively with me was a motorcycle chase. Too much obvious CGI which takes you out of the action almost instantly.

It doesn't help either that towards the end, while at least delivering some fair one-on-one fights the producers somehow decided to insert a last minute twist which although you might see it coming makes literally no sense. It's almost as if they ran out of an idea on how to finish the movie two thirds through.

To me the stand out if you will was clearly Dong Anh Quynh. She brought a sense of screen presence to the movie I've enjoyed watching.

Last but not least the camera work could've done with some fine tuning. Most of the action is just too close and towards the end they're going a bit off the rails with different angles. It made it hard to keep up with what's happening.

Fans of Veronica might also feel a bit disappointed as you'll have to wait a good while for her character to actually get into the fight.

Overall as stated above it's OK, dare I say a good effort and definitely better than most of the action stuff that came out of Vietnam recently.

[One Armed Boxer]

I actually enjoyed this one more than you @laagi, and I daresay much more than 'John Wick Chapter 4'! I wasn't particularly fussed over 'Furie', finding it to be a middling effort, so 'Furies' turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I noticed a lot of reviews are calling out the sleaze, but really, it's no worse than what you'll find in plenty of HK triad and Cat III flicks from the 80's and 90's. I gave it the full review treatment over at COF - 

https://cityonfire.com/furies-aka-thanh-soi-2023-review-veronica-ngo/

 

[Karlos]

I'm an hour into this and I agree with @One Armed Boxer, this is a good time.

As he says, it really feels like a mid-90s HK flick.

Yes, it's harsh (especially at the beginning), but it doesn't feel exploitative.

My expectations were low for this one but I'm digging it.

[Drunken Monk]

Furies is a good way to spend two hours. It’s a great little 90’s homage (on purpose? I’m not sure) that’s at times a gritty exploitation flick and at times Vietnam’s answer to Charlie’s Angels.

I’ll get the negatives out of the way first. There is at least two wonky tonal shifts in this film that left me perplexed. The most egregious is the training montage. I’ll admit, that really did take me out of the film. It’s bizarre. The only other issues with the film were that at times is suffers from its budgetary constraints (that chase scene feels like something from a 90’s SYFY channel movie) and unfortunately, some of the action is shot awkwardly. If the camera man had just taken one step backwards, things would have been so much better.

The positives? The films looks great. Neon drenched and directed with a keen eye for cinema. This is a well put together movie. It delivers a shitload of style. The aforementioned style shines when the action rolls around. The fight scenes are brutal, well choreographed and they look hard hitting (something some female led action films struggle with). There are moments when the choreography fails to deliver (the first hallway fight scene was a real dud) but for the most time, it shines. The actresses obviously put in work.

Another strong positive is the exploitation angle. This film is rough. Child rape, kidnapped women sold as sex slaves, drug addicts being pissed on… And yet it does all this without having an ounce of nudity. So while it’s brutal, it’s not overly sexual. Me? I wouldn’t have minded if it got even grittier, but that’s because I’m a tasteless weirdo. With that said, Veronica Ngo knows how to give her audience a sick and twisted world.

The film is over long. It should have been a tight, action packed 90 minutes. Granted, the drama is fairly solid and the characters are developed very well. I just feel like it takes too long between fight scenes.

With that said, the last thirty minutes is a barrage of fight scenes and is worth the price of admission alone. A particular stand out is when a drug riddled henchman tackles our lead character. Syringe in hand. It makes for a really unique scrap, even if it is a bit brief.

Thankfully, Ngo does gift us a big final fight. It might not be as straight up brutal as the finale of Furie but it’s an excellent throwdown. Great camera work too.

When all is said and done, Furies may be my favourite film of 2023 so far. Obviously I’m writing this review pre-John Wick 4. It’s the perfect recipe for a great action flick and while is struggles in places, it doesn’t affect the overall product. Great film.

[laagi]

Oh boy do I feel out of touch with the genre. I can't remotely share the same enthusiasm as my brothers here.

But I'm glad you guys get to enjoy it! I guess sometimes other factors weigh in as well when watching a movie

I might have to re-watch it some time down the road. Although I know while typing I'm just lying to myself here. I've rarely re-watched any movie EVER! Don't ask it's kind of my thing, I guess.

[Yihetuan]

20 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

I actually enjoyed this one more than you @laagi, and I daresay much more than 'John Wick Chapter 4'! I wasn't particularly fussed over 'Furie', finding it to be a middling effort, so 'Furies' turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I noticed a lot of reviews are calling out the sleaze, but really, it's no worse than what you'll find in plenty of HK triad and Cat III flicks from the 80's and 90's. I gave it the full review treatment over at COF - 

https://cityonfire.com/furies-aka-thanh-soi-2023-review-veronica-ngo/

 

I second this opinion. I wasn't that impressed with the first movie and thought it was pretty basic and didn't understand all the effusive praise it was receiving but I can finally say this "prequel" is really deserving of being seen by a wider audience. You touched on the leitmotif of this film as it definitely harken back to themes of HK cinema and in a good way. I am hoping this gets a blu ray release because I will definitely add it to my physical media collection.

4 hours ago, laagi said:

Oh boy do I feel out of touch with the genre. I can't remotely share the same enthusiasm as my brothers here.

But I'm glad you guys get to enjoy it! I guess sometimes other factors weigh in as well when watching a movie

I might have to re-watch it some time down the road. Although I know while typing I'm just lying to myself here. I've rarely re-watched any movie EVER! Don't ask it's kind of my thing, I guess.

Oh man, I wish I can have the same mindset as you as it would free up much needed space in my small apartment. it's overflowing with blu rays and dvds. Even though I watch the majority of my films these days via streaming or as files, I'm always tempted to purchase the physical copy even if I don't plan on revisiting it for years!

[ShaOW!linDude]

Watched this last night, and for the most part, I echo almost everything @Drunken Monk says.

Negatives: The movies about 20 minutes too long. There are some tonal shifts are, like, "What? Um, okay, we're doing this now." The motorcycle chase is the worst action segment of the movie partly for the CGI production, but also because some of the fight aspects get repetitive. I don't really these 3 girls being this tough, and really the character Bi is the only one that sells her fights to me. I needed more action from Veronica Ngo herself.

Positives: The plot is great with moments that are truly unsettling, particularly because I'm a father of 2 teenage daughters. The colors of the movie are a great mixture of scenes that are dank and dark or neon and garish. There is a grittiness to the film and thematically it almost makes me feel like it could be a distant cousin to the noirish B&W Sin City moves, except in stunning color. Veronica Ngo is making great strides as a director and producer, and she's a good storyteller. The finale is banging, and there's a nice plot twist I never saw coming.

Having said all of that, I'll say, for me, Furie is a better movie than Furies. Veronica Ngo is a fantastic screen fighter. But not only that, the first film has a more desperate plot and emotional weight to it, and overall the fights are more brutal, more intricate, better staged, and better executed. I don't know that I'll ever revisit Furies, but I know I'm due for a 4th viewing of Furie.

 

[Super Ninja]

Furie is definitely better of the two. I'll take mother-tigress fighting for her cub concept over girl power/all men are scum any day of the week. 

Furies changes the color palette switching from pink and blue to complementary red and green, providing an enjoyable, stylish look for this awaited sequel that delivers good times and fairly decent martial arts action. I'm really glad seeing Ngo nurturing young talents and keeping the Vietnamese action alive. I'm also very glad it was her movie, and a MA movie at that, that carried the title of the first Netflix original from Vietnam; Furie being the most profitable movie in Vietnamese history, no doubt, had something to do with this. 

Still, Ngo keeping Vietnamese action alive comes through producing good, well made action films, not lacklustre rubbish. Furies is not without its flaws, the big party pooper being that awful CGI motorbike chase/fight. I appreciate the ambition, but Furies is no JW: Parabellum or The Villainess and Ngo would be better off leaving this one out. 

Beside that and a few minor flaws, Furies is pretty good, with well written characters, layers, nice style and some depth given to the story. I liked the daisy metaphor, that was a nice touch. 

Action wise, I didn't see Samuel Kefi Abrikh delivering anything that wasn't already in use in the first movie or in Kung Fu Zohra, besides maybe that the steady movement is more dynamic here. I'm not really counting the chase scene, that was a commendable effort, but ultimately a fail. Nonetheless, I wanna see more movies like this. From Veronica Ngo, from Studio 68 and from Vietnam.

 

 

[laagi]

4 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

Still, Ngo keeping Vietnamese action alive comes through producing good, well made action films, not lacklustre rubbish.

Isn't she a protege of Johnny Tri Nguyen? And if I'm not totally mistaken they were "a thing" once, right?

Kind of makes me wonder why Johnny seemingly quit the industry. Probably after all the hassle he went thru with authorities over his still unreleased movie Bui Doi Cho Lon aka Chinatown he simply had enough.

But he made some of the better action movies out of Vietnam!

[Super Ninja]

17 hours ago, laagi said:

Isn't she a protege of Johnny Tri Nguyen? And if I'm not totally mistaken they were "a thing" once, right?

Kind of makes me wonder why Johnny seemingly quit the industry. Probably after all the hassle he went thru with authorities over his still unreleased movie Bui Doi Cho Lon aka Chinatown he simply had enough.

But he made some of the better action movies out of Vietnam!

He definitely did, wish he was still around. If I remember correctly, he appeared in Da 5 Bloods with Ngo, both were given shamefully small roles. Didn't like that movie.

What happened to Bui Doi Cho Lon is even more shameful. Still, I'm glad we got to see it even as it is. 

I know Johnny and Veronica were a thing at one point, but this is the first time I've heard she was his protege. Makes sense now that you've said it.

[ShaOW!linDude]

19 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

I know Johnny and Veronica were a thing at one point, but this is the first time I've heard she was his protege. Makes sense now that you've said it.

My understanding is she had no formal MA training when he met her. She was a Vietnamese pop star, and she could dance and pick up on choreography. So he trained her for the action sequences in The Rebel and then in Clash. She proved to be a natural.

[Super Ninja]

6 hours ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

My understanding is she had no formal MA training when he met her. She was a Vietnamese pop star, and she could dance and pick up on choreography. So he trained her for the action sequences in The Rebel and then in Clash. She proved to be a natural.

I respect her even more now that you've said that. She came a long way. Hope her limited involvement in Furies' action scenes doesn't mean she's a thinking of retiring and passing the torch. Lady is the boss.

[DrNgor]

Watched Furies and posted a review at the site: 

https://abeautifulfilm.blogspot.com/2023/11/furies-2022.html