Furies (Thanh Sói - Cúc dại trong đêm) (2022)
Runtime: 109 minutes
Directed by: Veronica Ngo
Starring: Dong Anh Quynh, Toc Tien, Thuan Nguyen, Rima Thanh Vy, Ngo
From: Netflix
I don’t believe it either that I saw 2019’s Furie (a Vietnamese martial arts jam) 5 years ago already. This prequel has been on my Netflix watchlist for the past 3 years; about time I gave this a shot. I liked rather than loved Furie & the same goes for Furies. The plot conceit is different: an origin story, but for Furie’s villain.
In the 90’s, a poor teen girl in a rural village is sexually assaulted; in Ho Chi Minh City, she is saved by a lady who trains badass women who are a vigilante group that protect the fairer sex. They take out drug dealers, traffickers, and other scumbags; it became even easier to root for those young, pretty women as they kicked ass and engaged in one of my favorite genres, Dudes Getting Wrecked ™
One extended action scene is best described as “the world’s greatest PS4 cutscene” but at least it made me laugh uproariously, even if that wasn’t the intent. Otherwise, this was an interesting tale which featured nice drama featuring damaged characters coinciding with the enjoyable action beats. The most interesting detail: the star of Furie (Veronica Ngo) returned here, playing a different character in a supporting role, but she was the director, co-writer, and co-producer.
As for direction, I’ll give her props for the surplus of neon lighting, mainly during the action scenes. Mix in such moments as split-screens and the film at least wasn’t drab to look at. Sure, it starts to become nonsense in the final act but overall, Furies is still preferable to much of the gruel that Netflix produces. It’s also better than the movie that Ngo was apparently in briefly (The Last Jedi) but I’d rather not re-litigate why I’m not a fan of The Last Jedi!
