Furies (2022)

Furies (2022)
Vietnamese Title: Thanh Sói
Translation: Thanh the Wolf (proper name)

 

Starring: Dong Anh Quynh, Toc Tien, Thuan Nguyen, Veronica Ngo, Rima Thanh, Song Luan, Gi A Nguyen, Thanh Nhien Phan
Director: Veronica Ngo Thanh Van
Action Director: Kefi Abrikh, Yannick Ben

 

The first Furie was a resounding success in its native Vietnam, becoming the most successful domestic film of all time. And considering its warm welcome in other countries, it went without saying that a sequel would be in the works soon. This time, singer-actress Veronica Ngo, who had produced and starred in the first film, would take on the directing duties. The project was announced as a prequel to the first film. Interestingly enough (for me), that is the last I really followed the film until it came out on Netflix. I knew it was a prequel and naturally assumed it would be about Veronica Ngo’s Hai Phuong character. Instead, it is an origin story to the tough-as-nails villain Phạm Thị Châu Thanh. I honestly thought that was a twist, but while prepping for this review, I saw that this detail was in plain sight on the IMDB. I guess I should feel silly for thinking it was a twist in the first place.

The film revolves a girl named Bi (Dong Ahn Quynh), the daughter of a prostitute. Her mother turns tricks in order to get her daughter into school with the hopes of Bi getting a good job and the two out of poverty. Those hopes are dashed to pieces when one of her mother’s clients shows up drunk and rapes Bi—yes, this film depicts child rape. The resulting scuffle between Bi, the John and Bi’s mother leaves the latter two dead and Bi left to her own devices.

She takes the first bus to Saigon and (unsurprisingly) ends up on the streets. She supports herself through pickpocketing and hawking food, which quickly earns her the ire of the local extortion gang running that particular street. They try to rape her (oh dear, I need an adult), but she is rescued by a mysterious woman named Jaqueline (Veronica Ngo, of Clash and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny). Jaqueline takes Bi under her wing and gives her food and shelter at an apartment located above a small ramen shop. Also living with Bi are two other young women: Hong (Rima Thanh Vy, of Muoi: The Curse Returns) and Thanh (Toc Tien). Hong was once raped by a train of ten men, while Thanh is a former prostitute. Jaqueline trains them in the martial arts so that they may rise up against the gangs in Saigon that specialize in trafficking women.

The gang that Jaqueline has in mind is led by a nutcase named Hai Cho Dien (Thuan Nguyen). He has three Lieutenants in his organization: Son (Gi A Nguyen), his bodyguard; Long (Song Luan), the drug distributor; and Teo (Thanh Nien Phan), who handles the human trafficking. Before Bi can join the effort to take these men down, she must complete her training alongside her new “sisters.” Hong, who is more chipper and fashion-minded than Thanh, warms to Bi quite quickly. Thanh is a tougher nut to crack, although her own personal darkness mirrors Bi’s own demons, which eventually forges a real bond of sisterhood to them.

Their initial mission—take out Teo and rescue a shipment of adolescent girls—is a success. It is at that point that we learn that Jaqueline has a member of Hai’s gang on her side. However, the next mission—kill Hai himself—is not so successful. And in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, Bi begins to question the purity of Jaqueline’s motives.

Similar to the first Furie, the plot of Furies revolves around women in the dregs of society rising against the underworld that profits the exploitation of women and children. In the first film, it was child kidnapping and organ harvesting. In this film, the focus is on prostitution and trafficking women (especially adolescent girls). This makes the villains far more loathsome than if they were your average drug dealers and extortionists. That said, it is interesting that someone as awful as Phạm Thị Châu Thanh would be given such a tragic backstory. There is a touching scene after she murders her first gang member that she’s desperately trying to wash the blood off her hands. She explains to her surrogate sister Thanh that she enjoyed killing the S.O.B., but fears becoming consumed by the feeling. By the end, she has become so hardened by killing, loss, and betrayal that she ultimately allows herself to be consumed “by the darkness” that was inside of her. And thus is born one of the most horrific villainesses of recent action cinema.

The acting for the most part is good around the board. Dong Anh Quynh makes a good impression as the brooding Bi. She is a young woman who was dealt a losing hand, lost, started to hoist herself up from the bottom of the well, and then had that snatched from her. Complimenting her is the more optimistic Hong and Thanh. Thanh, as played by Toc Tien, is initially suspicious (and outright dismissive) of Bi, but warms to her as she sees much of herself in the newbie. Their relationship becomes the crux upon which the more emotional moments of the climax are set. Veronica Ngo pushes herself to the sidelines as the mentor character for the leads, but still gets to show the full range of emotions from vulnerable (she has been wronged by Hai in the past) to completely ruthless.

Speaking of ruthlessness, there is a fair amount of violent action here, choreographed once again by Kefi Abrikh and Yannick Ben. The training of Hai Phuong’s character in the first Furie was glossed over in flashbacks, but takes center stage in the second act. The girls spar, practice with punching bags, and even train in close quarters knife fighting. The first big set piece has the three girls storming a hideout for kidnapped girls and fighting a bunch of gang members there. That is trumped by the next one, which has the girls fighting a bunch of blade-wielding goons in a narrow hallway at a nightclub. There’s some nice choreography here and all three actresses make a strong showing for themselves. Unfortunately, that is followed by a motorcycle chase involving guys on motorcycles wielding machetes, a la John Wick Chapter 3. That scene is ruined by an excess of dodgy CGI, including what appears to be some “CGI people performing techniques of questionable physics” that we saw in films like Spider-Man (2002).

The action does right itself, fortunately, at the big climax. It starts with an awesome gun-fu sequence that does remind one of the better moments of John Wick, with the women fighting with their fists, feet, joint locks, throws and gunplay. That leads to a fight with different goons as they make their way closer to the main villain. At one point, Bi finds herself in a fight with a drug-addled junkie armed with a syringe in a fight that recalls the Donnie Yen/Wu Jing knife fight in SPL. There is some neat choreography as Bi uses all sorts of blocks, defenses and joint locks to keep her opponent from jabbing her with God-Knows-what.

Veronica Ngo stays out of the action spotlight until the finale, where she steps up. Her opponent fights with a more brutal and intense fighting style. Ngo, the “master” of this film, has a more laid back style that shows a greater economy of movement. She doesn’t throw her entire body into the fight initially because it’s not necessary: she can either step aside or defend herself with simple techniques. It’s only as the fight becomes more pitched that her movements become more vigorous. It also features a one-on-one martial arts/gunplay exchange that is cleverly choreographed and great to watch.

As a director, Ngo shows a lot of promise. However, she needed to tighten the film up a bit more. A lot of the dramatic moments that occur during the fights are too drawn out, affecting the pace of the both the action sequence and the film as a whole. She also loses points for the ambitious, but unconvincing, motorcycle sequence. But she does wring good performances out of the cast around a theme that is unsavory and uncomfortable, but needs to be addressed in one way or another. But if she were to direct another action film, I would certainly be interested in watching it.