The Furious

Let us get the elephant out of the room first. Your story is 'ordinary man, kidnapped daughter, criminal network.' Congratulations. You have just described roughly forty percent of every action movie released since Taken hit theaters in 2008. Kenji Tanigaki, you had the audacity to hire Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Jeeja Yanin, Yayan Ruhian, AND Brian Le, and the best origin story you could cook up was 'tradesman dad goes ballistic.' A tradesman. The man sells goods for a living. That is the civilian cover you picked for a cast that could dismantle a small army with their pinkies.

Now, here is where Cynical Sally has to put down her poison pen for a second, because 99 percent of critics on Rotten Tomatoes cannot be entirely wrong. An 8.6 average rating and a 90 on Metacritic are not participation trophies, those are receipts. RogerEbert.com called it 'a flurry of fists and devilish fun,' and The Wrap floated it as potentially the best action movie of 2026. The festival circuit agreed, sending this film through Toronto, Beyond Fest, Hawaii, the Red Sea, and finally letting it close out the Boston Underground Film Festival like a victory lap. That is not a movie nobody believes in. That is a movie everyone kept passing around like a secret.

The real crime here is not the film itself. It is Lionsgate waiting until June 12 to release something this good, after first promising it on May 29 and then blinking. A two-week delay for a 99 percent fresh martial arts showcase is the kind of move that makes fans consider piracy as a moral position. And yes, Starz subscribers, your day will come in roughly four months, so enjoy the spoilers in the meantime. The bright side: a 113-minute runtime means this thing does not outstay its welcome, and with a cast this loaded, every single minute earns its keep.