The Furious': Inside the Balletic and Brutal Fight Scenes, From Mixing Martial Art Styles to Taking 18 Days to Shoot the Insane Final Showdown

The Furious leads with ballet-like precision in its brutal fight sequences, anchoring a brisk chase as it opens in U.S. theaters today via Lionsgate Films. The Hong Kong action epic centers on Wang Wei, played by Xie Miao, who hunts for his daughter after she is kidnapped by a child-trafficking ring. Choreography blends Chinese Wushu and Judo, with Xie Miao and Joe Taslim's styles driving early confrontations, and the film staging a long, fluid camera that tracks blows as objects become weapons. Kenji Tanigaki, a veteran stunt coordinator, explains that the key is pairing fighters by style so character and technique reinforce each other. The climactic 20-minute showdown was shot over 18 days on a police-station set, a grueling schedule the director says tested even seasoned crews.

Originally, the ending paired two teams, but Tanigaki revived a villain Brian Le to join the melee, expanding the battle to five fighters across three factions. The producer insisted on rehearsals early; actors joined a month-and-a-half before filming, and the camera team joined a month earlier to integrate camera movement with fight choreography. The Furious opens amid a crowded box office landscape, but Lionsgate hopes word-of-mouth sustains its appeal as a fight-driven spectacle. Tanigaki notes the sequence's scale pushed the crew's limits but delivered a cinematic payoff.