Furies

Revenge is a powerful tool but it could also be dangerous. If you revenge someone who harmed you personally or someone you loved, there might be consequences for the choices you make. I can absolutely understand if you would harm someone who harmed your child, because we all would protect our children no matter what it takes. The question is, would it be worth it if you might end up in jail for the rest of your life? What if you actually killed someone who you believe have done something horrible towards a child or children? When i think of films that brings up the subject of revenge there are a lot of titles to choose between. You have the classic vigilante revenge film such as Death Wish with Charles Bronson, or perhaps you enjoy the 1990 film Revenge with Kevin Costner and Anthony Quinn. One of my personal absolute favourite films that takes on the subject of revenge is the 2013 thriller film Prisoners from director Denis Villeneuve ( director of the latest Dune films ). Prisoners is not an ordinary revenge film in the sense that we get to follow a criminal case from different perspective, but there is a very powerful revenge thread in the film that is very important. Prisoners begins in Conyers, Pennsylvania, where carpenter Keller Dove ( Hugh Jackman ) and his family visit their neighbors, The Birches, for Thanksgiving. Keller´s daughters walk down the street and they later find out they have not be seen for a long time, and are simply vanished. Detective Loki ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) is informed that a suspiscious Van was seen in the are during the girls vanished where he arrest the driver Alex Jones ( Paul Dano ). Alex is intellectually disabled, with the IQ of a 10 year old. There is no physical evidence in the Van and Alex is released the next day. However, Keller believe that Alex is behind this and will make sure he gets answers. Prisoners is a very brutal revenge driven thrillerthat especially makes you think about, where do you draw the line between taking law into your own hands or leaving it for the police to handle? Director Denis Villeneuve knows exactly how to build up suspension in this revenge thriller, and it is a film you need to see. Revenge inspired action films do show up now and then, except with different plots and perhaps different backgrounds. One film i have been curious to see is from Vietnam and is called Furies, an action revenge story that´s on Netfilx. This is a prequel to a film called Furie and met film critics with positive words. Is this one of the better action films this year, or is Furies a prequel that didn´t need to exist?   

Bi ( Dong Anh Quynh ) lives with her mother who works as a prostitue to support them. One day, a drunk client arrives at the boat they are living on. While Bi´s moher is out shopping this drunk client decides to rape Bi. Bi´s mother returns and see what is happening and furiously pulls him of her daughter. During this struggle Bi´s mother is killed by the client, and Bi stabs the man to death. The boat suddenly begin to burn, leaving Bi homeless, and she flees to Ho Chi Minh City. After several years of living in the streets, earning money from odd jobs and pickpocketing. Bi is rescued from an attempt rape and is recruited by Aunt Lin ( Veronica Ngo ), who have trained two other sexual assault survivors and form The White Daises Together they train with Bi to take down gang leader Mad Dog Hai ( Thuan Nguyen ) who sells a lot of young women as sex slaves.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    How many of you remember the 2018 action revenge thriller Peppermint with Jennifer Garner who revenged her husband´s and daughter´s death against a drug cartel? That film had plenty of violence, action and Jennifer Garner kicking ass was a nice surprise and i think she did a great job. Furies is like a traditional revenge story but takes place in brothels in Vietnam instead, where a gang of females take out criminals and pimps with absolutely no human dignity at all. It´s not original in any way but that´s ok, because it is the background story of these girls that is interesting coming from broken homes and being sexually abused, as they take revenge on the people who use women as sex slaves. You could describe Furies as another version of the 2011 film The Raid combined with Charlie´s Angels and you pretty much would know what you are getting here. This is a really violent revenge action film with a lot of martial arts, where the colorful scenes of poverty becomes very clear. There isn´t much hope in this Vietnamese city where women are constantly being sold to be prostitues while drug dealers and brothel owners make a lot of money. The female cast in this film is really good and actors such as Toc Tien, Dong Anh Quynh and Rhima Thanh Vy, and each character that they play have gone through everything from being sexually abused, physically abused and not felt loved in the past. So to see these characters united and form a female assassin team is not only fun but shows the power of great team work. Regarding the plot of this film i wouldn´t call it anything special. but it is the colorful action scenes combined with great characters that makes Furies such a powerful action film. If you love Asian action movies from the past then i believe Furies might be exactly what you are looking for. Director Veronica Ngo proves with Furies that you can make a very effective female driven action film without holding back on violence. If you have not seen Furies on Netflix yet you simply have to check it out, this is how you make an action film about female revenge.

Rating: DDDD