1 of 5 | From left, Joe Taslim, Xie Miao, Brian Le, Yayan Ruhian and Joe Iwanaga face off at the end of “The Furious,” in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
Martial artist Joe Taslim said he felt his fights in The Furious, in theaters Friday, were akin to music. Taslim plays journalist Navin, helping distraught father Wang Wei (Xie Miao) find his kidnapped daughter, Rainy (Yang Enyou).
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Taslim, 44, said the film’s fights felt like improvisational music with a purpose. Navin and Wang fight individuals, team up against some opponents, and end up in a five-way fight at the end.
“It’s like jazz,” Taslim said. “It starts two vs. two, splits one on one, one on one, come back, two vs. two, then one wild card comes.”
Taslim became a martial arts movie star when 2010’s The Raid: Redemption introduced Indonesian martial artists to the world. He learned their Silat style for that film, which he also employed in The Night Comes for Us, but Taslim practiced Judo prior to that.
His fights in The Furious are Judo style, but he retains the lessons of Silat.
“In terms of acceleration, how I fight one movement to another, usually in Judo is quite stiff,” Taslim said. “What I learned from Silat improved the way I fight in Judo because Silat has certain maneuvers that are so effective for me from one attack to another.”
The five-way fight challenged Xie too. With Taslim, Yayan Ruhian, Brian Le and Joey Iwanaga all involved, Xie, 42, said he had to focus on his own moves.
“Besides remembering your own moves, my eyes were constantly watching others’ moves to figured out the best time to cut in,” Xie said through a translator.
Xie is a Hong Kong martial artist who mainly practices Wushu. He said some of The Furious fights incorporated Tai Chi and close-quarters styles.
“You will notice when Wang Wei fights with others, he presses very close to them,” Xie said. “That’s not a fighting distance I’m good at so it also takes me a long time to adjust.”
The fighters cast in The Furious are different enough to require different styles in each scene. Le is muscular, so Xie must employ a different technique against him. Xie said Wang used Le’s own strength against him.
“What I had to do was press against Brian’s massive body but not let his body knock me off,” Xie said. “In other situations, if he feels he can get an advantage, he will choose to defeat an opponent with speed and strength.”
Wang and Navin face Le’s henchman character in an ice house, in an homage to the Bruce Lee film The Big Boss. Taslim enjoyed seeing the evolution from Lee’s Jeet Kune Do kicks to the combination of styles in The Furious 55 years later.
“Back in old days, it’s all about beautiful kicks,” Taslim said. “It’s about spinning kicks, slo-mo, flying kicks but now I think how people watch action is so different. People want to feel the character more. People want to feel the story. People want to feel the reality in that fight scene.”
The Furious also features Thai martial artist JeeJa Yanin as Matia, Navin’s girlfriend who also investigates the kidnapped children. Yanin returned to the screen for the first time since 2019’s Triple Threat, as a favor to director Kenji Tanigaki, who knew her before her debut in Chocolate.
“I ask our casting director, ‘Can we have JeeJa?” Tanigaki, 55, said. “She turned it down for the first time and once she knows I’m the director, she’s willing to appear in my film. So thanks to JeeJa.”
The cast gracefully performs all the choreography designed by Kensuke Sonomura. That did not mean there were no mistakes.
Xie recalled filming a scene in a MMA cage at least five times. He has to climb on top of other opponents to jump out of the cage.
“It was very hard for me to stand there steadily,” Xie said. “If you can’t stand steadily even a little, people would think I would fall off from those people’s bodies.”
Tanigaki revealed that, though the actors were playing opponents, in reality, they all supported Xie to allow him to complete the climb.
“They are fighting each other, but actually they must work together,” Tanigaki said. “So sometimes they pretend to be struggling but sometimes they support the actor lowering down.”
When his daughter is kidnapped, Wang pursues the truck on foot. Xie said he did not want the truck to slow down for him, but the faster he ran the faster the truck drove.
“Sometimes I run too fast and the shot ends up showing two people too far apart,” Xie said. “The director would ask the car to slow down a bit.”
Le hangs Rainy over the side of the truck while it is driving. Tanigaki said Yang did the stunt, but assured viewers she was secured by a wire with a hidden platform underneath her for safety.
“That sequence is kind of crazy but we are not crazy,” Tanigaki said. “We put a plate underneath and of course we use a wire, so very safe. It’s herself but again, we use a platform.”
Xie was a child actor himself when he began his career playing Jet Li’s son in New Legend of Shaolin and My Father is a Hero. Xie said he has only recently reconnected with Li as an adult.
“Over the very past year, we’ve had a lot of interactions,” Xie said.
Taslim also recently appeared in Mortal Kombat II reprising his role as Bi-Hen. He still hopes to do a sequel to The Night Comes for Us, but writer/director Timo Tjahjanto’s idea involves Julie Estelle’s character, The Operator.
“She’s a full-time mother dedicating her life to her family,” Taslim said. “I think Timo mentioned that somehow I survived The Night Comes For Us, the final fight. Then we’re going to work together, fighting all those bad people.”
Taslim hopes Estelle will return, and the sequel could begin 5-10 years later. Tanigaki is focused on The Furious before he thinks of future films.
“Let’s see if Furious is successful or not,” Tanigaki said. “So we need your support.”
