The opening title cards of Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious establish his latest work “somewhere in Southeast Asia,” which was more than telling of the kind of ‘people who know ball’-grade action cinema I had in store for me. Chinese martial arts prodigy Xie Miao headlines. Indonesian judo champion-turned-screen bruiser Joe Taslim co-stars. The Raid legend Yayan Ruhian lurks around corners waiting to ruin somebody’s day. Vietnamese American stunt performer Brian Le even has the aesthetic profile of that one generic Street Fighter character (better yet, the durability of one that Capcom forgot to nerf).A Hong Kong production shot in Bangkok and populated by martial artists drawn from mainland China, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and several neighbouring action cinema traditions, The Furious is set in a deliberately anonymous Southeast Asian urban sprawl while wearing its influences with almost forensic specificity. This effectively places the film inside a strain of action filmmaking that feels increasingly endangered. Before directing features, Tanigaki built his career choreographing violence for stars such as Donnie Yen before graduating to the director’s chair, and The Furious imbibes those tried-and-tested cult action sensibilities, still trusting the performers to do the interesting part themselves.The Furious (English/ Cantonese)Director: Kenji TanigakiCast: Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian, Brian Le, Joey Iwanaga, JeeJa Yanin, Philip NgRuntime: 113 minutesStoryline: A mute maintenance worker and a relentless journalist tear through a sprawling child-trafficking network in search for their missingThe film is ostensibly concerned with child traffickers, corrupt officials and wealthy predators operating behind institutional protection, and the tacky dialogues seem to be the obvious casualties for Tanigaki positively frothing at the mouth in the excitement of wanting to get back to the good stuff, but honestly, the simple pleasures of watching just a few extraordinarily gifted dudes attempt progressively insane acts of catastrophic bodily harm cannot be overstated.The plot exists largely as a delivery mechanism. Xie plays a nameless mute handyman whose daughter Rainy is kidnapped after arriving from China to visit him. At the same time, investigative journalist Navin, played by Taslim, is searching for answers surrounding the disappearance of his wife Matia, who vanished while investigating the same trafficking operation. Their investigations eventually intersect because everybody in this movie is either hunting traffickers, protecting traffickers, funding traffickers or preparing to cave a trafficker’s ribcage inward with construction equipment.