Summary
There’s enough gratuitous violence flooded by neon lights to satisfy the pickiest fans of the genre. But the story and the relationship between the leads is where Furies’ heart lies.
Directed by Veronica Ngo, we review the 2023 Netflix film Furies, which does not contain spoilers.
Netflix’s first-ever original Vietnamese movie, Furies was directed by Veronica Ngo, who appears in a different role than her starring part from 2019’s Furie.
Set on the gritty 90s street of Ho Chi Minh City, the film tells the story of a young woman that becomes involved with a group of female vigilantes set on ridding the streets of a sociopathic crime lord.
The film was initially supposed to come out on the big screen in Vietnam last year before its premiere was moved exclusively to the streaming platform.
Furies (2023) Review and Plot Summary
Furies starts by introducing our lead, country girl Bi (Dong Anh Quynh), who explains through narration how darkness has always been a part of her. The first few minutes are particularly hard to watch.
Bi’s mother used sex work to pay for her education. When one of her mother’s johns assaults a young Bi, she tries protecting her daughter and ends up murdered by him.
In retaliation, the child stabs him to death before making her way to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon).
Life in the city isn’t any easier for Bi, who’s been pickpocketing and living on the streets, so when a mysterious woman named Jacqueline (Veronica Ngo) rescues her from a gang of would-be attackers, she follows her.
Jaqueline leads a group of vigilantes formed of two other young women – girly-girl Hong (Rima Thanh Vy) and tough-girl Thanh (Toc Tien) – who lovingly refer to her as Aunt Lin. Each woman was a victim of assault, with Thanh having been previously sold into a brothel.
As the group of ‘Furies’ take Bi in and train her, Jacqueline explains their purpose is to destroy the criminal gang led by the big four – Their leader, Hai (Thuan Nguyen), his muscleman Son (Gi A Nguyen), the brains of the drug operation, Long (Song Luan), and the group’s lead sex trafficker, Teo (Phan Thanh Hien).
While set in the same universe as Le-Van Kiet‘s Furie and serving as a loose prequel to the 2019 action-packed thriller, Furies is perfectly watchable as a stand-alone. The film is jammed with expertly choreographed fight scenes, enhanced by the use of Dutch angles.
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There’s enough gratuitous violence flooded by neon lights to satisfy the pickiest fans of the genre. But the story and the relationship between the leads is where Furies’ heart lies.
Bi’s journey from an abused child to a skilled vigilante fighter is fascinating, and Quynh does a great job of carrying such a complex role. How she slowly opens up to Hong and Thanh as the three of them bond over a shared trauma and a common purpose makes for compelling viewing.
This isn’t just a revenge movie. And it’s not only a film about vigilantes. It’s also a powerful movie about women coming together and finding strength in each other.
As a stand-alone, Furies is a delightfully vicious action gem, but the clumsy attempt at the end to connect it with Van Kiet’s 2019 feature lets it down a little. This could have easily remained an independent story told within the same universe, and that would have probably been the better call.
We already knew Veronica Ngo was a brilliant actress and skilled at martial arts after seeing her in the likes of Furie and The Old Guard. Now her directorial work on Furies proves she’s a force to be reckoned with in the action genre.
Is the 2023 movie Furies good?
Furies tells a compelling story while not shying away from showing brutal violence. The characters are well-rounded, the twists are unexpected, and the fight scenes are fantastic.
Overall, this is a very entertaining feature, and likely one of the best action flicks to come out on Netflix this year.
What do you think of the 2023 Netflix film Furie? Comment below.
