FURIE is a straightforward martial arts flick from Vietnam, one with more storytelling than you'd expect. It follows a familiar format, similar to that seen in TAKEN, THE MAN FROM NOWHERE and KIDNAP, in which a mother sees her daughter kidnapped in front of her and goes to hell and back to rescue her. The main actress is comfortable in both the fights and the acting stakes, coming across as both skilled and sympathetic, while the cinematography is a strong point here: the colours have a real richness and the locations, particularly the rural ones, are very well shot. In terms of action, there's a fine sequence early on which begins with a market brawl and moves on to motorbike chase, very skilfully done. Later, the action moves to a city and a train and becomes more predictable and CGI-enhanced, but always remains watchable and enjoyable throughout.

Hai Phuong (Veronica Ngo) is a former prostitute with Mai (Cat Vy ) a whiny daughter who wants to farm fish. She is now a debt collector with a bad reputation and a lot of enemies. She is tough and when her daughter is kidnapped, she goes Uma Thurman all over the bad guys.

The first 20 minutes or so was painful as the built character with a bunch of faux Asian drama. Hai can take on a half dozen guys with automatic weapons in a few seconds but fights with one woman for 10 minutes before her foe finally pulls out a knife. The called Ho Chi Minh City, "Saigon" and used the phrase "checkmate" while playing checkers. The translation left something to be desired Mai's voice over was horrible.

Not as good as the Jennifer Gardner film, but then I am not Asian.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

You sometimes do wonder: Why me? Is it Karma? Could the lead character here be having issues because of what she once was? Also does that not also help her solving those problems? Maybe, but having a kid taken away from you is quite harrowing to say the least.

The drama unfolds and everything is quite crazy, but nicely edited and told. Not a masterpiece but more than decent