Furioza

I’m giving it three stars, but that's in the context of Polish cinema. Furioza is a solid film, though there were a few things that really bugged me. That said, it's one of the most meticulously made movies about hooligans. Watching it, I felt completely repulsed by them. The film’s best scenes are when melancholic music plays in the background while hooligans are either beating someone up or ruining someone’s life. These moments were powerful, clearly portraying hooligans as the lowest of the low. However, the ending took a twist that left me unsure of what to think. If you’re into this kind of theme and a football fan, you won’t go wrong with this film. It’s definitely an intriguing watch. (2022-04-14)

A Polish masterpiece for tough guys! I've been lucky with my choices lately, it's been one hit after another. Netflix's collaboration with Poland turned out well again and an unknown director served up a good piece of mature filmmaking. Furioza is quite possibly the best Football hooligans themed film, and also a gritty gangster flick, a crime thriller, a cop thriller, a fighting actioner and a steamy drama. The British and American hooligans look downright funny next to the Polish ones. The protagonist is a former hooligan, now a doctor, and his former love is currently a policewoman, which gives him two options: either he becomes a police informant and infiltrates the criminal Furioza Gang, which is led by his brother, or they immediately send his brother behind bars for several years. The movie, despite being 2 hours 20 minutes long, never gets boring, the viewer gets sucked into the plot immediately, it's very well shot, with an excellent soundtrack (Polish Hip Hop is great), there are some decent unexpected twists, and the atmosphere is pretty thick (sweaty ass guaranteed in some scenes). All the characters are well acted (the policewoman is a very badass female character), but the one I probably enjoyed the most was Golden, a sleazy skinhead who gave me the chills (the transformation of the actor into such a physically dense role is incredible). Technically and visuall, it's on a high European level (the Czechs can only dream of such film quality), there is occasionally a decent wisecrack thrown in, and of course the action itself is also a pleasure, it’s incredibly raw, bloody, brutal, uncompromising and realistic. The mass fight in the woods in the first act was an incredible blast, but I also loved the opening 3v3 fight in the ring. The finale is also great (awesome fist fight ) – I believe many of the people in the film participate in MMA and other combat sports. I like a proper tough guy movie and this one has drive and balls. Softies and bookworms can take a step back, this is definitely not a movie for kids. Story 4/5, Action 4/5, Humor 3/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 5/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 5/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 4/5, Actors 5/5. 8.5/10 (2022-04-07)

Patryk Vega hasn't impressed me much with his work, and so more or less the whole of Poland has passed me by, but after watching Furioza I think I have to reconsider my attitude. It's almost strange that the Poles are our neighbours, but their filmmaking is diametrically opposed. While we make stereotypical, boring, cringe-worthy, awkward and over-the-top films with terrible acting and film quality, Poland goes about their business and their work is incredibly raw, authentic, gritty, with actors that seem incredibly natural. Now put Poland, hooligans, police, blood, brutality and 140 minutes of running time together and you have a cocktail of joy and pain at the same time, because I've never had such an intense cinematic experience in my memory. Watching it I felt like I was among the main characters and from the first minutes I experienced everything fully with them, the atmosphere is unreal and at times I wanted to scream with joy. Despite it being a pure gangster/hooligans movie, besides the thick dose of violence we get a good story, an emotional punch in the second half that you recover from for several minutes, and a shocking twist and extreme ending. Surprisingly, the humour also works, the actors are perfect for the film and the background music does its job too. Furioza still makes my hair stand on end and I worked up a good sweat watching it. (2022-04-06)