I’ve been tracking the performance of Coyote vs. Acme, the previously shelved but now box office-breakout of this past weekend. It has one of the highest Rotten Tomatoes scores of the year, both in terms of critical and audience praise. It’s tied with Project Hail Mary and a point behind The Sheep Detectives (watch it!), but there’s a #1 that is being overlooked. Unfairly, I would argue.
The best, wide-released Rotten Tomatoes-scored movie of 2026 at the moment is The Furious, the Hong Kong action film directed by Kenji Tanigaki. It has a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score from 151 critics, almost all in lockstep about its quality. On top of that, it has a 95% audience score, and many believe it could be one of the best martial arts movies ever made. Possibly the best if we’re talking about actual fight choreography that is simply unlike anything we’ve seen onscreen before.
Despite its eventual wide release, The Furious only made $40 million globally, lacking the blockbuster marketing campaigns of much larger films. The good news is that the budget was half that, by most estimates.
The Furious was released months ago, so there’s no need to head to theaters. It’s rentable or buyable everywhere you can rent or buy movies, such as Amazon Prime Video, YouTube or Google Play. It’s only $6, and again, it is beyond worth it to watch one of the best martial arts movies ever. I flat-out bought it so I can watch any time. The downside, however, is that I don’t believe it’s streaming on any service “for free” at this point, so you will have to pay separately for it.
The film stars the duo of Xie Miao and burgeoning legend Joe Taslim as two men trying to rescue their daughter and wife, respectively. What they run into is a trafficking ring sprawling in size and full of fighters that need to be dismantled as they try to find their loved ones. The movie also has a breakout performance from Brian Le, a large warrior who fights with the athleticism of someone half his size. You have to see him to believe him.
Be careful not to mix this up with an entirely different movie released this year also called The Furious, which is about professional fighters and is not very good. Also, this is not the FX TV show Furious, though that is one of the biggest success stories of the year, and the serial killer saga is worth watching. But no martial arts there.
I cannot recommend The Furious enough, and I know that few people reading this managed to catch it in theaters, which is too bad. Rent it and let me know what you think.
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