Furies (2023) Movie Ending Explained & Themes Analysed: Set in the ‘90s Saigon, the newly released Netflix film – ‘Furies’ is a prequel to the 2019 action flick Furie. While essentially being an origin story for Bi’s character, it works as a thrilling standalone film due to its fantastic stunt choreography & set pieces and through its tale of vengeance, the themes of sexual abuse, redemption, and power.
Directed by Veronica Ngo, it shows Bi’s journey after joining Jacqueline’s vigilante group through a chance encounter. The film stars Dong Anh Qynh in the lead role along with the director herself. Before diving deep into its action-packed narrative, please be aware that spoilers are ahead.
Furies (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis
What is Bi’s backstory?
This Vietnamese film begins from the early childhood days of Bi. She used to live in a small town with her mother, who was constantly harassed and raped by a local lowlife. After years of suffering, he came to their house drunk and killed Bi’s mother one day. Bi (played by Dong Anh Quynh) got so angry that she decided to stab this man to death. Because of this, she saw no reason to stay there. She moved to Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) and started living on the streets. She hustled to make a living for herself.
One day, she gets caught up in a brawl with local goons. That’s when she meets Jacqueline (played by Veronica Ngo / Ngô Thanh Vân), who saves her from them. She takes Bi back to her place to meet two other girls of her age – Than (played by Toc Tien) and Hong (played by Rima Thanh Vy). Jacqueline says that Bi will start living with them henceforth and learn how to fight for herself as they did. Since Bi comes in disheveled, Hong decides to tidy up her appearance and form a bond. However, Thanh does not accept Bi right away.
Who are ‘The Big Four’ from Saigon?
Later, Bi learns about ‘The Big Four’ gangsters from their city. Hai (played by Thuan Nguyen), known as ‘Mad Dog,’ controls the Saigon downtown nightlife and manages a casino. He sells drugs and has depraved raves on late nights. Then there is Son (played by Gi A Nguen), known as Half-Blood, who is Hai’s bodyguard. He prides himself on his violent acts. Besides them, there is calm and discreet Long Bo Da (played by Song Luan), who is Hai’s, right-hand man. He is in charge of trafficking and distributing drugs. The fourth one is Teo Mat Seo (Phan Thanh Hien). Known as Scarface, he leads a sex trafficking ring with Hai.
Jacqueline and her gang want to save women from Hai’s hold. While working on this mission, Bi also learns about Thanh & Hong’s pasts. Thanh is haunted by her sister’s death and feels that she has become a vigilante by fate. Hong is in her late teens and has sexual fantasies about a famous singer. Both were raped multiple times in the past. Then Bi tells Thanh that the darkness haunts her after witnessing her mother’s murder. So they all see their mission for those troubled women as a way to seek vengeance against the men that wronged them and consider Jacqueline (whom they call Aunt Lin) their savior.
Gradually, Bi gets trained in the skills and techniques of martial arts by these three women for her survival. They also give her a feeling of having a family. Her first encounter in their violent nightlife world comes through attacking a lowlife named Micahel. After the hit on this new manufacturer for his business, Hai gets enraged and takes revenge by killing someone dear to Jacqueline. Since Michael is dead, he decides to make a deal with A Thoong – the boss of a Xom Cai cartel. If it works out, Hai will get hold of more girls and send them to brothels. So Jacqueline decides to invade the place and eventually kills Hai.
During their bust, Bi ends up violently killing a man, which reminds her of violently killing her mother’s rapist. Her bloodied hand keeps reminding her of that past. Back at home, she starts screaming in the bathroom and even attacks Thanh, who tries to help her. Later, Bi reveals that she is scared by how much she likes killing someone. She sees it as being consumed by the darkness. On the other hand, Thanh sees her work for Jacqueline as finding a purpose for her life. Jacqueline stood for her when no one else did. She feels like she owes her.
Besides that, Thanh steals a suitcase from Hai’s hold, as asked by Jacqueline. It holds memories of her family – her husband & her son, both of whom were brutally killed by Hai’s gang. Jacqueline plans a honeytrap on their next mission and decides to send them to lure the men and eventually end their lives. Bi & Hong enter the club and eventually get into a fight with Hai & men from his syndicate. Hong saves Bi from getting raped by Hai. But due to this attack on Hai, Son enters the fight with his men and ends up killing Hong. Long, who was in a secret relationship with her, and was working as a mole for Jacqueline, gets crushed by her death.
Earlier, Hong had asked him to leave the underworld and have a normal life. He is devastated seeing those dreams will never come true. Meanwhile, Bi escapes their club with Thanh and rides back while evading Son, who keeps following and attacking her. Despite Hong’s death, Jacqueline insists that they should keep fighting against Hai. It troubles Bi, who starts feeling used by her. She questions Jacqueline about her actual purpose for killing Hai. That’s when she and Thanh learn about her family’s death.
Bi gets enraged that Jacqueline is seeking her personal revenge by saying it is about justice for women. However, Thanh stays loyal to her since she helped her when no one else did. By then, Hai starts getting a hint that Jacqueline is behind recent attacks on her. Jacqueline senses that and understands the urgency of taking action. She enters Hai’s crib with Bi and Hong and starts to attack them. In the fight, one of Hai’s men stabs her. Hai rejoices it as a win over her.
It turns out Jacqueline had some of Hai’s men working for her. So, she merely used the accident as a distraction from letting her enter his room. Bi and Hong keep fighting Hai’s goons by that time and make their way up to Hai’s room. Long soon joins them and ends up killing Son. Eventually, Jacqueline and Long enter Hai’s room and get joined by wounded Bi & Thanh. That’s when Jacqueline makes some shocking revelations about her actual motivations.
Furies (2023) Movie Ending Explained
What was Jacqueline’s actual motivation for killing Hai?
Jacqueline reveals that she wanted to take revenge against Hai for her husband and her son’s death. But there’s more to it. Hai killed her husband because he did not give Hai access to his area to deal drugs. So, all this while, she was not just looking to murder him but to dethrone him and get the keys to his business in her hands. She already did a part of it by getting his men on her side with Long’s help.
After brutally murdering Hai for this reason, Jacqueline turns back to take revenge against disloyal Bi. She asks Thanh to do the deed. Even when Bi saved her from earlier attacks, Thanh follows Jacqueline’s command and picks a gun to shoot Bi. But soon after, she points it at Jacqueline since she does not want to betray Bi’s trust. Jacqueline senses it beforehand and shoots Thanh without any remorse.
Bi gets enraged seeing Thanh getting shot, and in that troubled state, she repeatedly shoots Jacqueline. Jacqueline sits on the couch in her own pool of blood. Bi gets taken away for murdering her. After over 15 years, Bi wakes up in a prison cell. Right when she gets out of her term, we see a name engraved on the wall – Thanh Soi. She is the woman that Bi kills in the earlier released sequel, Furie. So the ending denotes her primary motivation for doing this.
Furies (2023) Movie Themes Analysed
Unconventional Family
Like Hirokazu Koreeda’s Shoplifters, Furies dwells upon the subject of chosen family. Bi, Thanh, and Hong find a mother-figure Jacqueline. No matter why they got close to her, they felt an affinity with her and with each other. They found the happiness they always sought but never found in their families. So, whether they were orphaned by fate or choice, they consider their unit as a chosen family.
Revenge, Redemption & Nature of Power
‘Furies’ depicts a cyclical nature of revenge. Hai kills Jacqueline’s husband for his dealing area dispute. Jacqueline kills him as a part of her revenge against him. Thanh attempts to shoot Jacqueline as revenge against distrust, and Bi kills her as revenge for killing innocent people for her greed. Before all of it, these young women entered this mission with the idea of fighting for something righteous and seeking redemption.
Eventually, it turns into them realizing Jacqueline’s hunger for power. Jacqueline flips on Bi only when she achieves the throne. Until then, she keeps manipulating her into following a virtuous mission. It enforces the idea that ‘Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.’
Also, Read: John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) Movie Ending Explained
Furies (2023) Movie Links: IMDb Rotten Tomatoes
Furies (2023) Movie Cast: Dong Anh Quynh, Veronica Ego
Where to watch Furies
