The story may already seem hackneyed, but Olencki managed to weave a lot of freshness into it, as for Polish cinema. It is a huge merit of the actors who turned the banal story about three friends who once parted ways into an addictive action movie. Mateusz Damięcki has undergone such a metamorphosis that it is difficult to recognize him at first. He lost some weight and built up a lot of muscle tissue. In addition, he shaved his head bald, and his body is covered with numerous tattoos. The character he created arouses fear in the viewer. In addition, as history unfolds, it becomes more and more mentally unstable, and therefore unpredictable. Damięcki probably never provided us with such an interesting creation in the cinema. "Golden" is very different from all the characters in which the actor has played in recent years. The director managed to get something more out of it than we have seen so far. It is similar with Weronika Książkiewicz. The actress, who in recent years has been cast mostly in the roles of not very bright blondes, got something here to break the image. The "Wild" she plays is a tough woman who does not give up on herself. He is not afraid to confront even stronger units.
There are a lot of well-written and well-written characters in Furioza. We have a wise group leader, very interestingly played by Wojtek Zieliński; there is a very impatient police commander, played by Łukasz Simlat, or Janusz Chabior as a high-ranking mafioso. I was very impressed by Szymon Bobrowski as the "Ant", the leader of a rival gang. This actor has enormous potential and, unlike Bartkowiak, he was not wasted here. Sebastian Stankiewicz, whose "Buła" is responsible for the comedy part of the film, also deserves a special mention.
Furioza does not approach the topic of football fans as a bunch of psychopaths focused only on a physical confrontation with the enemy, although there is no need to hide that there are also such individuals in their ranks. However, they are in the minority. The director shows that there is a hierarchy in this group, and its members want something more. They have a code and honor. Everyone is standing behind a wallmate. Of course, there are also confidants and face the worst punishment. This was missing in Vega's film, and here it is very much exposed.
The script by Cyprian T. Olencki and Tomasz Climal nicely reflects a certain climate of a hooligan group. And although it does not say exactly what Pomeranian football club it is about, and fans run around with various scarves, it puts many Easter eggs into the story to be read by die-hard fans. For example, the abbreviation F'97 refers to the Legia Warszawa militia called Turyści 97 in short T'97. There are many more such hidden flavors, which proves that the creators really studied the subject, and not just slipped through a few press headlines while writing the text.
The production also has great photos of Klaudiusz Dwulit and a montage by Wojciech Włodarski. This can be seen in particular during the fight scenes in the forest, where the camera does not shake and the editing is not chaotic. Interestingly, this happens more and more often in our cinema, which makes me very happy.
Of course, Furioza is not without its drawbacks. In my opinion, it is a production a bit too long, with too many threads that the developers want to finish at all costs. Some of them could be safely abandoned. The creators were probably aware of this, because the film was re-edited many times, but as you can see, it was difficult for them to "mutilate their child" by removing some threads on the stage.
We waited a long time for the premiere of Furiozy, which was postponed many times due to the pandemic. However, it was worth it, because the painting by Cyprian T. Olencki is a cool action movie, which we do not have too much. I hope it's not just a lucky accident at work and the next film by this director will be just as successful.
