House of Fury is a 2005 Martial Arts Movie and action-comedy directed by Stephen Fung, produced by Jackie Chan, and with action scenes choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping. Starring Anthony Wong, Michael Wong, Wu Ma and up-and-comers like Twins (from The Twins Effect) and Daniel Wu (who starred alongside Jackie in New Police Story two years ago), this movie is Hong Kong's take on a Spy Kids-style action drama, where a former government agent who retired after having children ends up getting captured by his old enemies, and it's up to his children to embark on a daring rescue.
Master Teddy Yue (Anthony) used to be a government agent and martial arts expert, but after his wife's death, he retired from a life of ass-kicking to raise his children. Decades later, Teddy's old enemy, Rocco (Michael), who was reduced to a cripple thanks to Teddy, is back for revenge, and also seeks a hidden microfilm from Teddy containing important information, which he is perfectly willing to have Teddy killed to retrieve by force. Thankfully, both of Teddy's children, the adult Nicky and teenage Natalie, inherits their dad's skills in ass-kicking, and have to save their old man at all costs.
Tropes of Fury:
- Alliterative Family: Nicky Yue and Natalie Yue.
- Almost Out of Oxygen: Rocco, in an effort to force Teddy's children to hand over their father's microfilm, have Teddy locked in a decompression chamber draining of oxygen, and the film's climax is a Race Against the Clock when Natalie and Nicky have to fight their way through Rocco's henchmen while trying to find and save their father. They made it, just barely.
- Badass Family: Terry is a former martial artist and all-round badass fighter, and both his children inherits his skills in ass-kicking.
- Bald of Evil: Rocco doesn't have a single strand of hair on his head.
- Cool Old Guy: Uncle Teddy and Uncle Chiu, who can kick all sorts of ass when push comes to shove. They just chose not to, since they're retired and no longer have any interests in going back to the world of martial arts.
- Covers Always Lie:
- The international DVD cover
is a serious offender, depicting Nicky and Natalie in two flashy kung-fu outfits they were never seen wearing during the film. - The above poster is no better, since the red matching family uniforms depicted doesn't show up at any point in the film.
- The international DVD cover
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Rocco, despite being the villain of the story who kidnaps Teddy and nearly gets Teddy killed, turns out to have a young son, Nelson, that he genuinely cares about. It's thanks to Nelson's intervention right at the end of the film, where Nicky and Natalie ultimately decides to spare Rocco despite what he had done, leaving Rocco to the police.
- Evil Cripple: Rocco, the wheelchair-bound Big Bad of the film, thanks to being defeated by Teddy prior to the events of the film, and is out for revenge.
- Fake-Out Opening: The film's epic Action Prologue have Teddy being surrounded by ninjas, which he effortlessly defeats in under a minute... before suddenly ending his Indulgent Fantasy Segue revealing the first five minutes of the film to be a story he's narrating to his daughter's classmates while waiting to pick her from school.
- Gratuitous Ninja: Shows up in the opening sequence. Teddy defeats ten of them single-handedly, but then it turns out to be part of a story he's telling to a few of Natalie's classmates.
- Imagine Spot: Twice, the opening scene when Teddy talks about how he defeats a group of ninjas, and then in a nightmare when Natalie sees her father Teddy getting executed.
- Parents in Distress: Teddy, the retired martial artist and warrior who had since changed his occupation to being a chiropractor, but ends up having his old enemies kidnapping him early in the film. Necessitating his children, adult Nicky and teenage Natalie, to go on a rescue mission to save their old man.
- Pretty Little Headshots: During a Nightmare Sequence when Natalie sees her father being shot through the temple. Despite the close range that should've blown half of the victim's head off, all that results in is a pencil-thick squib with a tiny red squirt. Justified, that was only a nightmare.
- Retired Badass: Uncle Teddy and Uncle Chiu, a pair former martial artists who used to kick all sorts of asses in their youths.
- Stock Wushu Weapons: The opening scene has Master Teddy Yau fighting a legion of ninjas using practically every sort of wushu-themed weapons, starting with the jian, then a gun, and ending with a qiang. All the ninjas are armed with various sort of wushu weapons as well. Later on the Action Prologue turns out to be a Fake-Out Opening, where Teddy is actually narrating a story from his past to a bunch of his daughter's classmates, with him listing all the wushu weapons he had used.
- Truth Serums: Rocco had his minions injects these into the captured Teddy, in an attempt to force him to reveal the microfilm he had hidden containing covert information they're after.
- Unreliable Narrator: Teddy during the fake-out prologue; he boasts that he single-handedly fought and killed dozens and dozens of ninjas in a single night, but a moment later one of his daughter's classmates points out that she's been counting and Teddy actually defeated ten ninjas.
- Wolverine Claws: Rocco's preferred weapon for sneak attacks is a pair of bladed gloves. He had four claws instead of three, however.
