“The Shadow Strays” Netflix Poster

Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Cast: Auroro Ribero, Hana Malasan, Ali Fikri, Adipati Dolken, Kristo Immanuel, Andri Mashadi, Chew Kin Wah, Arswendy Bening Swara, Tanta Ginting
Running Time: 145 min.

By Paul Bramhall 

When the Indonesian directing duo the Mo Brothers decided to apply their horror genre leanings to the action genre in 2016, the result was Headshot, a movie which immediately grabbed the attention of martial arts cinema fans. While it was far from the first time the 2 genres had been brought together, it arguably was the first for the horror aspect to be so heavily incorporated into the action itself. Taking a cue from Gareth Evans’ The Raid and its sequel, the inherent violence of fighting, and the physical damage that comes from it, were placed firmly at the fore. It was one half of the duo, Timo Tjahjanto, who took the concept and ran with it, unleashing The Night Comes for Us in 2018, a production that fully committed to a slice of martial arts mayhem, presented through the lens of a filmmaker who loves to pile on the gore. The result was a pure shot of adrenaline, and one that many felt would be impossible to replicate.

After rather awkwardly attempting to incorporate the same type of martial arts driven hyper violence into a comedy setting with 2022’s The Big 4, in 2024 Tjahjanto returned to the same kind of gritty backdrop as The Night Comes for Us with The Shadow Strays. While Tjahjanto had been rumoured to be working on a spin-off to his earlier production for a number of years, one which was intended to focus on the female assassin played by Julie Estelle, it’s easy to speculate that whatever that project was going to be has ultimately become The Shadow Strays. In fact in many ways his latest could be seen as a female-centric version of The Night Comes for Us, as once more we’re presented with an assassin whose part of a clandestine organisation, and finds themselves tired of a life full of death with no future.

Played by the half Italian half Indonesian Auroro Ribero (Two Blue Hearts), a 23-minute pre-title sequence sets the tone as we meet her in Japan taking out an entire yakuza clan in extremely bloody fashion (complete with Lone Wolf and Cub inspired blood geysers). Caught offguard, she’s rescued by her mentor, played by Hana Malasan (The Train of Death), who after the failure sends Ribero back to Jakarta to recuperate, while she heads off to Cambodia on the next mission. It’s in Jakarta where the main plot unfolds, which riffs on The Man from Nowhere when Ribero reluctantly befriends the poor kid next door, following the murder of his junkie mother by some shady characters who visited their apartment. When the kid himself goes missing though, she takes it upon herself to become a one-woman army to bring him back, following a trail that leads all the way up to a corrupt politician and his son.

Clocking in just short of 145 minutes, the runtime may seem exorbitant considering we live in an era where many Chinese web movies cover similar plots in half the time, however once you tune into Tjahjanto’s wavelength it soon becomes clear that the plot is not the main focus of The Shadow Strays. While I’m often the first one to complain about bloated runtimes, my usual gripe associated with many modern action movies is that there’s a lot of unnecessary padding, when a little more enthusiasm in the editing room could have resulted in a lean and mean slice of action. The Shadow Strays is that rarity in which every minute of its runtime is dedicated to building up to an action scene, and most importantly, the action scenes themselves.

It almost feels like Tjahjanto is inherently aware of such common martial arts cinema complaints like “the action was good, I just wish there’d been more of it” and “the fights were great, they were just a little on the short side”, so made it his mission to ensure nobody would leave his latest daring to utter such words. Every action scene, and there’s many, is brutally lengthy, with Tjahjanto’s go-to choreographer Muhammad Irfan (Hit & Run) once more on fight choreography duty, clearly having been given the mandate of attempting to top everything he’s done before. I confess to feeling an initial twinge of concern after the opening yakuza bloodbath in Japan, fearing the narrative would fall victim to the classic straight-to-streaming trope of frontloading the best scenes to grab the viewers attention, but the fears were completely unfounded.

A trait which seems to be increasingly missing in action (pun intended) in recent action cinema, Tjahjanto and Irfan understand that action needs to steadily escalate as the plot progresses (and even more so with a 2+ hour runtime!). It’s a concept that may seem obvious, but so much recent output falls victim to placing its best action scene midway though, and chooses to end with a fizzle (I, The Executioner being the most recent example that springs to mind). To witness a production which gets it right is a joy to behold, and while unacquainted viewers may understandably ask how the initial scene could be topped, thankfully everyone involved understands the brief.

Much like Headshot and The Night Comes for Us, for those that like their dose of martial arts action to be clean and crisp, the incorporation of extreme bodily harm will likely come across as gratuitous and delivering shock value for the sake of it. The point that The Shadow Strays executes so well, is convincing the audience that neither of those approaches are something be ashamed of enjoying. There’s a kind of joyous glee in how many of the fight scenes opt to go as far as they can in terms of damage, with a subtle underlying feeling that everyone knows how ridiculous it is, even though everything is played entirely pokerfaced. In one fight scene a group of attackers are wearing transparent plastic facemasks as a disguise, and when a gas stove is accidentally switched on, there’s a kind of guilty pleasure in waiting to see the inevitable moment when one of them has their face have an unfortunate encounter with the naked flame.

The example is indicative of many of The Shadow Strays fight scenes, with Ribero giving it 100% despite not being a trained martial artist, the lack of experience made up for by almost every scene being driven by her wild guttural screams as faces get smashed, ears bitten off, and eyeballs gouged into skulls. It’s fair to say her performance anchors the movie, with a portrayal as a slightly hunched, unkempt, and increasingly bloodied force of revenge feeling like the polar opposite to just about every other female assassin flick that’s hit the screens in the last 10 years.

If any criticism could be levelled towards Tjahjanto’s latest, it’s that the main story satisfactorily concludes around the 2-hour mark, with the last half hour circling back to the clandestine group of assassins Ribero is a part of. It’s essentially a double climax, but considering the only real time we’ve seen Ribero as an active part of the group is before the title has appeared onscreen, the emotional investment in having the characters suddenly reunite just isn’t there. To his credit, as if to offset the lack of emotional development between the characters, the inevitable face off between the group opts to go for broke, with impalements and decapitations involving everything from screwdrivers to nail bombs. If anything, it’s a finale that entertainingly belies expectations that every character had surely reached their limit in terms of the punishment their bodies could receive.

It’s worth mentioning a post-credits scene cameo that’ll definitely put a smile on any fans of Indonesian action cinema, one that, for once, takes a leaf out of the John Wick playbook that I actually have no objection too, as Ribero learns she’s now the target of every assassin who’s part of her organisation. While The Shadow Strays crams in so much onscreen mayhem there’s certainly no rush to crank out a sequel, when one comes, I’ll be first in line.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8.5/10

The post Shadow Strays, The (2024) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash” Theatrical Poster

Director: Edwin
Cast: Marthino Lio, Ladya Cheryl, Cecep Arif Rahman, Sal Priadi, Reza Rahadian, Ratu Felisha, Lukman Sardi, Djenar Maesa Ayu, Christine Hakim, Ayu Laksmi
Running Time: 114 min.

By Paul Bramhall

It’s perhaps not surprising that little of Indonesia’s arthouse cinema scene has made it across to western shores, however with Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, director Edwin has (albeit unintentionally) ensured his latest work has an opportunity to be seen by a wider audience beyond local cinemas. For a start, that title. Dating as far back as Chang Cheh’s Vengeance! in 1970 (and probably further), if there’s one word in the English vocabulary that’ll help secure a distribution deal for a foreign production in English language markets, its that one. Secondly, cast Cecep Arif Rahman from The Raid 2 in a cameo as an imprisoned blind kung-fu master that our main character has an opportunity to share a cell with, and you have a double dose of international appeal.

I was considering my approach for this review, and contemplated pretending to reel off my knowledge of Edwin’s work, all of which naturally led up to me watching his latest production, so as to maintain my finely tuned image of having a wide-ranging knowledge of Asian cinema (even if said image only exists in my head). But ultimately, I decided against it. To be honest, I checked out Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash because it has a really cool title, and seeing Rahman’s name in the cast was just the icing on the cake.

What can’t be argued is that VIM, AOPC (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) is Edwin’s most accessible work for newcomers, and his 6^th time in the director’s chair of a full-length feature. After helming a number of shorts he’d make his feature length debut with Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly in 2008, going on to helm Postcard from the Zoo and Someone’s Wife in the Boat of Someone’s Husband in 2013, Possessive in 2017, and Aruna & Her Palate in 2018. For VIM, AOPC he stays with the approach of his last feature, which was adapted from a novel, this time using Eka Kurniawan’s 3^rd novel of the same name from 2014 as the source material. Ironically VIM, AOPC was intended to be made prior to Aruna & Her Palate, having acquired the rights to adapt the novel in May 2016, but predictions that it was considered “unfilmable” proved to be more of a reality than expected, which led to it taking 5 years to eventually hit the screen.

Thankfully the end result has been worth the wait, and the period of 1989 – 1992 that the story takes place in is also reflective of the era VIM, AOPC looks to capture through its look and tone. Filmed on 16mm, the lived-in look of the picture gives it an authentic quality that very much feels like we could be watching a production made at the same time as it’s setting, and Edwin himself has stated its part homage, part deconstruction of Indonesia’s action cinema output of the era. A time when the country was in the twilight of President Suharto’s New Order regime, who’d been in power since 1967 and by this point was defined by violent military oppression, it was also an era where Indonesian action cinema was defined by its level of machismo and pure escapism. 

Directors like Arizal cranked out entertainingly violent actioners starring the likes of Chris Mitchum, Barry Prima, George Rudy, and Peter O’Brien, complete with titles like Final Score and The Stabilizer. VIM, AOPC essentially takes that same level of machismo, and flips it on its head, giving us a protagonist who’s all too eager to get into scuffles with anyone he comes across, but can’t escape the fact that his number one problem is erectile dysfunction. Played by Marthino Lio (The Big 4), living in a small Javanese village sees his inability to get it up become common knowledge, both amongst his own family members and the rest of the village residents, leading to his unsatiable desire to prove his manliness in other ways. From duelling scooter races to fist fights, Lio’s appetite to showcase his masculinity leads to him being hired by a small-time gangster to rough up a local big shot.

What he didn’t count on was the big shot having a female bodyguard who he’ll need to get through first, played by Edwin regular Ladya Cheryl (Banyu Biru). As the pair duke it out in a quarry, their empathy towards each other at doing what they do to earn a living gradually turns into something more, and they fall in love. Despite Lio’s attempts to avoid her due to his impotence, to his surprise she accepts him for who he is, insisting she still wants to marry him. However her sexual needs eventually lead to a moment of weakness with her ex, and when she becomes pregnant it sends Lio into a spiral of depression and violence. At the same time, after its revealed what led to his current state of flaccidness, Cheryl hopes to find forgiveness by seeking revenge on those responsible, and win him back against the odds.

While the subject matter may sound like it could be mined for comedic value, the narrative is actually played straight, instead taking an almost whimsical approach to how events unfold, and unconcerned about occasionally meandering off on tangents. The result is a narrative that encompasses everything from gangsters, ghosts, leech oil (think herbal Viagra), and narration provided through the traditional painted signs on the back of delivery trucks coming to life through animation. While it’s likely lost on non-native Indonesian speakers, the performances are also intentionally delivered in that slightly stilted late 80’s/early 90’s manner that was the norm in Indonesian cinema, adding to the authentic period feel without ever feeling like it’s being retro for sake of it.

While watching a lengthy interview with Edwin I was surprised that he didn’t mention the Hong Kong action cinema influence, as there are definitely times when I felt certain scenes had to be a homage to some of the HK classics (he did however say that Cheryl’s character was based on Cynthia Rothrock, who made a handful of Indonesian movies in the early 90’s, including Angel of Fury and the 2 Lady Dragon flicks.). The fight between Lio and Cheryl that takes place in the quarry feels reminiscent of the finale between Joyce Godenzi and Agnes Aurelio in She Shoots Straight, right down to Cheryl’s perm. Similarly, later when Lio is thrown in a cell with the previously mentioned Cecep Arif Rahman, it feels like the latter’s character is a riff on Jason Pai Piao’s role in A Deadly Secret.

However it’s important to call out that VIM, AOPC isn’t a fight flick, nor does it at any point pretend to be, rather being a love story which happens to have a sprinkling of fights that take place as a part of it. Underpinning everything is the theme of what it means to be a man, and the masculinity that’s associated with it, one which occasionally comes to the fore in effective and unsettling ways. This is particularly true when it reveals the sexual trauma that Lio suffered as a child as the origin of his current predicament, allowing the audience to understand why his lack of desire is an inherent part of his lived experience. At its heart though is the relationship between the pair of central characters, and the trails and tribulations that they face as they look to find redemption, themselves, and finally each other. 

While Lio delivers a strong performance (although I definitely didn’t buy him as someone in their early 20’s), its Cheryl that steals the show as his conflicted wife, here collaborating with Edwin for the 6th time in a creative partnership that dates back to the 2005 short Kara, Anak Sebatang Pohon. In a performance which encapsulates bad assery, vulnerability, and sexuality, she’s entirely convincing and a joy to watch. As my first venture into the world of director Edwin, VIM, AOPC proves to be a rewarding experience, displaying an enjoyably loose directorial style and a subtle sense of humor (a scene involving Cheryl longingly gazing towards a tank full of geoduck clams is a stroke of genius). More than just a cool sounding movie title, Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash comes strongly recommended.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRqqn424W6Q&t

The post Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash (2021) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Legend of Gatotkaca” Theatrical Poster

AKA: Satria Dewa: Gatotkaca
Director: Hanung Bramantyo
Cast: Rizky Nazar, Omar Daniel, Yatie Surachman, Ali Fikry, Yasmin Napper, Zsazsa Utari, Cecep Arif Rahman, Yayan Ruhian, Jerome Kurnia, Apuk Misdafie
Running Time: 129 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

In the west Indonesia’s popular superhero comics may be relatively unknown, but on local shores they’ve been making a resurgence in recent years through a number of big screen adaptations, no doubt inspired by the similar success of the Marvel Universe in Hollywood. In the last few years alone we’ve seen movie versions of Valentine, Wiro Sableng, Gundala, and Sri Asih, with the latter 2 notably forming part of the BumiLangit Cinematic Universe, Indonesia’s bid at creating their own universe of cinematic superheroes. However just like in Hollywood, one cinematic comic book universe isn’t enough, so in 2022 the first entry in the Satria Dewa Universe hit the screens in the form of Legend of Gatotkaca.

An origin tale for the hero Gatotkaca, the story essentially involves the battle between those who have the Pandava gene, and those who have the Kaurava gene (in a nutshell: the good guys and bad guys), both of whom originate from Adam (the same Adam from the Garden of Eden). Mixing in elements of both Javanese and Indian mythology, LoG (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) has a lot of ground to cover, and it wastes no time getting into it. A dizzying opening credits spiel bombards the viewer with an incomprehensible mix of newspaper clippings and news broadcast clips talking about crashed meteors, the pandemic, and a masked serial killer. What does it all mean is a legitimate question, and for the next 129 minutes LoG spends a lot of time trying to answer it.

Frankly, if there was an award for the most exposition heavy superhero movie of all time, LoG would be it by a wide margin. An inordinate amount of time is spent on characters talking about the Pandava and Kaurava’s, to the point that in one scene we even watch characters watching a video which explains the history of the opposing sides (yes, we also have to watch the whole video as the audience). It all feels unnecessarily complicated, with important details thrown out haphazardly and with little build up or significance. 2022 is actually going to be the end of the world. The Kaurava’s are the ones to blame for the COVID-19 virus, and the scientist who developed the vaccine for it was murdered by them. The Pandava’s refer to a baby’s umbilical cord as its brother. Olympians and successful track sprinters are being found murdered. Does any of this add up to a cohesive whole? Not really.

Directed by Hanung Bramantyo, who helmed the Indonesian remake of the Korean movie Miracle in Cell No. 7 in the same year, there are times LoG feels more like a telenovela than a superhero movie. Looking at his filmography it’s not difficult to see why, with a background in romcoms and dramas, what’s more difficult to ascertain is why he was chosen to helm a franchise starting superhero movie. Bramantyo casts Rizky Nazar in the titular role of Gatotkaca (or at least, the guy who’ll become Gatotkaca), who made his debut in Bramantyo’s co-directed 2014 thriller 2014, and the pair most recently collaborated again on the mini-series Bittersweet Seventeen.

After he witnesses his best friend get zapped by an offstage lightening bolt during the latter’s graduation ceremony, Nazar’s investigations lead him to a group of underground heroes – we get the cool crossbow wielding leader played by Omar Daniel (Survive), a shotgun wielding grandma played by Yatie Surachman (Kabut), and an annoying hyperactive comedy relief kid played by Ali Fikry (Koki-Koki Kilik). Nazar is joined by his fried friend’s classmate played by Yasmin Napper (Imperfect), who you better believe will lead to a romantic love interest, and her best friend, played by “Indonesia’s Zendaya” Zsazsa Utari (Ghibah). Utari deserves a special mention as possibly the most annoying character committed to screen this century. Adding precisely zero to the plot, her role is to basically react obnoxiously to what’s happening in every scene she appears in, and make the occasional outburst in English. It’s insufferable.

Eventually, after several exposition dumps, we learn that Nazar’s possession of an ancient heirloom makes him the chosen one to prevent the villain of the piece from being freed, who’s imprisoned in a giant piece of rock set in a mountain. Said rock is suspended in the air via huge chains, and if any of this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same setup as we see in Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain. In one of the few rays of hope, the villain’s protector is played by Yayan Ruhian, who forever left his mark on martial arts action cinema after his role as Mad Dog in 2011’s The Raid. Yayan has spent most of his career since then popping up as a variation of the ‘difficult to beat silat henchman’ role in various local productions, as well as occasionally appearing in international flicks like Beyond Skyline and its sequel. 

In addition to Ruhian LoG also brings onboard Cecep Arif Rahman from The Raid 2, reuniting here after they took on Keanu Reeves in 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. This time they’re on opposing sides, offering the first chance to see the bad guy from The Raid take on the bad guy from The Raid 2 onscreen. The fight choreography for LoG is handled by Muhammad Yazid in only his 2^nd choreography gig, with assistance from Evan Triyono and Danang Kasianto. It’s difficult to discuss the quality of the choreography itself, as the way it’s shot suffers from practically every crime in the ‘How Not to Film a Fight Scene’ playbook. The fights consist of multiple quick cuts, shot at angles which rarely make sense or too close, and many are shot in the dark to a point where it’s difficult to make out who’s hitting who. 

A perfect example is when Ruhian throws a kick and the camera is filming him from the waist up, so you don’t see the kick being thrown, only the supposed impact from it. There are countless examples of this type of incompetency in the way the action is filmed, with the actor’s movement either cut short or only partially captured, robbing the action of any impact and flow. Speaking of being robbed, it’s worth to highlight that the time Nazar spends as the suited and booted version of Gatotkaca amounts to less than 10 minutes, and mainly consists of a CGI version taking to the air to battle a CGI version of Ruhian in a Neo vs. Agent Smith The Matrix Revolutions-esque throwdown. Depending on expectations this isn’t necessarily a negative, however with a 129-minute runtime, those clocking in expecting a certain type of superhero action should be aware they’ll need to wait 2 hours to see it.

For a supposed franchise starter LoG makes the fundamental mistake of focusing too much on bringing audiences up to speed with the history of the conflict at the heart of the story, and not nearly enough on making us care about (or even like) the characters we should be invested in to become a part of it. Worst of all is the decision Bramantyo makes to throw in a literal intermission involving a trio of comedic delivery drivers unrelated to the plot in any way, who proceed to make low budget sexual jokes strangely out of tone with the rest of the movie. What’s the point? Product placement! In fact there’s so much product placement in LoG (although thankfully none other as gratuitous as stopping the narrative in its tracks for a few minutes) that it would make a good drinking game every time a brand is blatantly displayed in a shot.

With a combination of endless exposition, a couple of the most grating characters to appear onscreen this century, and an overall failure to really convey anything meaningful being at stake, LoG is an unfortunate misfire when placed in the context of the franchise starter its intended to be. While I understand most Southeast Asian superhero movies will use the quality of the effects against their Hollywood counterparts as the benchmark of success, I’d much rather they focus on matching the quality of the story and characters in a way which makes the audience invested in what’s onscreen. When it comes to Legend of Gatotkaka, in the end perhaps Elvis said it best – a little less conversation a little more action please.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 3.5/10

The post Legend of Gatotkaca (2022) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Big 4” Netflix Poster

Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Cast: Abimana Aryasatya, Putri Marino, Arie Kriting, Lutesha, Kristo Immanuel, Marthino Lio, Budi Ros, Michelle Tahalea, Kho Michael
Running Time: 141 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

In the early to mid-2010’s Welshman Gareth Evans put Indonesian action cinema on the map with The Raid and its sequel, and when he left it felt like there was an unspoken hope amongst action fans that the baton would be passed to the Mo Brothers to keep the momentum going. Comprising of Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel, the pair aren’t actually related, instead being Indonesian filmmakers who met while studying in Australia. Showing a clear love of horror and practical gore in their feature film debut Macabre, a theme which continued into their follow up with the grizzly thriller Killers, it was 2016’s Headshot that gave many their first taste of their talents. Featuring The Raid’s leading man Iko Uwais, Headshot combined their trademark gratuitous bloodshed with the distinctive silat style of action choreography, and the combination was a winning one.

As it happens Headshot was also the last time for Tjahjanto and Stamboel to direct together, and in subsequent years the pair have pursued their own solo projects. While Stamboel has returned to their horror roots, helming the likes of DreadOut in 2019 and a remake of the Indonesian horror classic The Queen of Black Magic in the same year, Tjahjanto on the other hand has continued to explore how to combine a love of gore with the action genre. Many would argue that his crowning achievement comes in the form of 2018’s The Night Comes for Us, a movie that for the longest time appeared like it was never going to be made, but proved to be worth the wait once it did finally arrive. A relentless 2-hour bloodbath, what little plot there is becomes a minor quibble thanks to the unapologetically brutal action that rarely lets up, solidifying Tjahjanto’s name as an action movie director to look out for.

It may have taken 4 years for us to get another does of Tjahjanto the action filmmaker, but in 2022 he finally returns with The Big 4. Not that he’s not been busy since 2018, having directed segments in the 2019 sci-fi anthology Portals as well as the 2021 horror series V/H/S/94, and helming a sequel to his own horror flick May the Devil Take You (released during the same year as The Night Comes for Us) with 2020’s May the Devil Take You Too. However The Big 4 is a little different from Tjahjanto’s previous action outings, shifting away from the dark themes explored in the likes of Headshot and The Night Comes for Us, and instead trying his hand at an action comedy.

I confess that, at least from the perspective of my own twisted sense of humour, some of the violence in The Night Comes for Us was cranked up to such delirious levels that I began to find it funny, so to see what Tjahjanto could do when it comes to intentionally bringing the laughs is something I was up for. The plot itself is nothing new. Four orphans have been raised by a professional hitman to be assassins, with the caveat that they only kill the bad guys. Their mentor and father figure also has a biological daughter though, and she’s about to graduate the police academy and become a part of the force. So far he’s been able to keep his assassin hustle (and 4 adopted assassins) under wraps, but with his own flesh and blood now having the power to arrest him, he makes the logical call to retire and call it a day, removing the risk of her ever finding out.

Naturally, on the day of her inauguration he’s unable to make it due to being murdered by a masked intruder, leading to the biological daughter teaming up with ‘The Big 4’ to take revenge on those that killed their father. The four in question are played by actors who are essentially unknown beyond Indonesian shores, with Abimana Aryasatya (Wiro Sableng) playing the closest thing to the leader of the group and best fighter, Arie Kriting (Ghost Writer) is the sniper, Lutesha (Photocopier) is the hot tempered one, and newcomer Kristo Immanuel usually acts as the bait. Similarly, the daughter is played by Putri Marino (One Night Stand). Quite how much you’ll enjoy their comedic shenanigans is probably down to a matter of taste, with Southeast Asian comedy usually falling into the kind of broad category that involves a lot of gurning, hysterical yelling, and prat falls (often with accompanying comedic sound effect).

In that way The Big 4 somewhat feels like its following in the same direction that the action genre shifted towards in the likes of Thailand and Vietnam with movies like This Girl is Bad-Ass!! and Saigon Bodyguards. While it was more straight-faced productions like Ong Bak and The Rebel that brought their action movie output to international audience’s attention, within a decade both countries had moved away from going for international appeal, and opted to target the more comedy-inclined local tastes. I raise this point as personally I struggle with a lot of the comedy in these movies, and the struggle was a real one with The Big 4. We have falls accompanied by “gong” sound cues or “cock-a-doodle-doos”, an ongoing kick in the crotch gag that wasn’t that funny the first time, and a bad guy who loves to Salsa.

Of course all of this would be ok intermingled with some of Tjahjanto’s trademark kinetic action, which here is once more choreographed by Muhammad Irfan (who handled the choreography on Headshot, and more recently the action-comedy Hit & Run), and bundled in a tight 90-minute package. Inexplicably though, The Big 4 weighs in at a whopping 140 minutes in length, which is easily 45 minutes too long. The slightness of the plot simply doesn’t justify such a bloated runtime, and Tjahjanto awkwardly balances the violence that he’s known for with the bawdy comedic elements. One moment we can be watching a bad guy have half his head blown off, then the next we’re being subjected to a protracted comedic sequence where Marino has gotten unintentionally high off a frog skin potion.

When the action does hit it’s Aryasatya who does most of the heavy lifting, throwing down against 2 assailants in the guise of a hotel receptionist early on that heavily leans of the Jackie Chan influence, complete with the shaky hands trope after hitting a metal bucket. Marthino Lio (Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash) makes for an entertaining bad guy, as does his bazooka loving secretary played by newcomer Michelle Tahalea. Lio’s loud and obnoxious approach to villainy is well matched against his fighting prowess and specialty at throwing knives, making the eventual face-off between the pair a satisfying one, even if it does feel derivative of all the previously mentioned slices of Indonesian action.

Mostly though Tjahjanto leans more on gunplay here than martial arts, and in that regard The Big 4 does little to differentiate itself from any of the other numerous post-John Wick action flicks that involve a character brandishing a handgun. While the frantic energy and focus on the damage that bullets (and fists) can do is still there, the extra ingredient of originality that made Headshot and The Night Comes for Us so entertaining feels like its missing, with most of what’s onscreen having been done before. The extreme violence of Tjahjanto’s former action outings may have made it seem like the originality factor isn’t all that important, but taken away even the most showstopper head being blown off the shoulders shot only feels like a cheap thrill at most.

While The Big 4 serves up plenty of both the action and the comedy, there are only a few times when both elements gel together, with the punishing runtime making it increasingly painful every time they don’t. Tjahjanto has already stated he hopes The Big 4 to be the start of a franchise, complete with a mysterious character entering the final scene to end things on a cliff-hanger, but if the next instalment offers up more of the same, I think I’ll likely bow out at this one.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 5/10

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“Impetigore” Theatrical Poster

Director: Joko Anwar
Cast: Tara Basro, Ario Bayu, Marissa Anita, Christine Hakim, Asmara Abigail, Zidni Hakim, Afrian Aris, Kiki Narendra, Faradina Mufti, Abdulrahman Arief
Running Time: 107 min.

By Henry McKeand

Modern supernatural horror films seem to be split into two camps. In one camp are haunted house rollercoaster rides designed to pack in as many jump scares as possible. Think The Conjuring or most films produced by James Wan. In the other camp are the “metaphor first” horrors that emphasize slow burns and use ghosts as thinly disguised representations of emotional distress and social ills. Many of the recent films in this camp have been described, both positively and negatively, as “trauma horror.” There have been great films to come out of both camps. Some, such as this year’s Smile, combine the immediate shocks of the first with the allegorical focus of the second.

But there’s another kind of ghostly narrative that seems to have fallen in popularity: the supernatural mystery. These films focus on characters trying to uncover the truth behind curses and possessions. The Innocents, The Changeling, and Don’t Look Now fit in this category. These are movies that are too plot-focused to work as non-stop scare fests and too literal to function as allegories. Instead, they use supernatural plot elements to heighten character-focused melodrama. 

Joko Anwar’s Impetigore harkens back to this tradition. The Indonesian director’s previous horror film, a remake of 1980’s Satan’s Slaves, prioritized frequent jump scares to great effect, but Impetigore is more deliberate in its storytelling. Anwar further explores the themes of unwanted inheritance and communal distrust that Satan’s Slaves touched on in its quieter moments, creating a film that works as both horror and drama. 

Anwar’s muse Tara Basro plays a woman named Maya who travels to a small village with her best friend Dini, played wonderfully by Marissa Anita, to claim a house left behind by the dead parents she never knew. Soon, the two friends realize that there’s more to her inheritance than they realized, and their interactions with the locals grow more and more hostile. To make things worse, the spirits of three little girls seem to be haunting Maya and her parents’ house. 

The motivations of the mysterious villagers seem easy to guess at first, but things become less straightforward after layers of backstory are peeled back. While there are scenes of violence and dread, most of the drama comes from simply uncovering the truth behind the village’s history. Central to the mystery is the imposing town puppeteer, played by Ario Bayu with a simmering intensity. His presence gives the film a grounded menace that was missing from Satan’s Slaves.

This plot-centric approach works because the characters are engaging even in small, dialogue heavy scenes. In fact, these smaller moments are the true highlights. The first scene, which shows Maya and Dini talking about their mundane lives during their work as toll booth operators, is compelling even before a strange man with a machete appears and kicks off a fun and unique thriller sequence. Conversations move at a confident, natural pace that is rare in most horror movies, and every character is well-drawn. 

The scares themselves are solid even if they’re used sparingly. Because the central characters are so likable, the suspense is significant when they’re threatened. The bloodshed isn’t as extreme as that found in other Indonesian genre fare, but the rare moments of violence feel real because the characters do as well. With Satan’s Slaves, Anwar proved himself to be a master of the jump scare, using smooth pans and tilts to guide the helpless viewer’s focus. In Impetigore, his devious tricks have been toned down. His seamless camera movements are used a handful of times, each with excellent results, but the film is trying to tell a story that doesn’t have room for nonstop set pieces. 

For the most part, this is good news. The folk horror angle is interesting, and a lot of attention clearly went into crafting the village’s dark history. However, the film falters when it screeches to a halt in the final stretch and offloads an extreme amount of exposition. It feels as if Anwar had a miniseries worth of plot in his head that he didn’t know how to organically communicate through suspense and drama. These climactic twists aren’t bad, but they’re delivered with the blunt energy of an exhausted parent rushing through a bedtime story. 

Third act clunkiness notwithstanding, Impetigore is worth your time. It isn’t everyday that a horror film has too many narrative ideas for its own good, and it’s even less common for one to have specific, fully realized characters who aren’t ciphers or symbols. This mature approach makes for a dark fairy tale that combines modern intensity with an old school ghost story appeal. 

Henry McKeand’s Rating: 7/10

The post Impetigore (2019) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Message Man” Theatrical Poster

AKA: Kill Vengeance
Director: Corey Pearson
Cast: Paul O’Brien, Aji Santosa, Verdi Solaiman, Mario Irwinsyah, Agni Pratistha, Mike Lewis, Alfridus Godfred, Ronny P. Tjandra, Gary Plant, Denny Baskar
Running Time: 91 min.

By Henry McKeand

“He Killed for Money. Now He’s Out for Justice.”

If this tagline isn’t enough to tip you off, Corey Pearson’s Message Man shares a lot in common with films you’ve already seen. It stars South African-Australian actor Paul O’Brien as a former hitman named Kyle living in Indonesia who develops a bond with a single mother and her children, and it does very little to distance itself from “retired assassin” tropes. Yes, he’s forced to use his dormant skills when the innocent family is put at risk, facing the sins of his past life in the process. Despite the familiarity of the premise, audiences come to this kind of film expecting engaging violence and a satisfying take on the formula, and Message Man boasts solid performances with a few unique action moments. Sadly, a tepid screenplay and some ugly digital effects prevent it from being much more than a light diversion for genre die-hards. 

Surprisingly, the film excels in the quiet moments leading to the promised killing spree. The first act set-up, in which Kyle gets to know the family that reawakens his humanity, is completely effective. The performances play a big part, and O’Brien is good at lending depth to a character who says very little in the first thirty minutes of the film. Whereas some retired assassin characters are unrealistically warm and sympathetic, O’Brien plays Kyle with a shell-shocked intensity that makes him emotionally distant for his first several scenes. This means that the moments when we see a crack in his armor are especially rewarding, and he comes off as a believable ex-killer. His character growth is boosted by the performances of Agni Pratistha, who plays the single mother, and Aji Santosa, who plays her young son. 

The film’s first mistake unfortunately takes place the moment the blood starts to fly. After a group of criminals carelessly hurt the young boy, Kyle is given a chance to show off his hand-to-hand combat skills. O’Brien has a tight handle on the fighting, and the scene is promising at first. However, cheap-looking CGI blood effects distract from the choreography, and Kyle’s knives have apparently been digitally added in post-production. The result is a limp scene that delivers none of the tactile brutality that viewers have come to expect from Indonesian classics such as The Raid and The Night Comes For Us. This isn’t to say that digital blood effects are always a bad thing, and it’s tough to criticize a relatively low-budget film for trying to overcome its financial constraints, but this short sequence sets a bad precedent. 

The good news is that the action improves, and digital effects are used sparingly enough for the rest of the film. There are also some inspired ideas to keep things interesting as the bodies pile up, many of which involve planning and collaboration. Despite being established as a lone wolf, Kyle relies on others multiple times during the film, from hiring a mysterious sniper to enlisting the help of a regular cab driver. This gives the action a fresh angle, and Kyle’s willingness to receive support makes him a deadlier and more compelling protagonist than your average one-man-army heroes. 

The action direction is also solid. Pearson never used rapid cuts or shaky cam to disguise the choreography, though the melee fight scenes lack the same level of fluidity as those in the bigger Indonesian flicks. There are also multiple instances of the film cutting away from action scenes and using gunshot sound effects to imply shootouts that we never see. This is clearly designed to create the illusion of a grand cinematic bloodbath, but it instead only draws attention to the modest budget.

In the final act, the story begins to fizzle out as it loses focus on the core dynamic between Kyle and the family. Too much narrative space is given to boring villains with unconvincing connections to Kyle’s old career, which is a shame considering the first act’s strong character work. For many action fans, this won’t matter. Pearson has crafted an at-times sturdy revenge film that hits most of the necessary beats. Message Man isn’t the under-the-radar hidden gem that I was hoping for when I saw it streaming on Amazon Prime, but it could be worth a watch for those happy to try out a c-list actioner in the same vein as The Man from Nowhere and Man on Fire.

Henry McKeand’s Rating: 5/10

The post Message Man (2018) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Steel Fisted Dragon” Theatrical Poster

AKA: A Fistful of Dragon
Director: Iksan Lahardi
Cast: Steve Lee, Enden Marlinda, Ronald Kansil, Vita Fatimah, Chan Lau, Johnny Hong Kong
Running Time: 78 min.

Paul Bramhall

In 1977 the Bruceploitation genre was already alive and well, with guys like Bruce Li bursting onto the scene with 1975’s New Game of Death and Bruce Le unleashing digit related mayhem in 1976’s Bruce’s Deadly Fingers. While the name Bruce combined with variations of how to spell Lee seemed to be the way forward for any potential Bruceploitation star, at some point producers must have realised they’d maxed out. So it was, the new era of Bruceploitation star was born, with the surname Lee remaining intact, but being called Bruce no longer a requirement. Korea stepped up to give us the legendary Dragon Lee with his Cheshire Cat smile and moves accompanied by various blip and bloop sound effects, and Indonesia unleashed the one and only Steve Lee!

In fact Indonesia already had its own kung fu star at this point in the form of Larry Lee, who in the same year starred in Four Shaolin Challengers and Black Belt Karate (in which he wore a similar red tracksuit to what Bruce Lee wore in Longstreet). However it was Steve Lee who’d be marketed and sold as Indonesia’s own Bruce Lee imitator, which he did a whole 2 times, first in Cobra from the same year, and second in The Steel Fisted Dragon. After that he’d disappear into obscurity, which makes him an anomaly amongst his Bruceploitaiton luminaries, as most of them starred in more movies and had longer careers than the Little Dragon, but not our friend Steve.

For his sophomore outing Lee plays a kung fu master whose mother and girlfriend are murdered by the local bad guys, leading him to go on a revenge fuelled rampage. That’s your plot right there. I actually gave some serious thought to how I could describe it in at least 2 sentences, but really there’s nothing more to it than that. Understandably depressed, Lee’s friend (who sports a Hitler moustache, a fashion choice I felt for sure was foreshadowing a villainous betrayal later on, but no, turns out Hitler moustaches were just trendy in 1977 Indonesia) insists he should cheer up by finding a job. I get the logic, but on the other hand if Lee was an unemployed bum before tragedy struck, it seems unlikely that a job would makes his existence any more cheerful after losing his nearest and dearest.

Thankfully we don’t spend too much time with Lee wallowing in self-pity (although if he did, he’d be perfectly entitled to), as this is 70’s South East Asia meaning denim clad villains are never in short supply. I confess I’ve never seen Cobra, so The Steel Fisted Dragon was my first taste of Lee and I like his approach to Bruceploitation. Rather than imitating the Little Dragon’s fighting style, Lee uses his own brand of kung fu beatdown, but infuses his fights with a liberal (and I mean liberal) dose of Bruce Lee styled high pitched howling and the occasional mannerism (like a flick of the nose). Amusingly at one point he gets so badly beaten that he has to recuperate, with his wounds represented by Enter the Dragon style scratches on his chest. Somehow seeing the overly familiar scratches put someone completely out of action made Lee seem like a bit of a wimp.

The villain is particularly villainous here, keeping a number of girl’s captive for his own nefarious purposes, and keeping an eye on them all with a camera set up in the room they’re kept in. In one scene his secretary calls him to advise he has a visitor who he asks to show in, and in-between the secretary leaving and the visitor walking in he switches on the TV just to briefly check out what’s going down in the room. I guess it was the closest thing to steaming on demand in the 70’s. At one point the ladies even get into a full-on brawl with each other, sending pieces of clothing everywhere. You’d think this blatantly criminal activity would factor into the plot at some point, but it never really does. Go figure.

Indonesian kung fu flicks of the time had a habit of bringing over Hong Kong talent either to co-star or even work behind the scenes. The previously mentioned Black Belt Karate cast fellow countryman Lo Lieh as the villain of the piece, and a year later Chen Kuan Tai would pair up with local star Billy Chong to star in and direct Invincible Monkey Fist. In The Steel Fisted Dragon we get Chan Lau, old groper himself from The Dragon, the Hero. In fact Lau worked on both Cobra and The Steel Fisted Dragon, featuring in front of the camera as well as being on fight choreography duty. I’m not sure if we ever needed to see a guy like Lau in a sex scene, but The Steel Fisted Dragon comes close to giving us one, mercifully cutting away just at the right moment (especially since we later learn that he’s the master of the iron finger technique!).

While not a prolific fight choreographer by any means (prior to this the only 2 movies he’d choreographed solo were the Taiwan-Korea co-production Magic Curse and Hong Kong flick Moon and Stars, both from 1975 and non-martial arts related), here he definitely puts his best foot forward. I’m sure there was also input from the local Indonesian talent, as the action is often quite raw and brutal. In one tussle Lee rips one poor lackeys’ eyes out (both of them!) and tosses them away, and in another he hangs one guy upside down with his hands, while proceeding to repeatedly kick him in the head! A stunning display of brutality and balance at the same time.

The real action highlight in The Steel Fisted Dragon is an extended fight against multiple attackers in a warehouse that acts as a precursor to the finale. It’s a scrappy ordeal that some will likely argue goes on for longer than it needs to, but I enjoyed the gratuitous length of the scene. Set in a location with a seemingly unlimited amount of breakable wooden crates to fall into or on top of, various spades randomly scattered around just waiting to be utilised as weapons, and plastic drums which appear to be full of acid, all are put to effective use. Interestingly the action incorporates an element of grappling, with arm and leg locks being used to dispose of some lackeys, and no Bruceploitation flick would be complete without some nunchucks action. Here we get a pair of lackeys brandishing the iconic weapon, who of course can’t keep their hands on it for long.

Cast as a kind of kung fu assassin, we also get a Chan Lau versus Steve Lee face off which delivers the goods, with Lau channelling his inner-Hwang Jang Lee, and at one point brandishing a pair of tonfas (which Lee amusingly counters with a large tree branch). As scrawny as Lau may be, he actually manages to look believably dangerous here, a flurry of kicks, iron finger pokes (the grass they fight on suffers considerably), and tonfa thrusts, it’s a welcome one on one fight compared to the many 1 versus many battles that make up the majority of the action. Events eventually culminate with Lee attempting to make an escape with the main villain’s sister (don’t ask) on a boat, only for him to end up using the wooden paddle as the main weapon in the final fight rather than sailing off into the sunset. Still, watching people get smacked across the head with it is arguably more entertaining.

It’s a shame Steve Lee didn’t go onto make more movies. Well, let me just take a step back there, firstly it’s a shame that he was named Steve Lee in the first place! But he was an actor who clearly had screen presence and, while not the most graceful of performers, clearly had the moves to look like an effective fighter onscreen. Perhaps he decided a life of hitting people over the head with tree branches, spades, and paddles wasn’t for him, and that’s fair enough. As a slice of 70’s Bruceploitation though with an Indonesian twist, The Steel Fisted Dragon delivers the goods thanks an almost constant stream of action and ridiculous dubbing. Let’s be honest, sometimes that’s all you need from a kung fu flick.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6.5/10

The post Steel Fisted Dragon, The (1977) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Wiro Sableng” Theatrical Poster

Director: Angga Dwimas Sasongko
Cast: Vino G. Bastian, Sherina Munaf, Marsha Timothy, Fariz Alfarizi, Happy Salma, Dwi Sasono, Yayan Ruhian, Cecep Arif Rahman, Lukman Sardi, Ruth Marini
Running Time: 123 min.

By Matija Makotoichi Tomic

212 Warrior could have been a step-up for Indonesian action cinema. Co-production with Fox International Pictures, first for any Southeast Asian movie, secured a substantial budget, and the award-winning director Angga Dwimas Sasongko was brought to the project to secure this boat has a good captain. The involvement of local talent didn’t stop there. Taking over duties of the film’s fight choreographer was silat maestro Yayan Ruhian, joined by Jackie Chan’s former stunt team member Man Ching-Chan as action director. Pairing of the two was a choice that must have put many worried minds at ease, action was in safe hands. 

On top of this what-could-possibly-go-wrong team up, 212 Warrior is based on a highly popular series of novels written by Indonesian author Bastian Tito. The role of Wiro, probably the most beloved heroic figure in all of Indonesian literature, was given to none other than Bastien’s son, former model-turned-actor Vino G. Bastian. All of this could have meant one thing only, 212 Warrior was the hottest Indonesian blockbuster to be unleashed upon the local cinema audiences in years.

Judging from the box-office figures, 212 Warrior succeeded in becoming a hit domestically, but for a spoiled western fan hungry for some hard-hitting silat action, it proves to be quite a letdown. Rather than borrowing the tried and tested spectacular fight fest formula, 212 Warrior continues the tradition of Indonesian martial arts fantasies of the 80’s, such as The Devil’s Sword or Jaka Sembung movies, replacing contemporary setting for a more fantastical one. I was wondering how these movies would look like if made in this day and age, and I have to say the answer to this question is indeed a disappointing one. 

Combining the classic good vs. evil theme with the many times tried simplistic revenge plot, as well as an obvious inspiration drawn from the classic kung fu movies, 212 Warrior doesn’t take long to reveal its flaws, and soon enough it becomes apparent that the next two hours are going to be painful to sit through. It all starts with a night raid on a small village. Enter Wiro, a boy still at a very young age, who’s parents get killed in front of him by the ruthless bandit Mahesa Birawa (Yayan Ruhian, The Raid 2). Wiro only luckily avoids the death grip himself, thanks to the white haired silat guru Sinto Gendeng (Ruth Martini, May the Devil Take You), who takes him as her student and trains him in preparation for revenge. Seventeen years later Wiro is ready, and now armed with a Dragon Axe, sets out to fulfill his destiny. While on the lookout for Mahesa, he finds out about the young prince being abducted and a planned coup d’etat that threatens the kingdom, so he decides to put his skills to good use. Helping him fight are his new friends whom he have met along the way, female warrior Anggini (Sherina Munaf) and a pig-faced fatty (Fariz Alfarazi).  

With the budget money clearly wasted on digital effects, but also invested in sets and costumes to a good result, 212 Warrior becomes another barely watchable CGI adventure. For the sake of future generations, I hope audiences will find CGI charming some thirty or fifty years from now, the way we find men in rubber suits or Harryhausen’s claymation creatures when revisiting old films today. Unfortunately, there’s almost nothing charming about 212 Warrior, and while not being treated to a good movie already, one could at least hope for an entertainingly bad one. Alas, Sasongko doesn’t have the magic touch of one Arizal or H. Tjut Djalil, as it takes a special kind of skill to make a bad movie that can entertain the fans, even if such a ride calls for an acquired taste. 

Instead, Sasongko’s piece is rather an example of a movie standing in its own way to be any better than it is, partly because it’s tragically silly. Even though that silliness is intentional for the most part, it doesn’t change the fact it’s of the kind that makes you wanna leave the theater. All the clowning in front of the camera results in a few moderately entertaining moments scattered throughout the never ending two plus hours. The one doing most of the clowning is Vino Bastien, whose performance was clearly inspired by Jackie’s brand of physical comedy and the unique flavour it gave to some of his best known comedic kung fu hits. However, Bastien is not Jackie, nor is he Barry Prima, who’s silly copy he comes across as here, and his goofing around is annoying above anything else. 

It is not so much a question of the wrong ingredients with 212 Warrior, it’s just that once cooked together for two hours, the dish served is one you’d rather spit than chew. It was Yayan’s time to shine and save what can be saved, after all action made worse films watchable. However, that’s not the case here. Yayan does look good delivering silat chops, but that’s about it. There’s not a single decent fight in the movie, and Cecep Arif Rahman’s role is less than forgettable. Action here is just as bland as the otherwise interesting characters you couldn’t care less about, or the story that fails to engage its audience.

With all this being said, it’s probably hard to believe I actually support projects such as this one, and I do hope this is the first of many to come. I also hope for a better end result next time. 212 Warrior sadly failed to meet the expectations, be it as one of the latest Indonesian action offerings, or just another one of Fox’s potential Asian hits. Projects helped coming to life with this company’s money include movies such as The Yellow Sea and The Wailing among others. Regardless of the fact Indonesia can in no way be compared to South Korea when it comes to their movie industry, how was one not to expect more? 

Matija Makotoichi Tomic’s Rating: 2/10

The post 212 Warrior | aka Wiro Sableng (2018) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Zeta: When the Dead Awaken” Theatrical Poster

Director: Amanda Iswan
Writer: Amanda Iswan
Cast: Cut Mini, Dimas Aditya, Jeff Smith, Edo Borne, Joshua Pandelaki, Willem Bevers, Revaldo, Natasha Gott, Chicco Kurniawan, Atiq Rachman
Running Time: 94 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Indonesia may have put itself on the map over the last decade thanks to its martial arts offerings, with the likes of The Raid and its sequel making an impact on action movie fans across the world, however the country has also left a distinct impression with its horror output. The likes of the Mo Brothers Macabre and May the Devil Take You (and its sequel – both helmed by Timo Tjahjanto), and Joko Anwar’s Impetigore and remake of Satan’s Slaves, haven’t shied away from getting bloody, resulting in some of the most original horror in recent years. Of course, Indonesia has also had a tendency to cast Japanese AV stars in their horror flicks, who can forget Maria Ozawa in Carriage Ghost, or Sasha Grey in Pocong Mandi Goyang Pinggul? (Note the question is rhetorical)

With such variance in their horror output, particularly as many productions are aimed strictly at local audiences (check out the trailer for Pocong Mandi Goyang Pinggul, and you’ll understand), there’s always some trepidation going into one of the countries lesser known efforts. The zombie genre has been around in Indonesia for a while, although most of its output (such as 2015’s Kampung Zombie and 2018’s Reuni Z) has yet to travel beyond local shores. With that being said, the temptation to check out a new indie zombie flick in the form of Zeta: When the Dead Awaken proved too much to resist. Considering most indie zombie flicks from nearby Japan, a country with a considerably more developed film industry, are borderline unwatchable, I didn’t have high expectations, so was pleasantly surprised by what lay instore.

Similar to many Korean productions made straight out of graduation (Bleak Night, End of Animal etc.), Zeta (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) is the debut of director, writer, and producer Amanda Iswan. After struggling to get the project off the ground for a couple of years, it eventually arrived on Indonesian screens in 2019, having secured a small budget from first time producing house Swan Studio. Thankfully Iswan shows from the opening frames that she knows how to make every penny count, as we’re introduced to an aerial shot of a deserted city which has been laid to waste, immediately creating a suitably foreboding atmosphere with minimum resources.

We’re introduced to a high school student, played by relative newcomer Jeff Smith. I know what you’re thinking, yes, he’s Indonesian (ok, half Indonesian, joining the likes of Julie Estelle and Arifin Putra). Smith doesn’t have an easy life in high school, with a scientist father (Willem Bevers, Foxtrot Six) who spends most of him time overseas, and a mother (Cut Mini Theo, Follow Me to Hell) who’s suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. When he overhears a classmate mocking him, the subsequent beatdown he lays on the agitator sees him sent straight to the principal’s office. Before any punishment can be dispensed though, the beaten-up classmate turns into a zombie, biting into the nurse’s neck that was attending to him, and setting off a chain of events that soon sees the whole city being overrun by “the infected”.

The jaded zombie movie fan in me at this point was already groaning. Movies that feature angst ridden high schoolers as protagonists aren’t really my bag, and as the first onscreen zombie appearance, I wasn’t sold (if you want a masterclass on how to introduce a zombie into a movie, check out I Am a Hero). However this setup all takes place in the first 10 minutes, and once Smith high tails it back to the apartment complex that his Alzheimer’s suffering mother is living alone in, proceedings pick up considerably. It’s safe to say that a good 70% of Zeta’s lean 95 minute runtime takes place in the apartment complex, and Iswan shows an assured hand at utilising the darkened corridors, stairwells, lifts, and lobbies to wring a satisfying amount of tension from a variety of zombie populated scenarios.

Despite the small budget, from the number of zombies lurking in the apartment you’d never know. There may never be that many onscreen at the same time, however the clever editing clearly conveys the feeling that there could be a zombie lurking around any corner (and quite often there is). Zeta has opted for a traditional zombie aesthetic which I’m a big fan of. As much as I can appreciate the bone cracking, eye bulging speed zombies that Korea has popularised with the likes of Train to Busan, for me nothing beats the slow-moving undead with grotesque and bloody flesh wounds. While the use of darkness ensures the zombies in the background stay partially obscured, the makeup effects used on the handful we get up close too is effective and convincing. Even better is that for the most part the zombies are CGI-free, and we get the bonus of a zombie baby, sure to add a bit of fun to any zombie flick. 

Smith and Mini Theo eventually meet up with another surviving resident in the building, played by Dimas Aditya (Satan’s Slaves). He reveals his brother lives in another building within the same complex, and has a radio which can be used to contact the military, however is reluctant to bring them along to his siblings’ abode for reasons best not spoilt here. Armed with a baseball bat (with obligatory added nails), knives, and a gun, the trio attempt to make their way out of the apartment, and access the other building in the hopes of letting the outside world know they’re still alive.

In parallel to the trapped in an apartment complex scenario, there’s a plot involving the military, a guerrilla group they’ve teamed up with, and Smith’s scientist father. Played by Willem Bevers, who recently featured in the superhero flick Gundala, his acting is either intentionally hammy or he’s in the wrong profession. Comparative to the tense setting of the apartment complex, the scenes with the military act mainly to provide exposition as to how victims become zombies, which is through a parasitic worm called Zeta. The hammy acting benefits the B-movie style tropes of these scenes, as the soldiers discuss a pair of Zeta brains stored in jars, and ramble on about their mission to find a serum that cures it. While it feels like the two scenarios should grate against each other, onscreen the military scenes serve to break up the limited setting of the complex, and ultimately serve to compliment rather than detract from each other.

On a similar note, the pacing that this juxtaposition of scenarios results in means that Zeta doesn’t carry any fat on its bones (perhaps the wrong expression to use in a zombie movie). Free of any romance or additional drama, Iswan keeps her debut committed to its brief, ensuring any dialogue scenes are there to propel the plot forward, and never forgetting that we need zombies onscreen frequently. Again there’s a lot of clever editing in the kills, with knives plunged into skulls and plenty of headshots along the way (executed with passable CGI blood spray, and the brief use of 1^st person POV shots), however you don’t necessarily see everything. When a character embeds a knife in a zombie’s skull, you only realise if you’re playing close attention that their elbow obscured the money shot, and it was your own imagination that filled in the rest.

Iswan’s writing also delivers some smart storytelling that looks to compensate for the lack of budget with a few unique touches that give Zeta its own identity. We get a dose of zombie vision where we learn they primarily see our heart and brains, there’s a differentiation made between alpha and omega ‘zeta’s’, and I particularly liked the way the Alzheimer’s element was incorporated into the story. While Zeta isn’t going to be the next big ground-breaking zombie flick, these elements show a level of ambition that elevate the plot from just being a simple survival thriller, and add a welcome additional layer to proceedings. 

Considering Zeta most likely had a lower budget that the similarly zombie themed The Driver, Iswan gives a masterclass on how to do more with less. Despite the low budget, the committed performances from the cast, zombies that actually look like the undead (having some dirt on your face and contact lenses doesn’t make a good zombie!), and solid cinematography, Zeta proves to be a worthy addition to an overpopulated genre. 

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6.5/10

The post Zeta: When the Dead Awaken (2019) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Black Belt Karate” Theatrical Poster

Director: Suen A-Foo
Cast: Bruce Leung Siu Lung, Lo Lieh, Billy Chong Chun Lai, Larry Lee Gam Kwan, Kong Do, Peter Chan Lung, Tony Leung Siu Hung, Lee Tai-Wai, Yip Chin-Yat
Running Time: 90 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

Before Merantau. Before The Raid. Before The Night Comes For Us. There was – Black Belt Karate! Ok, that’s probably a more bombastic introduction than this 1977 slice of karate goodness deserves, however it does serve a purpose of highlighting its Indonesian origins. While the likes of Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, and Yayan Ruhian have led many to declare that Indonesia is now on the map as a country which can deliver the action, a more appropriate statement would be to say that it’s back on the map. In the 70’s and 80’s Indonesia very much had its own action movie industry, as it did have its own roster of kung fu stars, many of whom would also regularly star in Hong Kong productions.

Three such stars are Larry Lee, Billy Chong, and Lo Lieh, all of whom feature in Black Belt Karate, which was a co-production between Indonesia and Hong Kong, with filming taking place in both countries. History hasn’t been particularly kind to Larry Lee. A practitioner of Goju-Ryu Karate, while Lee certainly had the moves, what he didn’t have was a lot of onscreen charisma or leading man looks. This resulted in many of his movies made in his active years between 1974 – 1978, despite being the leading man, being subsequently promoted using other cast members. 1978’s Showdown at the Equator heavily leans on the presence of Bruce Leung and Nora Miao, and Black Belt Karate itself was later marketed leveraging the presence of Billy Chong. The movie business is a tough world.

Black Belt Karate was my first taste of Larry Lee, and here he plays a country bumpkin who heads to the city to find work and stay with his uncle. Except his uncle no longer lives at the address he has for him, which is now a restaurant. When the restaurant owner offers him a job washing dishes and making deliveries, Lee (or at least the English dub) states that the only skill he has his karate, but in fact this turns out to be untrue. Actually Lee is a karate fanatic, but he’s far from being skilled at it, or dish washing for that matter. After promptly being fired, Lee takes on a job as a rickshaw driver, and one of his passengers turns out to be a pretty lady, who just so happens to be the daughter of a karate school owner. Lee’s interest in karate ends up in him becoming a cleaner for the school (at this point it feels like the guy has gone through 3 jobs in just a few hours), and eventually, his enthusiasm sees him taken on as a student.

Its Lee’s presence at the school which becomes the crux of the plot, as his budding relationship with the karate master’s daughter rubs the most senior student up the wrong way, who wants her hand in marriage (and would also mean he inherits the school). Will true love prevail? I confess it was the synopsis of Black Belt Karate which led to it gathering dust over the years that I’ve owned it. The concept of the innocent newbie taking on the aggressive and highly skilled senior to win the affection of the school owners’ daughter all seemed a little too Disney for my liking. I’m a shallow guy – with 70’s kung fu normally I’m looking for a murdered master, a vengeful student seeking out a vicious villain, and fight scenes aplenty. Karate based love triangles rank low in the too-watch pile prioritisation list. However, I was wrong, Black Belt Karate is a lean little kung fu flick. Light on the comedy, and heavy on high impact fight scenes.

I say kung fu flick, as despite karate being the martial art of choice, everything about Black Belt Karate looks, feels, and smells like one. On director duties is Suen A-Foo, a director who like so many in the 70’s, can best be described as a flash in the pan. He’d only direct 3 movies, making his debut in 1969 by co-helming the Korean production Two Dragons-Sword alongside Gwon Yeong-sun, followed by Flying Tiger in 1970, both starring vehicles for Chang Yang. Black Belt Karate would be his final movie as a director, but perhaps his most infamous credit is being the scriptwriter (along with Shu Lan) for the 1976 slice of Bruceploitation, Bruce Lee and I.

Despite the romantic inclinations that the plot alludes to on paper, onscreen very little time is spent on romance, and a considerable amount of time is spent on fight scenes. Black Belt Karate is predominantly filmed in Indonesia, with only a brief interlude involving Lee being sent to Hong Kong to further his training, before returning back home. The Indonesian setting is a welcome one, providing a change of scenery to the countless Hong Kong filmed kung fu flicks that were being cranked out at the time, however the down side is that it’s difficult to ascertain exactly who a lot of the Indonesian actors are. I have a theory (a line which, if I say in person, usually involves everyone leaving the room) that the reason information is so scant on the Indonesian cast, is that many of them were actually real karate practitioners, brought in to show their skills off on film.

There are lengthy periods dedicated to karatekas facing off against each other in competition, something which I usually bawk at in any kind of movie, but here the scenes are a pleasure to watch. Lee is credited as the fight choreographer alongside Bruce Leung, a partnership which would see them share the screen again in The Four Shaolin Challengers from the same year, and in the following year Showdown at the Equator and Ten Tigers of Shaolin. While there’s definitely choreography in there, I daresay that some of the fights look partly improvised in terms of the speed of movement on display. While 1978 was a watershed year for the kung fu genre, in 1977 it was still fairly unusual to see choreography as fast and flowing as some of the moves busted out here.

This is no truer than when Lee heads to Hong Kong to attend a karate school there, and must face off against the school’s best student in the form of Bruce Leung, clocking in an extended cameo. Their fight is a highlight, with some punches and kicks being executed with remarkable speed. I know Leung is well regarded for his kicks, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie where the choreography has done them full justice, Black Belt Karate has rectified that. I’m now a fan. It’s during the school scenes set in Hong Kong that one of the genres most familiar faces, Kong Do, turns up to cause mischief along with a friend. Naturally, his mischief doesn’t last long, but what I particularly enjoyed is that at one point his friend decides to join in the fray, who up until this point has only been watching. After getting a similar beating, he then immediately returns to his position of passively observing, and nobody bothers him. Hilarious.

Once Lee returns to Indonesia he discovers things have taken a turn for the worse. The student he was in competition with was denied the daughters hand in marriage and has joined a rival school in spite, with matters confounded further by the father becoming terminally ill. All of this is only really there to provide an excuse for Lee to partner up with the teacher’s son, played by Billy Chong in an early screen appearance. I’m a big fan of Billy Chong, and will champion the likes of Kung Fu Zombie and A Fist Full of Talons until the cows come home, so it was interesting to see him here going full Bruceploitaiton mode. Wearing a pair of yellow tracksuit pants that are so snug they reveal a little too much (visible even on the low-quality picture of the version I watched), Chong shows the power and charisma that’d soon see him in starring roles, just with added thumbs of the nose and similar Bruce-isms thrown in.

Bizarrely, despite the quality of everything on display, it’s the finale where Black Belt Karate flounders. Lee’s 5^th grade black belt is left with no choice but to face off against a 9^th grade black belt to save the reputation of his master’s school, which leads to Lo Lieh making an appearance purely for the finale. Don’t get me wrong, Lo Lieh is a guy that has charisma to spare, but he’s not the guy you want to introduce specifically for an empty-handed final fight. Only guys like Hwang Jang Lee can pull that kind of stunt off. Arriving in a black cape, the fight is decent enough, but Lieh is clearly not a karate practitioner, and the whole fight feels more flailing arms than it does the crisp choreography we’ve been treated to in everything that’s come before. It’s passable, but somehow leaves you with the feeling that we should have got more.

Despite the final fight not matching the quality of the rest of the action, it’s not enough to prevent Black Belt Karate from receiving a solid thumbs up. Featuring machine gun punches 30 years before Ip Man made them popular, Bernard Herrmann’s Taxi Driver score being featured prominently, and Larry Lee sporting the same red tracksuit which he wore in 1974’s Bloody Ring (ouch!), there’s plenty of entertainment value to be had. As for if true love prevails, I’m not sure if the filmmakers cared anymore by the time the credits role, but lets just assume the answers yes.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXUR4tkFblU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3SFg6cMx3fedb75dGcTPQCLIMw_-gDr3jwMET9Shm473ufN2bGYbP_krY

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“The Night Comes For Us” Netflix Poster

Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Writer: Timo Tjahjanto
Cast: Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Sunny Pang, Zack Lee, Asha Kenyeri Bermudez, Hannah Al Rashid, Salvita Decorte, Abimana Aryastya, Salvita Decorte
Running Time: 121 min.

By Martin Sandison

The Mo Brothers’ Headshot, while a very good action movie in its own right, with effectively bloody violence and some great choreography, fell short of greatness in my opinion. One half of the Mo Brothers, Timo Tjahjanto, announced a few years back he was writing the script for The Night Comes for Us. Anticipation grew with announcements such as the film was to star a who’s who of Indonesian action cinema, and the addition of producer Todd Brown whose XYZ films have been growing in stature with releases like Gareth Evans’ recent Apostle. Both films are Netflix associated, and for fans such as me, it’s great to see such diverse output. While Evans was taking a left turn in to atmospheric horror, Tjahjanto and Iko Uwais decided to take on the mantle left over by his Raid franchise and make it in to over-the-edge OTT action violence. Although I was prepared for the visual onslaught and feast of martial arts and gunplay, I could not have predicted how much I love this movie, and how highly I rate it. Which is very high.

Joe Taslim stars as Ito, who in the opening scene appears to be one of the bad guys as he mows down a family on a beach. Left is a small child, seemingly the daughter, Reina (Asha Kenyeri Bermudez). Ito sees his redemption in her, and goes on the run to protect her. So sets in motion a seemingly endless series of set pieces as Ito struggles to protect Reina, involving his old gang and Arian (Iko Uwais, The Raid), a mysterious figure who is a deadly fighter. The tangled web of gangsters, drugs and intrigue are deepened by Ito’s connection to the Six Seas, a gang dedicated to protecting the drug trade in South East Asia, led by Chien Wu (Sunny Pang, Headshot).

A review I read of this movie called it a martial arts Braindead (aka Dead Alive), which is a film I love, but I think that viewpoint doesn’t stick. Braindead has its tongue firmly lodged in its cheek, and is constantly hilarious. The Night Comes for Us is a much darker prospect entirely, and its tone speaks of influences such as Hard Boiled, Tiger Cage 2 (minus the lame comedy) and The Raid 2. That the film is like an outrageously violent cartoon does stick, however. What impressed me alongside the action, which we’ll get to in a minute, is the strength of the aesthetic. The lighting and camerawork create a surrealistic immersive world that has depth beneath the carnage. Little visual touches such as a face off mid-battle as the camera pans to a fly getting zapped are wonderful, and Tjahjanto’s handling of the silent moments between the chaos show his talent. This approach is bolstered by the characters and performances. Taslim is suitably brooding and emotionally wrecked as Ito, in the role of a lifetime. Uwais as Arian is at his most charismatic, and in fact you would expect the two to be in each others roles, as Uwais is the bigger star. Julie Estelle (The Raid 2) kicks some serious ass in her part, which is destined to go down as one of the greatest female fighter characters, blowing Ok-bin Kim, of the recent South Korean actioner The Villainess, off the screen.

So, to the aspect we came here for: action. As much as I love The Raid and 2, and to a lesser extent Headshot, the action at times is scrappy and a little repetitive. As soon as Uwais first fight kicked in, I knew immediately him and his team have stepped up, and leaped in to the stratosphere of primal 21st century martial arts violence. Every single fight in this film is astounding, and the diversity of the combat is without compare. From brawls to all-out brutalistic knife fights to intricate handwork to beautiful bootwork, the film has it all, and is a martial arts movie fans wet dream. Alongside the commitment of the performers in these scenes and their abilities, all aspects of filmmaking are amped up to 11, and the ebb and flow, fluid editing, masterful framing (props to cinematographer Gunnar Nimpuno) and staging of them is in to the beyond. My favourites are the two-on-one all female fight with British actress Hannah Al Rashid (Safe Haven) and Dian Sastrowardoyo (Kartini) taking on Estelle in a fight that moves from hand-to-hand combat to knife-fighting with savage grace. Al Rashid even fights on with her guts hanging out! (Story of Ricky, anyone?). In fact, all three involved in this fight are immediately iconic characters, with Al Rashid’s cool hair and signature knife, and Sastrowardoyo’s bob haircut and cheese wire weaponry.

Of course the film builds up to Uwais vs Taslim, and I honestly think it’s in the Top 3 one-on-one fights of the 21st century, alongside such luminaries as Scott Adkins vs Marko Zaror in Undisputed 3 and Donnie Yen vs Collin Chou in Flash Point. It also gets my vote as one of the most bloodily violent. I even noticed a reference to a fight in Tiger Cage 2 in there (geek mode optimised). Uwais must have been working on his kicking, as it’s the best I’ve seen from him, and Taslim’s rthythm and timing is superb. My only gripe action-wise is that Sunny Pang, who was so great acting-wise and martial arts-wise in Headshot, doesn’t get to fight in the film. His performance and character is still a cool bad-ass muthafucka, though. Another gripe is that the dialogue moves between Asian languages (Uwais character is in China at first, he speaks a little Mandarin) and English at times, and it can be a little jarring. Also the plot lines do fall by the wayside a little to make room for the action.

The extreme bloody violence in the film will put off some, but once it gets going the amount of inventive kills and outrageous blood-letting means you can never take it seriously. From a pigs trotter used as a weapon to smack a guy’s balls, people hung up on meathooks, cheese wire (Audition, anyone?) used to cut off arms and fingers, broken bottles stuck in mouths and seemingly the most stab wounds onscreen in any film ever, it’s an orgy of constantly amping up extremity. Even Reina gets in on the action, stabbing one of the bad guys. And that’s without mentioning the fantastically depicted gunplay, which is a dozen times more graphic than a John Woo film. An aspect I also love is the mix of CGI and practical effects when dealing with the gore. It’s seamless, and for a lower budget film is phenomenal. Also of note is the soundtrack by Hiroyuki Ishizaka, which moves from John Carpenter-esque pulsing synths to strings, and underscores the tone of the film beautifully.

As a writer and conversationalist I realise my passion moves in to hyperbole at times. I need to watch this film again soon, but upon ending my first thought was: It’s a complete action masterpiece and one of the best action films ever made. All I know is that awestruck consciousness was pretty much constant for the 2 hour running time, and it gave me the same adrenalin rush as finishing Hard Boiled at the age of 14. Hey, what would the world be without individual opinions? A very boring place. Let’s see what you guys think. I must say congratulations to everyone involved. The Raid set a new bar. The Night Comes for Us raises that bar through the roof.

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 10/10

The post Night Comes for Us, The (2018) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Stabilizer” VHS Cover

Director: Arizal
Cast: Peter O’Brian, Craig Gavin, Gillie Beanz, Dana Christina, Harry Capry, Kaharudin Syah, Mark Sungkar, Yenny Farida, Linda Husein, Herman Pero
Running Time: 93 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

Indonesian action maestro Arizal had a busy year in 1986. Not only did he set Chris Mitchum loose on the streets of Jakarta to raise hell in Final Score, but he also launched the career of walking growth hormone Peter O’Brian. Legend has it that the innocent New Zealander arrived in Indonesia on vacation, as many New Zealanders do, and it just so happened that producing partners the Punjabi Brothers where in the airport at the same time. Captivated by how his tightly curled perm and bulking frame gave him the appearance of Rambo (well, at least in their eyes), sensing an opportunity to seize the moment, they approached him to appear in a movie. The rest, as they say, is history.

Well, minor history at least. I’m sure most reading this will have no idea who Peter O’Brian is, and that’s probably a good thing. He stayed working exclusively in Indonesia, and his filmography of 8 titles peaked with his second leading role in The Intruder (made the same year), which fully took advantage of his apparent Rambo resemblance by casting him as – wait for it – Rambu. For those wondering, yes, it’s also a remake of Stallone’s iconic killing machine. For his debut role though, he takes on the title character of The Stabilizer, a no nonsense American cop who travels to Indonesia on the trail of a criminal kingpin that killed his fiancé.

As it turns out, the kingpin (Craig Gavin, The Intruder) is also behind the kidnapping of a local scientist, who’s created something called a Narcotics Detector. What exactly this detector does is never really explained, but all the bad guys seem pretty panic stricken about its existence, and threaten things like electrocution if the scientist doesn’t spill the beans. Thankfully the scientists daughter (Dana Christina, The Warrior) is an avid reader of Silat instructional manuals (and also kind of resembles a sexy female version of Sammo Hung), so has been blazing her own trail of chaos against the bad guys. Without going into too much further detail, basically O’Brian, his partner (Gillie Beanz), the scientists daughter, and a local Indonesian cop (Harry Capry, Daredevil Commandos) team up to take down Gavin and his crew of drug pushers.

As with any Arizal flick, what ensues is plenty of fighting, machine gun fire, explosions, and more vehicle stunts than you can shake a stick at. The Stabilizer is the kind of movie which opens with a motorbike crashing through the window of a laboratory, for little other reason that it looks pretty damn cool. It’s a kind of logic that’s difficult to argue with. O’Brian is fantastic, although not for any reason that could be classed as intentional. His awesome Brian May style perm takes on a life of its own during the fight scenes, bouncing around like a lump of Jello on a plate, and he’s dubbed by a deep voiced American that makes every line he speaks sound like he’s narrating a trailer.

His vocabulary ranges from hilariously spiteful – if there’s a sentence which involves mentioning Gavin’s name, it’s always preceded with a “that son of a bitch…”, “that bastard…”, or “that motherf*cker…” – to just plain monosyllabic. At one point he’s surrounded by armed gunmen, to which he yells completely poker faced, “Bullshit!” Kudos has to go to his fiancé as well, who has a framed picture of him on her bedroom wall, taking aim with a gun adorned in black sunglasses and a fishnet t-shirt. If I ever decide to get a self-portrait, I’ll be taking a screenshot of this scene for reference. On the plus side though, it has to be mentioned that he appears to do most of the action and stuntwork himself, from hanging off a helicopter, to one laugh-out-loud shot that cuts to a close-up of him being hit in the face with a projectile piece of cardboard tubing.

Gavin himself also makes for a worthy villain, burdened with a limp from when he was shot by O’Brian in a previous encounter, his weapon of choice is a pair of spiked cleats on his shoes, marking him as someone you wouldn’t want to have accidentally stand on your foot. His villain’s mansion comes complete with a dwarf butler, and his own personal floozy, who appears to be aroused by having beer poured onto her torso. I’ve made notes to try this later. The Golden Triangle gang he presides over may consist of a rotatable bunch of Indonesian stuntmen, but a guy decked out like Mr. T particularly stands out, and the fact that some of them wear (literal) Golden Triangle earrings is both as stupid and hilarious as it sounds. Some gangs have secret tattoos, other secret greetings, these guys have to have their ears pierced and wear not-so-secret jangly triangular earrings.

While the action in The Stabilizer doesn’t reach the insane levels of Final Score, it’s debatable if anything could. To that end, the number of warehouse scuffles and car chases easily meet the expectations one goes into an 80’s Indonesian action movie with. Stuntmen get thrown around and through tables/walls/shelving units (and anything else breakable in sight), plus at one point both O’Brian and a poor lackey go crashing through a floor together, more than 15 years before Ong Bak! Dirt bikes are also featured heavily (as with any Arizal flick), with O’Brian proving that it’s possible to jump a dirt bikes front wheel into someone’s face, bounce off it, and carry on riding. Was Rambo ever that bad ass? What I enjoyed most about The Stabilizer though, was the level of equality shown in the punishment dished out between the heroes and the villains.

At one point, Gavin and a lackey are both on dirt bikes with a rope tied around O’Brian, resulting in him being dragged along the ground in a painful looking stunt. While most movies would frame such cruelty as something only the villains would contemplate inflicting on someone, a few minutes later when Gavin is attempting to get away, O’Brian and the daughter both get on dirt bikes, pick up the rope and proceed to do the same thing to him! Other painful highlights include death by a grass strimmer (forget about Tiger on the Beat’s chainsaw fight, what other movie has a fight with a grass strimmer!?), and a scene in which the Indonesian cop brandishes a flame thrower, ruthlessly toasting every bad guy in sight. It begs the question of what came first, The Stabilizer or Aliens?

The finale goes for a mass vehicular mayhem approach, with speedboats, jeeps, dirt bikes, and even a helicopter being thrown into the mix. For those that have seen Final Score and thought the scene with the helicopter was ridiculous (it is), The Stabilizer gives it a run for its money, challenging all that we know about gravity while also bringing a big smile to my face. It even incorporates a scene that has O’Brian fist pump the air by himself, because if no one is around to celebrate your victory, it doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t right? Kudos to Arizal for also giving the ladies just as much to do as the men, as the bad guys have to contend with both O’Brian’s partner, the scientist’s daughter, and the jaded floozy. Maybe I’ll hold off on that beer pouring technique for now.

Amongst the madness there’s a shot of a man’s arm crease, filmed in such a way to make us believe it’s a butt crack, and not one but two scenes of guys eating lizards alive (animal lovers are best to look away during these parts). Throw in an awesome theme song (“Staaa-biliiii-zerrrrr”), endlessly quotable dialogue (“The shoes Peter, watch out for the shoes!”), and a speedboat which comes fitted with torpedoes, for an action movie fan it’s almost impossible not to enjoy The Stabilizer. While movies like The Raid, Headshot, and Buffalo Boys are giving Indonesian action cinema a new lease of life in recent times, it’s important to remember that before any of the current batch of talent came along, there was the man known as Arizal. For a taste of his explosive style and tough talking heroes, The Stabilizer is definitely as good a place to start as any.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtBTx67oGVE

The post Stabilizer, The (1986) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Ghostly Face” Theatrical Poster

Director: Yang Shih-Ching
Cast: Polly Shang-Kuan, Chan Wai-Lau, Chan Bo-Leung, To Wai Wo, Lenny Marlina, To Man-Bo, Chan Chue
Running Time: 85 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

There’s something undeniably alluring about stumbling across obscure slices of kung fu cinema from the past, and The Ghostly Face could easily be categorized as one such example. In the 1970’s the practice of Hong Kong and Taiwan filming (or in many cases co-producing) with their South East Asian neighbours was already a common one. Movies like the Angela Mao vehicle The Tournament and Chang Cheh’s Duel of Fists both used Thailand as their backdrop, while productions such as the Yasuaki Kurata actioner The Golden Triangle and Bruceploitationer Bruce the Super Hero utilised the Philippines.

Much less common though, was for crews to venture as far south as Indonesia. While today names like Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian have placed Indonesia firmly on the map for action cinema, 45 years ago that certainly wasn’t the case. In fact, the only other example I can recall of Indonesia being featured as a backdrop for some 70’s martial arts action is the rare Bobby Kim movie Flying Tiger. However even before then, perhaps the first example of a Taiwan-Indonesia co-production can be considered to be The Ghostly Face, a 1973 tale of vengeance based on a popular Indonesia comic book titled Panji the Skull Face. Much like the superheroes found in western comics, the heroic main character would be adapted several times over the years, appearing in another local production in the 1980’s, and getting his own TV series in the 1990’s.

However in this case, director Yang Shih-Ching decides to do the reverse of what Chang Cheh pulled in Golden Swallow, pushing the heroic title character to the sidelines, and instead making the main protagonist a vengeance filled daughter in the form of Polly Shang-Kuan. One of the most recognizable faces of the 70’s Taiwanese kung fu cinema scene, Shang-Kuan is always a joy to watch, even when she’s fighting giant lobsters (check out The Zodiac Fighters). After debuting in King Hu’s seminal Dragon Inn in 1967, in the 6 years spanning 1973 – 1978, on top of starring in The Ghostly Face she’d headline another 40 kung fu flicks, displaying a work ethic few other femme fatales could match.

The Ghostly Face would be the last time she’d work with Shih-Ching, having collaborated previously on The Grand Passion (1970) and A Girl Fighter (1972), all of which also shared the common denominator of having the action choreographed by Poon Yiu-Kwan. With over 20 movies under his belt as action director by the time of The Ghostly Face, including King Hu’s A Touch of Zen, it’s easy to surmise that Yiu-Kwan was most at home choreographing the entertaining sword clangers that dominated the Taiwan movie scene in the 70’s.

The biggest draw of The Ghostly Face though is the Bali location, which as far as I’m aware is the first and only time a martial arts movie has been filmed there (and a whole 8 years before the infamous Mystics in Bali!). The island of Bali has its own unique culture, and various aspects of it are featured throughout. While for some these travelogue sequences will likely be tiresome, credit has to be given for the way they’re at least attempted to be integrated into the plot (has there ever been a kung-fu movie shot in Bangkok that doesn’t feature pointlessly lingering shots of The Grand Palace and Democracy Monument!?). These dialogue free scenes include a funeral procession along the beach for Shang-Kuan’s father, which contains the striking visual of her knelt down in the sand, as a towering funeral pyre burns to the ground, and later on a traditional Balinese play.

Shang-Kuan herself wears traditional Balinese attire, sporting a colourful sash and a flower adorned headband while she dishes out the pain to various bandits, which she does frequently. I’ve always loved the no-nonsense characters she usually plays, and here is no exception. When confronted by one bandit she asks him what he wants, to which he replies “I want to make love to you.” Suddenly surrounded by a small army, the resulting melee sees several of them end up with flower darts lodged in their eyes, one has his throat punctured by her fingers, before the original guy tries to escape, only to end up with his own sword lodged in his back. Indeed, this is not a girl to be messed with.

The plot itself involves Shang-Kuan seeking revenge on The Ghostly Mask, who she believes killed her father to steal his precious sword. It’s hardly a spoiler to say that the actual killer wasn’t the real Ghostly Mask, but it’d be no fun if she realised that straight away. The real man behind the mask is Indonesian actor Deddy Sutomo, a popular face of many 70’s Indonesian movies, interestingly he’s still active today. He can be found in The Raid 2, playing the floppy hat wearing official who persuades Iko Uwais to go undercover, which I never would have guessed. The Ghostly Mask itself definitely falls on the more curious side of heroic disguises. Essentially a mask that looks like a decomposing buck faced corpse, once seen it’s not easily forgotten, and I daresay the vampire from Sammo Hung’s Encounters of the Spooky Kind could well be a distant cousin.

Despite being the hero of the tale though, as previously mentioned, Shih-Ching gives him short thrift, with the real Ghostly Face not even making an appearance until 45 minutes in of a runtime that stretches just past 80. Thankfully though, when you have the burning intensity of an actress like Polly Shang-Kuan as your lead, this is entirely forgivable. The truth about The Ghostly Face is eventually revealed through her interactions with a villager, who she saves from a gang of pirates. It’s another satisfying one versus many skirmish, which at one point has Shang-Kuan pin a pirates hand to the deck by driving a sword through it. It’s worth noting that the villager is played by Indonesian actress Lenny Marlina, and not by Filipino actress (and Bruceploitation regular) Elizabeth Oropesa as stated in the Hong Kong Movie Database (who didn’t make her debut until 1975).

Events eventually culminate in a finale that sees Shang-Kuan, Sutomo, and another mysterious actress who appears out of nowhere face off against the bad guys, played by Chan Wai-Lau and Chan Bo-Leung (no relation). The appearance of the other actress, who’s only seen fleetingly in the opening scene, is likely indicative that somewhere in the depths of cinema obscurity, there could be a different Indonesian cut of The Ghostly Face, with more scenes of both the mystery actress and Sutomo. This practice was certainly common on many Hong Kong and Taiwan co-productions with Korea, with Don Wong Tao once recalling in an interview how, after the Chinese crew wrapped up filming, the Korean crew would stick around and film their own version with local actors. So it doesn’t seem outside the realms of possibility for it to also be the case here.

It’s an entertaining finish, made even more so by the revelation that perhaps Shang-Kuan’s character isn’t the sharpest tool in the box. Despite fighting another Ghostly Face imposter earlier on, inexplicably she still seems to believe Sutomo is her father’s killer, so he spends half the fight battling against the real bad guys, while also having to defend himself from Shang-Kuan’s fists and feet. In true old-school style though, the mystery actress declares in the middle of the brawl that Sutomo really is a good guy, which Shang-Kuan accepts no questions asked, leading to them finally teaming up to deliver violent retribution against the sword stealing crooks.

Half Bali travelogue, half Polly Shang-Kuan rampaging through hordes of human punching bags, The Ghostly Face may be far from perfect, but it’s so brief that it’s rarely anything other than entertaining. Fans of Shang-Kuan will find plenty to enjoy, and for the male population at least, it serves as a warning that if a woman asks what you want, be careful how you answer.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6.5/10

The post Ghostly Face, The (1973) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Headshot” Theatrical Poster

Director: The Mo Brothers
Writer: Timo Tjahjanto
Cast: Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Chelsea Islan, David Hendrawan, Epy Kusnandar, Zack Lee, Sunny Pang, Very Tri Yulisman, Ario Bayu, Ganindra Bimo, Udeh Nans
Running Time: 118 min.

By Martin Sandison

While the world waits with bated breath for the next installment of Gareth Evans’ phenomenally popular Raid franchise, we now have a film that more than whets the appetite from Indonesia: Headshot. Starring Iko Uwais from The Raid, the movie has been labelled by some as Raid-lite. In my opinion, that is complete balls. Headshot delivers visceral, non-stop action thrills from start to finish; and while not as accomplished in ideas or direction as its predessecors, it’s a deliriously entertaining film. Showing in the Glasgow Film Festival, I was lucky enough to see it before it’s official release in the west.

Headshot begins with a wonderfully put together sequence revealing the villain of the piece, Lee (played by Sunny Pang) who breaks out of prison. Then our hero Ishamel (Uwais) washes up on a beach, and is rescued by a Doctor, Ailin (Chelsea Islan). He has amnesia, although he has some flashes of memory. Both plotlines move concurrently, and Ishmael starts to remember his past bit by bit, while Lee is trying to find him. This sets in motion a bunch of weapon, hand to hand fighting and gunplay.

So the first question most are going to ask is: What level is the choreography at? As good as The Raid? The answer, for the most part, is a resounding yes. Choreographed by the “Uwais Team” (sh*t, is he turning into Jackie Chan?), a lot of the techniques in terms of filmmaking and martial arts style are present. Yes, at times it feels like we’ve seen this before, but that doesn’t detract from the quality of action on display. This quality hardly dips at all throughout, although there is one duel that I was looking forward to that wasn’t great: the rematch between Uwais and Julie Estelle (who played Hammer Girl in The Raid 2), which takes place on a beach and has some limp exchanges. In fact at times the conviction in moves is lacking, which is a little frustrating, because the next move is on point. Also, the near constant shaking of the camera in long takes is a little off-putting.

Those looking for the brutal violence in choreography from The Raid will not be disappointed; at times this movie is even more violent, with plenty of disgraceful knife wounds, blood flying and full contact hits. There are also some welcome humurous touches amongst the mayhem, which adds depth to the originality of the action. The performers of the martial arts scenes are undoubtedly up there with Uwais and the cream of modern martial arts cinema, especially Veri Try Yulisman (Baseball Bat Man from The Raid 2) and the truly brilliant Sunny Pang. He seemed to come from nowhere, with a limited filmography that doesn’t include any action films. Pang is from Singapore, and is well-versed in kickboxing and MMA, and more than holds in own in the bone cracking final duel. Some of Uwais best handwork comes in this fight, something he is known for and is sometimes lost in modern martial arts cinema. At times the movie almost pays tribute to the already legendary first Raid, with the final battle taking place in a very similar location, to the 2-on-one final fight. Indonesian action cinema was kickstarted again due to the film, so I think it’s more than acceptable to do this.

The two directors of Headshot, dubbed The Mo Brothers (Macabre), have been making a name for themselves of late. Their last film Killers received a lot of good write ups and was again very violent. Some of the filmmaking on show in Headshot is engaging and stylish, the opening especially. Also the soundtrack is superb, with atmospheric electric guitar flourishes and interesting percussion. Unfortunately some of the sentimentality and hefty doses of cheese in the romantic subplot are complimented by very generic mushy music, which didn’t appeal to my eyes or ears.

I went into this film thinking “If this is half as good as the first Raid I’ll be happy.” I came out with a rush of adrenalin, and a knowledge that it’s close to being as good. Indonesian action films are some of the best in the world right now, and I urge fans to catch this movie in the cinema. You won’t be disappointed.

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 8/10

The post Headshot (2016) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Final Score” Theatrical Poster

Director: Arizal
Writer: Deddy Armand
Cast: Chris Mitchum, Mike Abbott, Ida Iasha, Dicky Zulkarnaen, Zainal Abidin, Siska Widowati, Nizar Zulmi, Ivonne Elisabeth, Andre Mathias, Gino Makasutji, Syarief Friant
Running Time: 88 min.

By Paul Bramhall

It’s an age old dilemma – how does one carve out a successful career for one’s self in Hollywood, when one of your family members is an A-list star? It’s a question no doubt such names as Eric Roberts and Frank Stallone would have plenty of input on, however one name who did for a time appear to have cracked the formula, was Chris Mitchum. The second son of legendary actor Robert Mitchum, well known for his roles in the likes of Cape Fear and The Yakuza, Chris looked to be following in his father’s footsteps, with starring roles in the likes of Howard Hawks’ Rio Lobo, and featuring alongside John Wayne in Big Jake.

However it was his association with John Wayne which inadvertently set his career off-course. Known for sharing the same conservative outlook politically, along with similar controversial views on the Vietnam War, Mitchum quickly fell out of favor with the Hollywood studios, and by the mid-70’s the offers of work had all but dried up. As a result, he turned his attention to appearing in productions in Europe and South East Asia, and although arguably it was never his intention, Mitchum found himself re-born as a B-movie action star. Most frequently working in Indonesia and the Philippines, his filmography quickly filled up with titles such as One Armed Executioner, American Commandos, and American Hunter.

One such movie was Final Score, an Indonesian action flick which paired him with the same director as American Hunter – the man simply known as Arizal. Having begun his career in the film industry working as an artistic assistant for the Walt Disney studio, upon returning to his native Jakarta, Arizal found his niche creating explosive action movies. Cranking out such titles as The Stabilizer, Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters (both of which got released on DVD by Troma Entertainment), and Double Crosser, Arizal quickly gained a reputation for his no holds barred style of filmmaking, and his name came to become synonymous with Indonesian action cinema.

For many, the concept of Indonesia even having an action movie scene in the 80’s could well be one that induces blank expressions, and rightfully so considering their lack of exposure, but it was a scene that was very much alive and kicking. Such titles as Lady Terminator (which far from being a play on words, is exactly what you hope it’ll be), Virgins from Hell, and the countless Barry Prima starring swordplay flicks, contributed to a local film industry which embraced its own wackiness, aiming for a go-for-broke style of action mayhem. Lest we forget a certain Billy Chong as well, who by the end of the 80’s had also returned to his motherland, working on several local martial arts flicks under his birth name of Willy Dozan. All this of course, more than thirty years before The Raid would put Indonesia back on the action cinema map.

Final Score in many ways could be considered Arizal’s finest moment, and is a superlative slice of Indonesian action. Mitchum plays a decorated Vietnam War veteran, as was the case with almost every role Caucasian actors would play in these Indonesian and Filipino action flicks. He lives with his Indonesian wife and son in Jakarta, and for those wondering why he’s living in Indonesia and not America, thankfully this question happens to be addressed by his son, who asks the exact same thing. Mitchum calmly replies, “Well, because we love it here, it’s a beautiful country and a peaceful place to live.” Promote tourism in Indonesia checkbox – ticked! They may indeed love it, but it doesn’t stop both his wife and son being brutally murdered while he’s out shopping for his son’s birthday present (which ironically enough, sees him pick a toy machine gun).

The man behind the hit is a ruthless business rival played by British actor Mike Abbott. While he may have started in the Indonesian film industry (like Mitchum, he’d team up with Arizal again for American Hunter), Abbott soon after moved to Hong Kong, where he must hold the record for featuring in the highest number of Godfrey Ho movies with the word ‘ninja’ in the title, often alongside Richard Harrison. Bionic Ninja, Ninja Operation 7, Death Code: Ninja, Rage of Ninja, Ninja Knight Brothers of Blood, and Ninja Empire all feature healthy doses of Abbott in action. He did manage to feature in more respectable HK productions, namely the likes of A Better Tomorrow 2, City Hunter, and A Purple Storm, but once you’ve seen Final Score, it’ll most likely be the role you remember him for.

In a runtime which clocks in at less than 90 minutes, Mitchum’s family is slain in the first 15, and it’s no exaggeration to say that he spends the remaining hour plus simply going around massacring anyone who has the slightest connection to it. He even has a list of people he’s going to kill on a piece of paper, not so much a ‘to-do’ list, as a ‘to-kill’ list if you will, and whenever he offs one of the names on it, he happily flicks out his biro pen and crosses it off. Such a simplistic plot should get old pretty quickly, but Arizal has Mitchum rampaging around Jakarta with such a degree of violent reckless abandon, that it’s never anything less than pure entertainment.

Early on he intercepts a car stacked to the brim with weapons that was on its way to a deal, and Mitchum has no hesitation in arming himself to the teeth with everything available in his newly acquired wheels. From then on, the thumping synthesiser soundtrack is frequently accompanied by the sounds of glorious machine gun fire and explosions. Bad guys get shot in the crotch, have red hot pokers thrust up places where the sun don’t shine, and are blown to pieces at regular intervals. Just as Death Wish could well be considered the template for Final Score, all be it Arizal’s piece ramps things up to 100, so the likes of Final Score could be considered the template for the likes of Taken. Mitchum maintains his take-no-prisoners attitude throughout, and there’s something cathartic about watching him relentlessly mow down all those involved in his families death.

Perhaps the aspect that most stands out most about Final Score, is how likely all of the stuntmen involved made it to the end of the production alive. There are some insane stunts on display, mostly involving vehicle chases, which make you wonder how they could have survived it. At one point during a car chase, a bad guy has half his body outstretched from the passenger window, firing a machine gun at Mitchum’s car in front. In the same shot that we see him shooting in, the car careens off the road, and flips over into a ditch out of sight. How on earth did he survive? In another, Mitchum is surrounded in a house, and two bad guys are standing side by side in the driveway shooting the place up. A secretary who Mitchum becomes friendly with comes to his rescue, suddenly appearing in her car, and she drives full speed into the back of the two bad guys. One of them literally flies head over heels from the impact!

Indeed the vehicle chases in Final Score are so entertaining, they were copied and pasted into Italian director Umberto Lenzi’s 1990 Euro-action movie Cop Target 4 years later. There’s plenty more in Final Score to recommend, from the hilarious dubbing (at one point a group of bad guys find their car trapped on a railway track as an oncoming train approaches, and just before the impact they yell in unison, “You son of a biiiiiiitch!”), to the bewilderment inducing plot points, such as when Mitchum decides half way through his rampage that he’s over his families death, and decides to get it on with the secretary who’s been helping him out. Throw in a motorbike kitted out with rocket launchers, more explosions than you can shake a stick at, an assault on a warehouse that’ll most definitely bring to mind a scene in The Raid 2, and Final Score is a glorious hark back to how action movies used to be, and more importantly, should be.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8.5/10

The post Final Score | aka Elegy of a Massacre (1986) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Guardian” Theatrical Poster

Director: Helfi Kardit
Cast: Sarah Carter, Tio Pakusadewo, Nino Fernandez, Dominique Agisca Diyose, Belinda Camesi, Kimi Jayanti, Ganindra Bimo, laudia Soraya, Naomi Zaskia
Running Time: 91 min.

By Paul Bramhall

When The Raid hit screens in 2011, it well and truly put Indonesia on the map in terms of action cinema. Much like Ong Bak did the same for Thailand back in 2003, many expected a wave of Indonesian action movies to come in its wake. However, surprisingly, it never really happened, with Gareth Evans and co. remaining unchallenged as the heirs to the Indonesian action cinema throne. Thankfully, to at least give them some competition, in 2014 director Helfi Kardit decided to throw his hat into the ring with Guardian.

Kardit, an Indonesia native, had up until Guardian been known for directing a number of low budget suspense and horror productions, with 16 movies to his name since his debut in 2006. In an interview regarding his decision to make an action movie, he explained that it was his belief that the action genre has an international appeal, and that he’d had the story for Guardian in mind for quite some time. Perhaps in a move to further promote its international appeal, one of the main characters in the movie was always intended to be a foreigner.

Indonesia, despite its faith being primarily Muslim, has developed quite the reputation for casting pornographic actresses in its movies, primarily as a way to try and increase their box office. Of course, said actresses never get even slightly close to any nudity, but that hasn’t stopped the likes of Sasha Grey (Pocong Mandi Goyang Pinggul), Sola Aoi (Evil Nurse 2), and Maria Ozawa (Menculik Miyabi) from making appearances in some of the worse movies you’re ever likely to see. Notably Menculik Miyabi even drew the ire of the Islamic Defenders Front, a radicalised group notorious for violence, who held protests demanding that Ozawa be cut from the movie all together.

Perhaps to avoid this type of controversy, Kardit decided to go with the more conventional approach, and cast Sarah Carter, an actress most famous for her roles in the likes of Final Destination 2 and DOA: Dead or Alive. Quite how Carter got the gig in Guardian is one of the movie world’s great mysteries, however it’s fair to say that she probably needs to look for a new agent. Carter isn’t actually the main focus of the movie though, that goes to the mother and daughter pair played by Indonesian actresses Dominique Agisca Diyose and Belinda Camesi respectively.

Diyose and Camesi don’t have the best relationship. Their issues stem from when Camesi witnessed her undercover cop father get brutally murdered as a child, and ever since then her mother has been forcibly teaching her martial arts. Camesi has a real chip on her shoulder, and constantly complains about having to learn how to fight, and all Diyose can do is throw clichéd lines at her like, “One day you’ll understand.” Of course, that day comes when a bunch of snarling villains arrive outside their house, and proceed to spend a whole minute blasting it to pieces with machine guns. Despite the residence being riddled with more holes than the plot, the sequence is amusingly finished off with one of the villains firing a couple of RPG’s at it as well, just for good measure. This is a bunch of bad guys who clearly have an overstock of ammunition, and somehow need to get rid of it.

This puts the pair on the run, from what’s eventually revealed to be more than one group of villains, of which Sarah Carter is included. The setup essentially makes up the movie – mother and daughter with closeness issues on the run from bad guys trying to kill them. Kardit does an applaudable job of filling the movie with a number of shootouts, all of which were clearly created to be watched with the sound turned up, however there’s a striking lack of coherency to them. Many times it’s not clear exactly who is shooting at what, as the rapid fire editing throws in so many cuts that all sense of distance and space is lost entirely.

To add some extra spectacle, what obviously couldn’t be covered by the budget has been attempted to be created by CGI. This leads to one of my favorite moments of the movie, which takes place during a street shootout. A truck with a large trailer attached ends up stationery in the middle of the street, and at one point a CGI car hurtles through the air, smashing right through the middle of it in an explosion of poorly rendered CGI flames. However it appears that Kardit didn’t communicate with the CGI team very well, as it’s revealed the bad guys have an SUV in the trailer, which they proceed to use as a getaway vehicle from the scene, driving it out completely damage free. Somehow the car that went straight through the middle completely missed the SUV, despite the huge smouldering hole leaving it all but completely destroyed.

After 50 minutes Tio Pakusadewo makes his entrance, who at this point, thanks to his role as Bangun in The Raid 2, is arguably the more recognizable star than Sarah Carter. It has to be said that until his arrival, in terms of plot there really hasn’t been any explanation as to what exactly is going on. All we know is that there’s a bunch of bad guys trying to kill Diyose and Camesi, but what their motivation is, beyond using their excess ammunition, remains unclear. Pakusodewo’s character rectifies this matter, who speaks in an awkward mix of English and Indonesian, and the reveal turns out to be the strong point of the movie. Told through a flashback scene, it does a good job of connecting the dots, particularly addressing the presence of Carter.

Of course Kardit’s intention wasn’t just to sell his movie on shootouts and a plot twist, with a mother and daughter who are both highly skilled martial artists (supposedly), Guardian comes with a promise of some lady’s kicking ass. Even now though, I’m unsure if that promise is fulfilled or not, as it’s almost impossible to tell what’s going on whenever a fight scene kicks off. Kardit has employed a truly bizarre technique which actually induces dizziness – during a fight the camera will be panning to the left, then after a second it cuts and it’s then panning to the right, then continues cutting left and right as the fight progresses. Unless the cameraman’s former job was filming tennis, I have no idea how this was considered to be an acceptable way of filming a fight. It becomes all but impossible to maintain focus on the actual combatants, and chances are you’ll involuntarily find your head moving from side to side while watching.

It’s a shame, as while the fights themselves are clearly performed by non-martial artists, amongst the flashes of arms and legs there is some nice stunt-work. One stuntman gets tapped in the face, and proceeds to run and throw himself down a flight of stairs, which is both hilarious and quite impressive. Another does a nice fall after smashing through a window. However the nano-second editing does its best to spoil everything, and there’s also another issue – no matter how many times the characters get punched or kicked, they remain completely unbloodied or bruised, seemingly impervious to the damage being dished out to them. It’s this lack or realism which further damages an already ropey production.

Kardit clearly has an enthusiasm for making action movies, one which sees him sticking with the genre for his follow-up, the 2016 movie Ten: The Secret Mission (which comes with the tagline – 10 Models Recruited by Intelligence), however his talent doesn’t match his ambitions. In a Q&A for Guardian he stated that his biggest influence is Tony Scott. However the best advice I could give him at this point would be to drop Gareth Evans a line, meet up for a coffee, and ask as many questions as possible. Maybe after that, he can come back and put what he’s learnt into practice. Until then though, no doubt there’s a tennis tournament out there somewhere that can put Kardit’s talents to good use.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 4/10

The post Guardian (2014) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Golden Cane Warrior” Theatrical Poster

Director: Ifa Isfansyah
Writer: Jujur Prananto
Cast: Eva Celia, Nicholas Saputra, Reza Rahadian, Tara Basro, Christine Hakim, Slamet Rahardjo, Aria Kusumah, Darius Sinathrya, Prisia Nasution
Running Time: 112 min.

By Kyle Warner

I have not seen many Indonesian films. And interestingly the only Indonesian films I’ve seen in recent years were actually filmed by Western directors. Welsh born director Gareth Evans is well-known for his action films The Raid and The Raid 2, and he’s also worked in Indonesia on the martial arts film Merantau and his fantastic short Safe Haven from the horror anthology V/H/S/2. The documentaries of American director Joshua Oppenheimer are also widely seen and highly praised, telling the chilling story of Indonesia’s political killings during the 1960s in the films The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence. The Golden Cane Warrior might actually be the first Indonesian film I’ve seen that was made by an Indonesian director, in this case Mr. Ifa Isfansyah (The Dancer).

The Golden Cane Warrior is an old-fashioned martial arts tale given new flavor by a country and a fighting style largely unfamiliar to genre fans in the West. The film is about a martial arts master named Cempaka (Christine Hakim, Merantau), who has grown weary of the inevitability of death that comes with the life of a martial artist. In one of her lessons to her students, Cempaka reiterates, “The greater a fighter’s skill, the more likely he will be attacked from behind,” a line which helps set up the central conflict of the story. Three of her four students are the orphans of rivals she has killed in fights. As she grows old, Cempaka knows she must pass on her knowledge and the famed weapon the golden cane to one of her students. Cempaka makes the unexpected choice of giving the cane to young Dara (Eva Celia), perhaps the weakest martial artist of her four students. As you might expect, this decision is met with resentment from Cempaka’s older and more gifted martial artists, who plot to murder their master and fellow students in order to take the golden cane for themselves.

The plot feels familiar, playing a bit like a classic Shaw Bros. film with betrayal, training montages, and the journey of the warrior. And while the film yields few new surprises to genre fans, there’s still some enjoyment to be found in watching a familiar tale well told by a cast and crew with good intentions.

The cast does admirable work, with some of the most entertaining performances coming from the youngest actors. The female lead Eva Celia manages to play her character as both a strong warrior and a frightened child, someone thrust into the world of life and death long before she is ready. Perhaps the most noteworthy performance comes from newcomer Aria Kusumah, a young boy who makes his mark as the film’s most badass character, Angin. The boy barely speaks a word, preferring to make his intentions known with action instead of dialogue. The ‘strong silent type’ sort of tough guy is a role usually reserved for someone much older but the kid really impresses in the part, making him easily my favorite character in the film.

Director Ifa Isfansyah finds unexpected grace and beauty in the dramatic scenes, making good use of Indonesia’s beautiful outdoors. In these moments the film is reminiscent of a Zhang Yimou picture, and Insfansyah shows he has a good eye for color. Sadly this grace does not follow over to the action scenes, which are poorly edited and filmed too close-up for my liking. The martial arts choreography looks fine, but thanks to the filming style I wasn’t always sure what was happening in certain moments of the film’s various fight scenes. Thankfully the film saves the best for last and the final fight scene is considerably more entertaining than those that came before it.

The film utilizes a fighting style that’s rarely showcased in such detail: silambam, or stick-fighting. Using a long stick or the film’s golden cane, the fighters are able to dispatch multiple opponents at the same time. In the film’s climax, four fighters square off using the same style, giving viewers the best chance to admire the martial art. As mentioned earlier, sometimes the film’s choice to film the fights up close hurts the entertainment value. This stylistic choice is especially strange when considering the fact that the golden cane is a long weapon, and it seems like it would’ve been wiser to step back a bit and give the weapon and fighting style a chance to dominate the screen.

Despite some nagging issues, The Golden Cane Warrior is an entertaining film. It feels familiar and yet somehow new, an old-fashioned story played out in an unfamiliar land. Apparently this was one of Indonesia’s most expensive productions. The money spent makes for a handsome picture, one with breathtaking natural beauty and solid production design. I wish that the film had filmed its fights with a calmer hand but overall it’s an enjoyable film, especially if you’re a fan of old-school martial arts movies. The setting and the silambam fighting style should help The Golden Cane Warrior stand out from the crowd, making it a noteworthy entry in today’s martial arts cinema.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 7/10

The post Golden Cane Warrior, The (2014) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Killers” Japanese Theatrical Poster

Director: The Mo Brothers
Cast: Kazuki Kitamura, Oka Antara, Rin Takanashi, Luna Maya, Ray Sahetapy, Ersya Aurelia, Epy Kusnandar, Mei Kurokawa, Denden, Motoki Fukami
Running Time: 137 min.

By HKFanatic

Killers generated a great deal of buzz as soon as it was announced. Not only does the movie represent the first time the Indonesian and Japanese film industries have collaborated on a thriller, but movie also boasts a co-production credit from Gareth Evans, hot off the massive success of The Raid 2.

Furthering the connection between the two films, Killers borrows two supporting actors from that martial arts sequel – namely, Kazuki Kitamura and Oka Antara – who serve as headliners here. In the director’s seat are The Mo Brothers, two filmmakers who have generated buzz in their own right thanks to the horror film Macabre, as well as Timo Tjahjanto’s co-directing credit with Gareth Evans on V/H/S 2 – their segment literally being the only good sequence in an otherwise mediocre film. The final bait for Killers was its stylish teaser trailer that promised plenty of “the old ultra-violence.” Now the film has arrived in limited theatrical release and various On Demand platforms, thanks to North American distributor Well Go USA.

It’s not by happenstance that I quoted Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange earlier, as Killers has more in common with that feature than the Silat acrobatics of The Raid series. Although steeped in an often unsettling brutality, The Raid: Redemption and its sequel do, at the end of the day, offer audiences escapist entertainment. When Killers immediately opens with a scene of stomach-churning misogynistic violence, in which Kazuki Kitamura bashes a helpless woman over the head with a hammer, it’s clear that The Raid star Iko Uwais isn’t waiting around the corner to save the day. We’re in much more disturbing territory here.

Killers offers something of a dual narrative. While a handsome and well-dressed serial killer (Kitamura) stalks the streets of Tokyo in his fancy car, searching for his next victim a la Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, a disgraced journalist (Oka Antara) begins a slow descent into madness in Jakarta, Indonesia. What unites these two disparate murderers? The internet, of course! You see, Kitamura has a habit of filming his homicidal deeds and uploading them to the world wide web. Something of a closet fan of these videos, Antara follows suit and films his first kill after he’s pushed to the edge by two thugs. The fact that Antara’s birth into a killer occurs inside of a taxi cab isn’t his storyline’s only similarity to Martin Scorsese’s classic Taxi Driver; the frantic shootout that occurs inside the vehicle also brings to mind a similar scene in 2010’s I Saw the Devil.

As our two ‘protagonists’ begin to chat over the internet, Kitamura becomes something of a twisted mentor figure to Antara, pushing him along the path to kill – and kill – again. The effectiveness of these scenes is somewhat diminished by the fact that the two actors are forced to communicate in broken English, and that Antara typically acts like he has no idea what Kitamura is talking about, since his precarious mental state seems to suggest he’s not entirely in control of his actions.

While many reviews for Killers have argued that The Mo Brothers have a great deal to say about individuals’ disconnect from violence in the age of social media, as well as filmgoers’ relationship with onscreen depictions of violence, I wouldn’t recommend searching for profundity in Killers. It’s wild to think it’s been nearly 20 years since Funny Games, and while technology has certainly changed a great deal in the intervening years, I didn’t feel that Killers had anything new and more interesting to convey than Michael Haneke did in his memorable thriller. The Mo Brothers do share Haneke’s love of toying with the audience, however; a sequence in which two cops bicker in the foreground while Kitamura’s latest victim struggles to get their attention in the out-of-focus background is a particularly cruel joke.

Considering this is Merantau Films’ follow-up to The Raid 2 one would expect a high degree of polish as far as the production values are considered. And while the film is well-acted and stylishly photographed, the special effects and choreography leave something to be desired. No one would mistake Killers an action movie, but there is one sequence in which Antara has to evade over a dozen bodyguards in a narrow hotel corridor. I was utterly baffled when he somehow appears to crowd-surf over the lot of them, all without any of them managing to wrench his gun out of his hand. It’s moments like these that take the viewer out of the reality of the movie – and considering Killers’ weighty 134 minute runtime, these moments have the opportunity to add up.

Despite how much time we spend with our titular killers, The Mo Brothers never make the mistake of glamorizing them. It’s understood that these are two very sick individuals, and while Antara has our sympathy in the beginning, it quickly becomes apparent that he is losing his mind. Even when he does a good deed, such as when he inadvertently rescues a captive boy from a child predator, it feels like a ‘happy’ accident. This begs the question: do we really want to spend over two hours in the company of these two psychopaths? Killers invites you to wallow in the darkest corners of humanity; it’s a nihilistic work with nary a ray of hope. Some viewers may be drawn to the idea of a movie that makes Seven look like an episode of the Care Bears, but uneven pacing and the language barrier between the leads keep Killers from truly taking off – not to mention the sometimes substandard production values. Still, the film’s greatest sin may be that it fails to stand out in a crowded genre. There are simply too many quality entires in the Asian thriller genre to wholeheartedly recommend Killers, unless you absolutely have to see the latest release from Merantau Films.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 5.5/10

The post Killers (2014) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Macabre” Indonesian Theatrical Poster

Director: The Mo Brothers
Cast: Julie Estelle, Shareefa Daanish, Imelda Therinne, Arifin Putra, Ruli Lubis, Ario Bayu, Sigi Wimala, Daniel Mananta, Mike Lucock, Dendy Subangil
Running Time: 95 min.

By Jeff Bona

Thanks to Gareth Evans’ The Raid and The Raid 2, the exciting new wave of Indonesian cinema has found its way to a whole new audience. Although Evans is somewhat of the spokesman, it’s movies like 2009’s Macabre (aka Rumah Dara) that remind us how Indonesia was pumping out over-the-top, excessively violent, beautifully crafted gems before The Raid saga took us by storm. There’s been one hell of a film movement going on in Indonesia, and directors Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto (aka The Mo Brothers) are part of the cause. Like Evans, these guys have a passion for blood and brutality, and they have a creative way of presenting it.

Without giving anything away, here’s how Macabre begins: An awkward group of friends and family – one pregnant – are enjoying road trip until they come across a frightened young woman who had just been robbed and left stranded on the side of the road. After much speculation, the group decides to give her a lift home. Once they arrive to her destination, the victim shows her appreciation by inviting them inside to meet her family. Once again, the group reluctantly takes her offer and this is where the fun begins…

Just like Kim Ji-woon’s I Saw the Devil, Macabre is visually explicit, possibly even moreso. It’s a movie that has no regard for the basic principles of right and wrong, even in the context of being an over-the-top horror movie. If you think it’s just a slash and dash-type of flick, think again. Some of the weapons showcased include samurai swords, bow and arrows, chainsaws, pistols, shot guns and much more. The film was actually banned in some countries because of its “excessive violence,” which is somewhat understandable. Let’s put it this way: it’s not exactly the type of movie you want to throw on the tube while giving candy to kids on Halloween night.

Julie Estelle (who is on her way to being known as “Hammer Girl” for the rest of her life) is the main character in Macabre. The minute you see her, you’ll fall in love with her sheer natural beauty and acting capabilities. After seeing the way she handles her job in a barbaric film like Macabre, it’s easy to see why she was cast as Hammer Girl in The Raid 2. Talk about a female who has no problem being drenched in blood, nor is she afraid to get down, dirty and physical. To put it simply, she’s a badass.

The Raid 2 fans will also be happy to notice the appearance of Arifin Putra, a charismatic actor who seems to have the knack for playing psychotic characters, despite his handsome features. Visually, Putra is a distinctive combination of Brandon Lee (The Crow), Terence Yin (New Police Story) and Tak Sakaguchi (Versus). If you liked his over-the-top performance in The Raid 2, you don’t want to miss what he has to offer in Macabre.

Macabre isn’t for everyone. I would easily recommend it to horror movie fans, especially those who like the sight of blood and gore. Sure, it’s not original and has its corny moments, but it’s still one of the best films I’ve seen of this kind. Maybe it’s the film’s excellent pacing or exciting build up – or just for the fact that it’s entertainment done right – but I feel like I’d be cheating it if I dismissed it as just another horror film. It surely deserves a lot more credit than that.

Give Macabre, give it a shot. You won’t be sorry.

Jeff Bona‘s Rating: 8/10

The post Macabre | aka Rumah Dara (2009) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Raid 2: Berandal” Theatrical Poster

Director: Gareth Evans
Cast: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo, Alex Abbad, Julie Estelle, Ryuhei Matsuda, Kenichi Endo, Kazuki Kitamura, Cecep Arif Rahman, Cok Simbara, Yayan Ruhian, Very Tri Yulisman, Donny Alamsyah, Epy Kusnandar, Roy Marten, Zack Lee, Fikha Effendi, Deddy Sutomo
Running Time: 150 min.

By Paul Bramhall

It’s hard to believe but 2009 is already five years ago, the year that saw the release of Merentau. It was a movie which starred an unknown lead in the form of Iko Uwais, from an unknown Welsh director by the name of Gareth Evans, from a country which was barely known for any type of cinema, let alone of the action variety, in the form of Indonesia.

Like almost any new martial arts based movie these days, fans approached it with a sense of trepidation. The cynical amongst us commented on how Uwais seemed like a blend of Tony Jaa and Jackie Chan, but not being on the same level as either, while the more positive minded noted that Merentau was a breath of fresh air, and just might be the start of something beautiful.

Thankfully, the latter proved to be right, and a couple of years later The Raid hit the screens. A stripped down 100 minute assault of martial arts chaos and violence, choreographed with a sense of immediacy and intensity that hadn’t been seen for a long time. While Merentau gave us a taste for how the Indonesian martial art of Silat could look onscreen, The Raid gave us a hearty mouthful, and then some. The plot was simple – take 1 team of rookie cops, throw in a building which has a drug lord on the top floor, and every floor below crawling with junkies and low lives, and create a setup wherein the rookie team have to get from bottom to top without getting killed. Simple.

So simple in fact, that when a sequel was announced people pondered what could possibly follow such a fantastic shot of adrenaline. Well, skip forward another couple of years and its March 2014, and that sequel is here, not only that, but I just got through watching it last night. If Merentau was a taster and The Raid was a mouthful, then let it be said that its sequel is an all you can eat buffet of epic proportions. The Raid 2 had a budget almost four times that of the original, however the scope of the movie is closer to a hundred times larger in its scale. By the end of the first hour you’ll realise just what a tiny drop in the ocean that building from the original really is.

The stripped down simplicity of the The Raid is replaced here by a layered story of a city, torn between rival gangsters and yakuza. It’s a dark and violent world of weary family heads trying to keep a grip on the empire they’ve built, of blood thirsty offspring willing to do anything to tip the scales of power, of undercover cops so deep they’ve lost their identity, and assassins who will slice you up in an instant. Then thrown into the chaos of this world is Rama, the character played by Uwais, coming directly from the events which took place at the end of the original. He’s picked up by a special unit dedicated to weeding out corrupt cops, told he’ll be declared dead along with the rest of his unit, and sent into prison with the intention of befriending one of the head gangster’s sons that’s doing time there.

This kicks off the events which unfold in The Raid 2, and for 90 minutes, almost the same length as the original, the story develops on a slow boil, punctuated with extreme moments of violence that serve to propel the story forward, compared to the set piece style setup of the original. These punctuations alone serve as some of the best and most brutal action witnessed onscreen since, well, since the original – a frantic prison yard brawl, a desperate assault in a restaurant, a vicious shakedown on a warehouse. Every scene would be the finale in a Hollywood movie, but here they only serve as a link in a chain of events which keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.

Despite this, there is a danger some might almost be disappointed here. Those who wanted the locomotive pace of the original may be left shuffling in their seats, others may complain that the chaotic camera work during the brawls doesn’t capture the moves as clearly as it should. But that’s ok, the pacing is intentional and Evans displays an assured hand, he’s a film maker who shows a maturity here that belies his relatively short time in the industry. It’s under this assured hand that Uwais turns Rama into not just a rookie cop relying on his wits and fighting skills, but a fully rounded character with very real fears and motives, and this makes us rally for him all the more.

This is just as well, because The Raid 2 clocks in just short of 150 minutes, and it’s at that 90 minutes mark when things EXPLODE. The much spoken of Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man make their appearance, and believe me they’re worth the wait, Bruce Law puts together a car chase scene which makes his work in Special ID look like he must have been having an off day, there are more wince inducing facial impacts than you can shake a stick at, and throughout it all there is some of the most finely choreographed fight action you’re likely to see this side of the millennium. For its final hour, The Raid 2 crams in so much tension and action, you’ll hardly have time to catch your breath. (As a matter of fact in the screening I attended, one person clearly didn’t and had to be carried out by security)

To go in-depth into the action would probably take another 1000 words, so I’ll simply say that it’s impossible to be disappointed. Big words, but I’ll stand by them. Evans gives Uwais just short of an entire army to wade through, but also knows it’s pointless to have an invincible hero that no one else can match. Rest assured by the time you see him standing at one end of the corridor, with Hammer Girl (played wonderfully by Julie Estelle) and Baseball Bat Man (played with sinister cool by Very Tri Yulisman) standing at the other, you won’t be left wanting. Even if you are, The Assassin, as he’s billed, played by Cecep Arif Yahman, is waiting just behind the doors. If you thought they crammed a lot into the Ninja: Shadow of a Tear finale, then The Raid 2 seems determined to stomp all over it, which is no mean feat for those who have seen Scott Adkins laying on the beat down in his latest effort.

Put simply, it would be easy to talk at length about The Raid 2 for another few hours, but it’s best to leave it at that and say get out there, buy tickets to go see it, then once you have you’ll probably buy another ticket to go and watch it a day later. Evans has constructed a masterpiece here, which is every bit as much of a gangster movie as it is an action one. For those who are looking, there are subtle nods of the head to several of the classic Korean gangster movies, the Nikkatsu movies from the 60s, The Godfather, as well as a host of winks to talent he obviously has a lot of respect for such as Donnie Yen, John Woo, Panna Rittikrai, Takeshi Kitano, and in one scene I’d even say David Lynch. I’ll sign off there, now get out and see it.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 10/10

The post Raid 2, The: Berandal (2014) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Raid” International Theatrical Poster

Director: Gareth Evans
Cast: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno, Tegar Setrya, Ray Sahetapy, Eka “Piranha” Rahmadia, Verdi Solaiman, Iang Darmawan
Running Time: 101 min.

By HKFanatic

Like most martial arts buffs, I was a fan of writer/director Gareth Evans’ and star Iko Uwais’ first collaboration, 2009’s “Merauntau.” But as good as that movie was – and it certainly had its bone-breaking highlights – there was little in it to suggest that the duo were capable of something like “The Raid.”

This film arrives with what feels like a year’s worth of Internet buzz, ever since it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011. Sony has finally begun to trickle “The Raid” out into theaters nationwide, now with a soundtrack from Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda, and I’m pleased to report that “The Raid” lives up to the fever of hype surrounding it. This is the movie that we action fans didn’t even know we were craving.

Gareth Evans and company have managed to combine the relentless bloodsplatter of a vintage John Woo film like “Bullet to the Head” with the kind of intensely choreographed, exhausting-just-to-watch fight choreography we would expect after “Merantau.” But there is also a level of brutality here that is rarely found in a martial arts film, linking it with the likes of “Oldboy” and other Korean revenge pictures (I would not be surprised if the early appearance of a hammer is meant as an homage to Chan-wook Park’s film). Wrap all this around a simple but fun premise reminiscent of classic siege flicks like John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13” and you have a guaranteed fan favorite that we’ll still be talking about years from now. “The Raid” is perhaps the first fight flick to truly impress since Tony Jaa’s “Tom-Yum-Goong” back in 2005; in other words, the bar as been raised.

I’m not without a few nitpicks. Surprisingly, it’s easy to lose focus on Iko Uwais during the film’s first 30 minutes or so, as his character blurs into the background with the rest of his SWAT team. Several of his teammates could have stood for more characterization as well. Sure, most of them are cannon fodder – but what about the guy who holds his own and fights alongside Iko through the narcotics lab? He could have at least been granted a line of dialogue. Some part of me also longs for the days when blood and knife wounds were brought to life via make-up effects rather than computer trickery, but if digital effects allow Gareth Evans to make a film like this for only a million bucks then CG blood is a small price to pay. Regardless, picking apart “The Raid” is like criticizing the color of your parachute while sky-diving. You’re just plain missing the point.

At its heart, “The Raid” is a film that seeks to restore the communal aspect of theater going. See this movie with even a minimal amount of people at your screening and I guarantee no one will be texting or talking during it. Instead, they’ll be hollering, applauding, or gasping at least once every five minutes – and you’ll be right there with them. This film is a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart of any true martial arts or action junkie. Unlike other recent fight movies like “Bangkok Knockout,” “The Raid” comes across as more than just a glorified stunt reel thanks to the immersive cinematography that not only creates an atmosphere thick with mood but manages to capture kinetic action, like two opponents running at each other across a table, in a way that feels new and exciting. The bottom line: Hollywood has some catching up to do. “The Raid” is so adamant about entertaining its audience that it makes most other genre movies look like they’re not even trying.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 10/10

The post Raid, The (2011) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Merantau” International Theatrical Poster

Director: Gareth Evans
Producer: Ario Sagantoro
Cast: Iko Uwais, Sisca Jessica, Christine Hakim, Donny Alamsyah, Yusuf Aulia, Laurent Buson, Alex Abbad, Mads Koudal, Yayan Ruhian, Rahyma Yanii
Running Time: 135 min.

By Mighty Peking Man

Young Yuda (Iko Uwais) has reached the point in his life where he must leave his hometown, prove his manhood, and find success on his own. It’s his way of following a family tradition known as “Merantau.” So Yuda, a Silat (a Southeast Asian fighting method) expert, heads to the big city of Jakarta, with hopes to make a living by teaching children his martial arts style.

Upon his arrival, he saves a woman (Sisca Jessica) from gangsters, who happen to be connected to a sinister sex trade operation. What follows is a violent adventure that leaves Yuda with a lot more “Merantau” than he bargained for.

Essentially, Merantau is an Indonesian film, but note that it’s directed by Gareth Evans, a Welsh born writer/director (known of his ultra-violent, critically acclaimed debut feature Footsteps). It was during the filming of a documentary series The Mystic Arts of Indonesia: Pencak Silat, that he took special notice in Iko Uwais, a charismatic young man with a solid Silat background. Evans immediately handpicked him for the role of “Yuda,” the main character in a martial arts movie script he had been working on. The rest is history…

What’s makes Merantau so special is Gareth Evans – he’s one hell of a filmmaker! This is a director who treats a martial arts movie with a little more passion than the next guy. Cinematography (beautiful), plot (simple, yet effective), soundtrack (non-tacky) and performances (Iko Uwais has a bright future) aside, we have ourselves a perfectly paced film with a build up that pays off with every minutes that passes.

The action choreography in Merantau is impressive, but far from the best. It’s not as fast and furious as Jackie Chan’s in his heyday (80’s Jackie Chan movies are practically the blueprint for what they wanted to achieve in the action department); Nor is it as intense and brutal as any of Tony Jaa’s movies. However, when the fights are judged within the film’s entire context, they’re actually more exciting. It’s amazing what good content can do to action sequences.

There’s not a lot of that slow motion bullshit or physical circus acts (hopping through hoops or swinging off animals) shoved down are faces. Instead of fight after fight, our hero takes time to catch his breath; Sometimes even meditating to prepare for the next wave of destruction. Gone are the non-action, mediocre filler scenes. No stupid sidekick for comedy relief. Everything is filmed with quality in mind.

Iko Uwais is not a poor man’s Tony Jaa (at first glance of the poster or even the trailer, I can see why some would think that). He’s a natural who is able to pull off a tough guy role without being robotic. Take note of the scene where Uwais hangs up the phone, steps out of the booth, and walks towards the gang to save a woman. He comes across like a real badass.

Merantau is a great movie with an awesome team of choreographers and stuntmen working on the action. And Evans is a skillful director who puts 100% concentration on overlooking the package as a whole. It’s no wonder why Merantau works on so many levels.

Mighty Peking Man’s Rating: 8/10

The post Merantau | aka Merantau Warrior (2009) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.