Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Year: 2018
Country: Indonesia
Rating: 7.5
What the hell is going on in Indonesia? Nice
devout Muslim nation. Sweet kind gentle people. But they are producing the
most violent action films on the planet and no more so than this one. This
went way past my violence tolerance limit, but I stuck with it nearly hypnotized
by the massive amount of death from sliced throats, broken necks, gunshots,
billiard balls, smashed glass into the mouth, machine guns, cars running
over people, frozen meat, buzz saws, a kukri, a metallic ball and chain and
more. Much more. Rooms filled with blood and carcasses. And damn real looking.
The slice through the mouth near the end had me looking away. Some astonishing
fights that left me bruised and exhausted. It is a two-hour film in which
maybe in twenty of it, someone is not killing or maiming someone else. That
is really the reason for the film. A showcase of violence. A statement by
Indonesia to the rest of the cinematic world; try doing better.
The plot is of course simple. It has to
be in a film like this. And like a lot of films of late, it revolves around
a small girl. Ito (Joe Taslim) is a killer for the Triads. An elite killer.
One of the Six Seas who enforce Triad rules as brutally as possible. If one
person in a village steals from the Triad, the entire village is murdered.
Under Ito they are killing a group of fishermen and women who broke the rules.
Only a little girl is left and the Triad get ready to kill her. No survivors.
And Ito goes soft and saves her. Now they are coming after him with hordes
of thugs and a psychotic lesbian couple who take pride in their work.
And Arian (Iko Uwais) is sent for as well.
The audience is introduced to him when as a club manager in Macao,
a Chinese Triad customer calls him a dirty foreigner. Thus, the glass down
his throat and his men dead in a matter of seconds. He and Ito were friends,
once part of the same gang. He is told that if he kills Ito and the little
girl, he takes over the Six Seas position. He is ambitious. Ito is able to
get three old friends to help him protect the girl; it becomes a bloodbath.
And if that isn't enough killers, a woman (Julie Estelle) shows up to kill
the Triads. Her fight against the lesbians is one for the books, intense
and crushing. To my surprise, one of the lesbian psychos is played by Dian
Sastrowardoyo, who is a top actress in Indonesia and was the sweetheart in
the wonderful film, Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?. But they save the best for last,
Iko against Taslim.
Both of them veterans of the two Raid films.
They could have just sold tickets for this match-up. Astonishingly hard hitting
and brutal. I am not really sure how to react to a film like this. I have
been watching action films for a long time and love a well-choreographed
action set piece that shows talent. But how graphically violent is acceptable?
Is it really needed? Directed by Timo Tjahjanto, who also has directed The
Beekeeper 2, Nobody 2 and The Shadow Strays. Interesting that the two Hollywood
films had a lot of good action, but nothing as graphic as here. Hollywood
isn't ready for this.
