Director: Joko Anwar
Year: 2019
Country: Indonesia
Rating: 6.5
This
is the first film produced in the Indonesian Bumilangit Cinematic Universe.
They are superhero films based on comic books; this one from 1969. Gundala
was an extremely popular comic and so it made sense to have this as their
first entry. They handed the film over to Joko Anwar, who is one of Indonesia's
best-known directors with his wide taste from horror to the supernatural,
superhero, noir and comedy. He also wrote the script for this one. It is
a well-made film with excellent production values and some solid action set
pieces from choreographer Cecep Arif Rahman. Rahman has worked with Iko Uwais
on a few projects. It is primarily physical contact martial arts, but without
the graphic violence that later Indonesian films took on. Enjoyable action
to watch, but pretty basic.
It is an origin story, but Anwar stuffs
too much extraneous sub plots into this film and it loses its focus. It also
leaves the viewer with expectations of a sequel and though there is one in
the planning stage, seven years later it is nowhere to be seen. A young boy
named Sancaka sees his father murdered while protesting for worker's rights
and his mother leaves one day with a promise to return the next day but never
does. Thus, he grows up alone in a chaotic cruel dystopian landscape of brutal
gangs, corrupt politicians, abject poverty and rampant crime. One other boy,
Awang, teaches him martial arts. He is fated to become a superhero as well
in Godam & Tira (2025). These all turn out to be threads that go nowhere
in this film but probably are addressed in the sequel.
Sancaka (Abimana Aryasatya) grows up to
be a security guard in a factory and has learned to mind his own business
and avoid complications. He does until he sees two men bullying his female
neighbor Wulan (Tara Basro) and her young brother. This immediately brings
on repercussions as an entire gang comes after him and throws him off a building.
Where he is struck by lightning and gains powers. As long as he keeps getting
struck. The film makes a right turn into corrupt Indonesian politics and
the chief villain, the disfigured crippled Pengkor (Bront Palarae). He has
injected a serum into the rice supplies that will make pregnant women give
birth to immoral children. He also has a number of orphan assassins in his
employ. This is when the film began to lose its charm for me. Early on it
is just Sancaka aka Gundala in his superhero outfit beating up hordes of
attackers. But it gets sillier and by the end an evil creature has been brought
back from the dead. End of movie. There is a quick cameo by Pevita Pearce
as Sri Aish, who was to have her own movie three years after this one.
