Directed by: Gareth Huw Evans
Run time: 101 min
Most of the reviews for this film is positive, they use every superlatives found to describe how awesome this film is. Packed with punches and fighting choreography that can makes your jaws drop (but not mine), this one is a star vehicle for Indonesia's new action star; Iko Uwais and another film to prove that Gareth Evans, the director of Merantau, is a master in this genre. As for me, I will not resort to such superlatives and try to see it in my own way.
It is hard to make a comparison with other Indonesian movies since action genre is very rare nowadays in Indonesia. However one does not simply judge a film by one element only. Although it is good with actions; the story felt stale and very predictable. Story and acting is also important.
The acting skill from Iko Uwais needs more polish and some plot holes are just too big. I cannot ignore those holes, such as how come the SWAT team doesn't even have any sort of badge on their uniform? And I just cannot feel that this is Indonesian film, apart from the language they use.
This film is about violence and glorification of it. No space left for redemption, moral ambiguities or trying to criticize socio political condition in Indonesia, it is just some violent so-called SWAT team trying to take out a drug lord apartment block floor by floor while the main character, Rama (Iko Uwais) is the one being left and must face each thug bare handed.
It could have been more, since I remember Trope de Elite that has a scene where a Brazilian SWAT team invade a favela but the film manages to dive more into the problems of the society. Or perhaps I expect too much and this one is just a film about violence, that's it. I have nothing against violence in movies, as long as it is accompanied by good story. Check Oldboy for instance, there isn't much fighting scenes but one scene where the main character must face so many thug armed with only a hammer is much more satisfying as a brawl scene since the scene also shows desperation.
As a matter of fact, martial art genre is one of my favorite genre. But this one lacks depth or even if it doesn't have depth, a good story to tell and I find myself not really awed by the action itself. Sure it is cool but not jaw dropping in my opinion.
For Indonesian film this is a milestone since we rarely see a film with good production value. But let's not just be satisfied easily since it still take a very long mile for an Indonesian film to be recognized, more than just a fact that this film is being released limited in the US.
I do really hope that for the sequel Gareth could pay more attention on characterization and story to make the film more interesting. So far he has done a good job entertaining us, I am sure he can do more than that.
Run time: 101 min
Most of the reviews for this film is positive, they use every superlatives found to describe how awesome this film is. Packed with punches and fighting choreography that can makes your jaws drop (but not mine), this one is a star vehicle for Indonesia's new action star; Iko Uwais and another film to prove that Gareth Evans, the director of Merantau, is a master in this genre. As for me, I will not resort to such superlatives and try to see it in my own way.
It is hard to make a comparison with other Indonesian movies since action genre is very rare nowadays in Indonesia. However one does not simply judge a film by one element only. Although it is good with actions; the story felt stale and very predictable. Story and acting is also important.
The acting skill from Iko Uwais needs more polish and some plot holes are just too big. I cannot ignore those holes, such as how come the SWAT team doesn't even have any sort of badge on their uniform? And I just cannot feel that this is Indonesian film, apart from the language they use.
This film is about violence and glorification of it. No space left for redemption, moral ambiguities or trying to criticize socio political condition in Indonesia, it is just some violent so-called SWAT team trying to take out a drug lord apartment block floor by floor while the main character, Rama (Iko Uwais) is the one being left and must face each thug bare handed.
It could have been more, since I remember Trope de Elite that has a scene where a Brazilian SWAT team invade a favela but the film manages to dive more into the problems of the society. Or perhaps I expect too much and this one is just a film about violence, that's it. I have nothing against violence in movies, as long as it is accompanied by good story. Check Oldboy for instance, there isn't much fighting scenes but one scene where the main character must face so many thug armed with only a hammer is much more satisfying as a brawl scene since the scene also shows desperation.
As a matter of fact, martial art genre is one of my favorite genre. But this one lacks depth or even if it doesn't have depth, a good story to tell and I find myself not really awed by the action itself. Sure it is cool but not jaw dropping in my opinion.
For Indonesian film this is a milestone since we rarely see a film with good production value. But let's not just be satisfied easily since it still take a very long mile for an Indonesian film to be recognized, more than just a fact that this film is being released limited in the US.
I do really hope that for the sequel Gareth could pay more attention on characterization and story to make the film more interesting. So far he has done a good job entertaining us, I am sure he can do more than that.
1 comment:
Nice review. I like The Raid. And I think it's the greatest action movie in Indonesia.
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