Killers

Two men from different cultures, a journalist investigating a corrupt rich man in Jakarta, and a banker turned serial killer from Tokyo meet in a chat room and form an unholy alliance. The Japanese man abducts and tortures women on camera and uploads them on to the internet. The Indonesian writer becomes fascinated by the videos, and through a series of events becomes a killer himself. The movie switches back and forth between the two characters in a fairly seamless fashion. The acting is excellent, with vivid camera work, but be warned of some explicit and bloody violence. It runs a bit too long at two hours and eighteen minutes, but I still recommend Killers as one of the better films of 2014.

KILLERS is something different, a hard-hitting and explicitly violent serial killer outing made as a co-production between Indonesia and Japan. It's a film of two halves, one that tells two separate story lines that gradually merge before meeting up at the climax.

The initial storyline is a Japanese-based tale about a guy who goes around murdering beautiful young women in the most vicious way imaginable. Even worse, he uploads footage of his crimes to the Internet for other users to enjoy. This is in the same territory as THE CHASER or I SAW THE DEVIL, absolutely disturbing viewing without dwelling on needless protracted torture or the like. Needless to say it's gripping, with subtle acting and a mature approach to the story.

The second storyline is set in Indonesia, and brings to mind the world of THE RAID and its sequel; a couple of actors from those films feature prominently. It involves a journalist who fails to bring down a crime boss and soon finds himself driven into his own murky world of vigilante violence. The film's heart is present in the form of the likable Oka Antara, a guy who goes on a dark yet gripping journey.

The storyline is unpredictable throughout, only becoming predictable for the violent climax. But for the most part it's exemplary: dark, harrowing, exciting, the sort of wide-reaching storyline that can only be told through cinema screens. The reason it's so good is that it focuses on the psychology of the killers, which makes this much more than another boring slasher. It's outstanding, in fact.

I was pretty excited to watch this since the trailers looked good, but I must say I was let down. Some good things here and there, but lacked substance.

The biggest issue for me would be that this film feels like two different films. You have the Japanese guy who is a pro serial killer and seems to have a troubled past, which I preferred of the two, and then you have the Indonesian guy who kind of becomes connected to the other guy. The only thing is, how he becomes connected is silly. Minor spoilers since this happens early on, but he kills some guys who are trying to rob him. It's a heat of the moment thing. But he then records them dying and uploads it online. There is no reasoning for this, other than the fact that they try to portray him as some kind of "Hulk" like character where he loses his mind and kills without regard, and all of a sudden he will snap out of it and regret it. It was completely unbelievable and felt contrived just to get these two main characters together, which is where another issues arises.

The poster says "From The Producers Of Cold Fish And The Raid", and thats what it feels like. It's like two different directors shot their own films, and then added in scenes where the two main characters talk on webcam and the finale. The reason why they connect at first seems to make sense, but how it ends just feels completely unmotivated. There was barely any connection between the two throughout, and then they expect us to find the finale really riveting. It just didn't work.

If this had JUST been the Japanese guys story, I would have liked it a lot more. His story had the most going on and brought up some interesting ideas that never really get fleshed out because we need to go back to the other guy in Indonesia. But together, they feel so disconnected and just make the run time longer than it should be.

While there was some good visual stuff that I liked, like the club scene, there were many editing and directing issues. A character runs through a group of guys who want to grab him, and somehow through wonky editing, he gets through them and ends up on the floor a few feet away from them. It seems like the directors just said "Yeah I really don't know how he would get out of this one... but it looks cool so just make him somehow escape."

If you liked the trailer, watch this at your own caution. It probably won't deliver in the way you expected.

Interesting psychological drama.

This movie had the potential to be brilliant. The first half, the set up, was excellent: Japanese killer contacts Indonesian journalist due to a common interest. Intense game of wits and a sort of mentor- student relationship, interspersed with some fairly graphically violent scenes.

However, given all this potential and a fine platform from which to build, the writer and director don't know what to do with it all. What develops from there is clumsy at times and the second half feels random, and the conclusion unprofound.

Even once we have a seemingly satisfactory conclusion, the movie doesn't end there. The writer and director didn't know when to stop the roller-coaster that is this movie!

Ultimately, a fairly good movie, but could have been even better.

this is not a bad movie at all,but it has too much flaws to be a great movie. when i first see the movie backdrop,it sounds very bloody and macabre-ish,but it turns out wrong. this movie is too violent and bloody for mainstream audiences,but too soft for slasher hardcore fan. its like somewhere in the middle. i think mo brothers wanted to disturb the audience by its story rather than the killing scene itself. to me its like a drama movie with serial murder spice in it. don't get it wrong,its good and refreshing since I've never seen things like this in local box office and pretty rare in Hollywood,but Mo Brother failed to hold the tension,this movie gives you a good chills and fun discussion after watching it but obviously far less powerful than Snowtown, (an Australian serial-murder drama,most disturbing movie I've ever seen). i think k.kitamura and o antara saved this movie,their acting skill is top notch and the major high light in this movie!,and im glad im gonna watch this duo again in the raid 2! :D