The Siege at Thorn High

Watched on April 22nd, 2025

The Siege at Thorn High (Pengepungan di Bukit Duri) didn't hold back delivering its grim and strong message, it's in your face right from the opening scenes. This movie tells us about lots of things but the one thing that sticks out and stays with me until I have no idea when is to never stop talking about our darkest times in the past. It's basically a cautionary tale and wake-up call for Indonesia if we want brighter days ahead of us. Education is one of the most vital things that helped a nation to be at its peak and it's baffling that there's even a place for outcast students that feels more like a goddamn prison where you learn nothing else than survival. The movie throws shade on a recurring issue, which is our government seemingly couldn't care less about education being accessible for everyone while keeping green-lighting any other less urgent and more concerning programs. This is a depiction of a country on the brink of collapse where the government has abandoned its own people. Jefri is pretty much a product of the past and the future if things are still the same because the only things he knows are violence, rage, hatred, and racism.

So far, this is Joko Anwar's most well-made movie as a whole. The overall production is solid and the entire superb cast made this journey thrilling and emotional. Morgan Oey should be a leading man in more action movies. Shaky cam in fight scenes is a thing that I always hated but it's tolerable here.

As a thriller, this movie is amazing. It really made me tense in some scenes to the point I didn't even want to look at the screen. The actors are also amazing. Sometimes some build up tension is ruined by the actors but most of the actors here actually helped with making the scenes even more intense. They executed the scenes well. The music for this song is awesome. Most of them are very catchy. Despite not being horror, I find this story to be very scary in a psychological way. Ghosts and other spirits might be scary, but nothing is scarier than mankind. Everything that happened in this movie could happen in real life, and I find that makes the story much more scarier.

The intro to the movie is amazing. It made me intrigued, it looked promising. But then a huge time jump happened (17 years) and the story starts falling apart from there. At first, it was about racism. Then as the story progresses, it starts to focus less and less on the racism; instead, it starts focusing on gore, brutality and the violence. I can tell they were trying to tell a message, but it falls short as the ending was shown abruptly. Many questions were unanswered and yet the story already ended. Maybe they were trying to show the dangers of racism, but I would've preferred if the ending had a complete conclusion to the story instead of just ending it when there's so many unexplained things.

(spoiler warning from here!!)

I really don't like how the two girls (the only girls in the story) immediately fell in love with the mc at first sight. Don't get me started on this pick-me teacher. If they made her a strong type of woman that's independent and can fight on her own, that would've made the story more interesting. But instead, she's obviously just a female love candidate for Edwin and she does nothing to help him. She studies psychology and it was never utilized. It's such a missed opportunity. If she could've done something useful rather than just waiting and depending on Edwin, it would've made the story and their dynamic much more interesting.

The other one is the girl Edwin met at the bar. She was an obvious love candidate for Edwin too. Cheering him up, and then getting upset when she saw him bringing another woman in the bar, only to disappear forever from the story after that. I wish the story gave an explanation to what happened to her, otherwise this scene just feels unnecessary and adds nothing to whole plot. If you're going to introduce a character that's going to disappear after two scenes, might as well not add them. (Do they know about The Bechdel Test...)

I do like the shaky camera effect when Jeffrey was bullying the random student. It makes it seem like we're watching a live video of a bullying. Though some of the camera angles are a bit awkward. During the time when Edwin was talking to his sister, it was supposed to be emotional. But the awkward cuts and pause from the sister talking to just a shot of Edwin with tears in his eyes just felt very stiff. Some of the scene change was also very sudden and didn't flow smoothly with the previous scene.

The way they were stalling the door scene for so long actually makes me so sick of it. At this point, I'm begging them to just kick down the door. I know they're terrified, but they couldn't utilize all of that time behind the door to actually searching the room for exits? Instead of just going back and forth arguing with Jeffrey, and being like "I should open the door," "No, you shouldn't!" again and again. I wish the tension could've been spread into other locations as well instead of spending what felt to be like 45 minutes behind the door.

Some of the sfx were a bit much. It sounded too gore-y in a way I can't explain well with words. The vfx for the blood splatters as well. It was too exaggerated. The way the blood splatters like hand sanitizer spray when they were being slashed with a long knife... It was unnatural and not very realistic.

I wish there was subtitles for this movie. Some of the words they were saying weren't that clear, I just had to assume what is happening. I don't know if every movie theater is the same, but mine didn't have any subtitles.

Finally, the questions that were left unanswered in the end of the movie. First, how did a child get into an abandoned place and saved the student that was being bullied at the start? I understand they were trying to portray how, despite their differences, they helped each other. But it just felt so sudden and it doesn't make any sense why a child would wander into an abandoned place all alone and coincidentally know which door to unlock to save the student. Next, what happened to the bar? What happened to some of the other characters in this movie? Like the principal for example. He never appeared again after expelling Jeffrey. What happened to Christo and the teacher when they escaped? They disappeared after that. Especially the most important question, who is Edwin's nephew? Maybe it was answered in the end but it wasn't that clear (since, again, my movie theater did not have any subtitles) so I'm assuming it's Jeffrey? I'm still confused.

Overall, the movie is really great as a thriller. The actors are also great. But I wished they could've told the story better, and especially for the ending. I wish it had a complete conclusion instead of leaving the viewers hanging.

Despite its high-octane trailers, it falls flat as an action movie. The plot is thin, riddled with clichés, and never gives the audience a reason to care about the characters. It also attempts to borrow the mysterious mentor trope from Assassination Classroom, but the character falls flat. Ultimately, It feels like a checklist of tired tropes rather than a thrilling ride, making it more frustrating than fun.

It feels like the movie is too busy imitating better works without understanding what made them great in the first place.

It hints at the borrowed elements from Battle Royale and Assassination Classroom, while emphasizing the film's lack of depth or originality.

Joko Anwar is bold enough to raise the issue of racial discrimination against Chinese Indonesians.

(Apologies) Without intending to discredit Gen Z and beyond, this film can be quite provocative if viewers don't filter or approach it with an open mind.

At the very least, it will prompt them to look up historical articles about the 1998 tragedy.

Morgan Oey + Omar Esteghlal = Boom!

Fatih Unru was quite memorable for me.

Minimal plot holes, but unfortunately it loses momentum from the middle to the end.

The layered plot twists were interesting, though one of them was predictable - minus 0.5 from my rating.

Joko Anwar is (still) the best director at the moment.

Not that I complain, well maybe a bit since I expected it to be Joko's take on (or his version of) The Raid based on the trailers alone, but it's still in the realm of good enough to see on the theaters. Acting was on spot; setting? No need to doubt, it's Joko; story or plot has some kind of depth, especially on its commentary on not just racism, but more importantly, on the long term effect of bad parenting. This movie is Joko's clear attempt on visualizing the famous African proverb: "A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth", and he succeed because I already got the message from the first viewing. So lower your expectation down, it's not about the fight scenes, it's about the message on how we should move forward as a nation in real life.

7/10.