The Night Comes for Us

This is my fifth Indonesian action movie. Unfortunately, all of them have one problem: no heart to the story. I can't relate to the characters, I don't care if they live or die, I don't even know their motivation.

This movie, like the other Indonesian action movies, rely too much on blood and gore. The plot, pfft, out the window.

For those who thought that The Raid 1 & 2 were the last word in kinetic, ultra-brutal martial arts movies, think again: The Night Comes For Us, from director Timo Tjahjanto, is a strong contender for the most excessively violent, blood-drenched action flick ever made. The film's many fight scenes are wonderfully choreographed and flawlessly executed, Tjahanto's breath-taking direction employing shooting techniques that are guaranteed to astound, although it's the sheer quantity of blood and guts that really impresses.

The film stars Joe Taslim as triad member Ito, who seeks redemption for all the terrible things that he has done by saving a young girl, Reina (Asha Kenyeri Bermudez), from his hit squad. Having gunned down his own men and escaped with the girl, Ito finds himself targeted by the triad's top killers, who include Raid star Iko Uwais as his old pal Arian, Julie Estelle (The Raid 2's Hammer Girl) as a motorcycle-riding assassin, and a pair of lesbian hit-women: Elena (Hannah Al Rashid), who is armed with a kukri knife, and Alma (Dian Sastrowardoyo), who wields a whirling wire weapon.

As Ito, aided by his loyal friends Bobby (Zack Lee), Fatih (Abimana Aryasatya) and Wisnu (Dimas Anggara), battles to protect Reina, viewers are treated to all manner of graphic violence: bodies are beaten and mutilated, necks are slashed, and bones are broken. A man is hung on a meathook, someone is machine gunned in the face, and a grenade rips another poor bloke to pieces. There's a shotgun blast to the foot, a knife through the neck, a severed hand, an evisceration, pool balls to the skull, a hook in the crotch, a utility knife in the mouth (and through the cheek), and more bullet hits and stabbings than I can recall. The stuntwork is amazing and it's hard to believe that no-one was seriously injured.

The carnage is so spectacular that it's easy to forgive the simplicity of the plot (the narrative is not nearly as involved as The Raid 2; it's more akin to the original Raid movie in terms of complexity).

Yes, yes, I'll answer the question you'll have on your minds. And the answer is an affirmative, courteous AMEN cause the action in The Night Comes for Us is miraculous. This is A+, 10/10, The Raid level of action prowess. It's untoward however, that such an astonishing assemblage of top-notch combat spectacle was brewed with such an insipid and often, inattentive story. That's still not to say though, that I didn't thoroughly savor the heck out of a bulk of this movie's runtime.

It may be an irrefutable case that the storyline in The Night Comes for Us is underdeveloped, foreseeable, banal, and evidently myopic-character-wise especially. But am I looking for an occult, moving, tear-jerker of a film from director and writer Timo Tjahjanto? Helllllllllllllllllllllllll no. I'm searching for some brain-on-brain-off, let's behold some jaw-dropping, martial-arts-based, militant, warfare battles that embarrassingly generate me to scream out-loud "oh shoot" nearly every eight seconds. That adroit, transcendent, on-screen stunt choreography is what's going to stablizie my eyes glued upon a film parallel to this. Craziness included.

The Night Comes for Us is a senseless, mindless, gore-fested, and lionized action extravaganza. But you know what? I'm okay with that. Especially for A Netflix Original Movie standards "okay with that." (Verdict: B)

So the scenario... meh nothing interesting... A world-class killer becomes friendly, is chased down by his former colleagues, fights an old friend... saves a little girl... Seen this before. Barely any character development; the characters are a mixture of the Raid with Kill Bill. The acting's average. All the budget went for the thousands of fake blood and CGI that they used. Fights were too long, too bloody, too unreal, like literally 90% of the movie is blood, sweat, and more blood.

Pass.

The Night Comes For Us had always been in my movie watch list since it's been announced in 2014 after Mo Brothers released Killers. It planned to involve some of "The Raid" series veterans like Joe Taslim as the main character, Arifin Putra seemed to be the main antagonist, and Yayan Ruhian as an undisclosed role. The project was then somehow put to halt for some reasons and Mo Brothers went on another project which's Headshot (2016) and there's a plan of The Night Comes For Us being adapted into a graphic novel instead. After the release of Headshot, it turned out only 1 of Mo Brothers, Time who's gonna continue and direct The Night Comes For Us and it seemed Iko Uwais & Sunny Pang're replacing Arifin & Yayan.

It's a well known plot formula about a bad guy/henchman who seeks a redemption after meeting an innocent child. Many interesting characters, the small ones as well. Particularly are the main characters, Ito played by Joe. Joe did a good job to be the lead bad-ass protagonist but quite standard, i must say. Arian played by Iko is definitely the most interesting character, he has the most thorough back story that gives him a moral questions, which surprised me. Clearly not your usual villain type of character. And there's the Operator played by Julie Estelle the badass babe, a mysterious female character who can kick some serious butts. I'd agree wholeheartedly with some other viewers who suggest that The Operator must have her own movie. Just off the top of my head, i think it's my most favourite female character from action films with gore. I want to see the character again with more screen time.

The action is very bloody and brutal, it has a good usage of some of the stuff that we usually see around and they're being well implemented to add more pain. The plot's good enough, it has a 50:50 balance between dialogs and action scenes as the main highlights. It has plenty of great "Ouch" & "Wth" moments for the viewers, however i must say there are some bits that are just too appropriate & convenient for a film. And i'm not talking about the use of weapons and firearms but some of the approaches that the goons use to attack. I'd assume that it's typical in films when there are multiple attackers but somehow it's just too comical and laughable for me. The amazing choreographed fights, love them. The final fight gets very technical, 100% a real treat for martial arts film fans. It's also rather refreshing to hear more Indonesians not only use Indonesian language but also foreign languages such as English, Chinese, & a bit of French too and they're not so forced but rather fitting for the plot. It might be a little nuisance to some of the native speakers to understand what they're saying but subtitles always help. This film is definitely set to have a sequel, just by mentioning things that can be explored more such as "Old Tiger", "Six Seas", and for sure, the ending.

I'd say this movie tops Timo's previous action film and it is recommended especially for those who are familiar & interested with contemporary Indonesian action films, even those who are just big fans of action slasher films may appreciate it.

A very well done action film.

7/10