Pengepungan di Bukit Duri

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.

Pengepungan di Bukit Duri is one of those movies that had me hooked from the start. It's intense, emotional, and really makes you feel like you're part of the story.

The actors did an amazing job-everything felt so real, especially the fight scenes and moments of violence. It didn't feel like they were acting at all. You could see the fear, anger, and desperation in their eyes, and it just hit different.

The script was super well-written too. I found myself feeling all kinds of emotions: anxious, scared, even frustrated, just like the characters. Every line had meaning, and it all helped build the overall tension.

Honestly, the movie was so intense that I was literally shaking at some points. The dark visuals, the camera work, and the background music all worked perfectly together to build that pressure. Joko Anwar really nailed the mood.

Thrilling seat-edger, but drags nowhere.

As a long-time admirer of Joko Anwar's work, I watched a critic's review ahead of this release, which described him as one of Indonesia's most distinctive and promising directors, though it also suggested that his growth as a filmmaker may be distancing him from the essence that once defined his style. Having seen most of his entire filmography, I consider Pintu Terlarang and Pengabdi Setan 2 to be his most compelling, narratively coherent, and innovative works within their competitors. I've observed his tendency to deliberately distort the plot, seemingly to provoke discussion, which can be effective if it leads to meaningful resolution. Pengepungan di Bukit Duri marks his third consecutive work where I've questioned his overall quality and growth as a well-known Indonesian director, yet the consistently high expectations surrounding his work compel me to reconsider whether my critical stance might stem from a biased perspective rather than a true decline in his creative output.

Pengepungan di Bukit Duri. Discrimination. Violence. The only elements which dominate the film to such an extent that little else emerges from the narrative. While the main message has been conveyed early on, the plot's development feels constricted, resulting in a two-hour runtime that often drags in its attempt to deliver a point of social critique. From my perspective, Joko Anwar consistently excels in crafting compelling premises and captivating the first act, which successfully keeps the audience with intrigue. However, his recent works, including this one, tend to lose strength in the second act and stall entirely by the third. It increasingly feels like his plots start with great premise, only to lose momentum midway, leaving some spectators confused and unsatisfied. By the time I reached the third act, I found myself mentally overwhelmed by a relentless stream of conflict, both from the storyline and audiovisual design, without any pause of resolution. This continuous barrage creates a draining viewing experience. The film's sensitive content teeters between feeling authentic and artificial. Its buildup and visualization of certain acts lacks uniqueness to his other work, making it feel unnecessary and repetitive.

Some characters create gaps between the smoothness of the overall delivery, specifically Diana, which raises a great question about her mysteriousness and clarity of the character. For some followers of Joko Anwar's work, you must know what this mystery is related to.

That said, in terms of technical execution, Joko and his team remain exceptional. The production design, cinematography, and overall visual coherence are executed with a level of craftsmanship that commands respect. Even when the narrative falters, the visual presentation remains captivating which reinforces a good impression of a thoughtfully-made project. The audio design, which features a throbbing bass segment, dynamic action effects, and meticulous stereo mixing, enhances the immersive quality of the film and adds emotional depth, serving as a reminder of Joko's continued strength in sensory storytelling.

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.

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.