Target

I've been watching a number of Indonesian movies lately and I've been oddly impressed. Nothing has exactly blown me away but the entertainment value and quality has been far more consistent than I'm used to.

Target is what would happen if you turned Saw (2004) into a comedy. It tells the story of 9 celebrities who all get tricked into participating in a game of life and death and it's actually a surprising amount of fun.

Target was not well received and that saddens me because I can't quite work out why. The cast do a great job, the characters are well handled, the plot is fun, there are laughs to be had, so what's the problem?

The movie is intentionally (I hope) goofy. With ridiculous fight scenes and silly dialogue and that worked for me especially considering this horror sub-genre doesn't exactly see comedy very often.

I am now oddly enamored with Indonesian cinema, bring more on! Even this could happily use a sequel.

The Good:

Really quite funny in places

Charmingly goofy

The Bad:

Plenty of jokes miss their mark

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Indonesian cinema rocks

Actors are dramatic

We should make a tv series out of this, only with real celebrities..........and real outcomes (Insert evil laugh here)

There is no positive thing i can tell about this mivie. Totally waste of time. Not reccomended

I never saw an Indonesian film before, but l was entertained and enjoyed the film qqq

Funny film,,totally this film very very impressed but i hate this intro

I think the low ratings for this film are due to people not appreciating its somewhat odd blend of occasionally silly comedy and what is otherwise a quite interesting and clever mystery thriller plot. The comedic element does a fairly good job satirising these sort of films, and action films in general, however, and while the actors would never trouble a jury for any awards, they do well playing rather over-the-top caricatures of TV and movie celebrities. The production values are fairly decent, and the plot twists are quite cleverly done. A fun watch - 6/10.