Merantau

As my comment's title says "exceed my expectation", first, here's my expectation : It's been more than 15 years that no martial arts movie is made in Indonesia. Especially the one that bring traditional 'pencak silat' style. So, my expectation in this movie is to see some good fights along the story plot. Same expectation when I go to watch Tony Jaa's Ong Bak 1/2 or the Protector.

However, this film deliver more then expected. Iko Uwais is good fighter and really can act. Well-pace (a bit slow at start), solid action, nice camera work, brave-stunts, and the hero is just a human after all.

The director surely know a lot about pencak silat and how to show it's beauty to audience. The 'street fight' style really gives new air to this martial art. Since pencak silat choreography I have ever seen is more like a group dance.

Of course there are some flaws, but I was surprise that it was way less than expected. So, I give it 8/10 for a martial art film. If you want to see a fresh martial arts move with quite decent story and acting, go see this one.

Rejoice action fans over this region! South-east Asia has a new action hero hailing from Indonesia, and his name is Iko Uwais. We've already got Tony Jaa showcasing Thailand's Muay Thai, and now we've got Uwais to introduce a different brand of Silat which we have been exposed to thus far, thanks to the SEA Games but that's more like a Wushu event, which is more exhibition. It's still quite amazing to see what is usually seen on TV as executed in exhibition pace, to take on an entirely different form when in combat mode. Merantau - and Singapore has to add a "Warrior" to the title so that we know it's an action film, duh - is a well executed, entertaining film as far as actioners are concerned.

Uwais stars as Yuda, a coming of age young adult who has to leave his village and go through a rites of passage in a Merantau, which is something equivalent of an Australian aboriginal walkabout. He sets his sights on Jakarta and has plans to set up a Silat school, only for his contact to go missing with nary a trace. Bumming around while figuring out his next course of action, he chanced upon the siblings of Adit (Yusuf Aulia) and Astri (Sisca Jessica), the latter whom is picked up by gangsters to be part of a sex trafficking ring, and thus begin his discovery of his destiny and calling as the unofficial protector against the meek and weak.

Yes the storyline isn't much to behold naturally, though as far as action films go, this one satisfies its own cursory, flimsy tale to hold all the spectacular action sequences together, giving it some reason to have Uwais go on a rampage, showcasing personal prowess, and to add Silat as a martial arts of choice amongst so many that have its fair share of a cinematic outing, from Ip Man's Wing Chun, to Ong Bak's Muay Thai. It's hard hitting silat harimau here, which has its distinctive low centre of gravity positioning, sweeping leg motions to unbalance the opposition, and very direct and hard hitting palming aimed squarely at the opponent's chest to literally knock the wind out of.

What also worked here is the action cinematography. We all remember how Jaa smashed into the scene with its repetitive action sequences cut from different camera angles, done ad nausem. Here, the filmmakers had good sense in working a very wonderfully designed, and common sensical presentation in not relying on quick edits and jump cuts, allowing the action to flow naturally, and presented in its full glory. I particularly enjoyed moments where a revolving 360 degree view gets employed, especially when Yuda has to tackle opponents all round.

And Yuda is no one man superman too, which worked well for the story, having to see his fair share of failures, as well as shortcomings in his rookie fish-out-of-water situation. While there are moments inserted for dramatic breathing space, the action sequences aren't forgotten and got interspersed adequately within the first few acts, until the last one which became a non-stop, adrenaline pumping finale that was reminiscence of old Hong Kong action flicks, or even Bruce Lee ones, where the protagonist go up against incredible odds, and one on one (or two) situations against Caucasian villains, who are portrayed here in quite over-the-top fashion in need of a good hard kick up the arse.

Granted this is no perfect film with a number of continuity errors spotted, the set action pieces were a sight to behold despite some moments being wire-obvious, mixing things up with components other than Silat all the way, with a few which stood out as campy fun. Keep your eye out for that towel scene, and one of my personal favourites was one that involved a bamboo pole which the trailer included. Uwais also proves that he's quite comfortable with the sickle and metallic staff / batons which got used quite frequently here by hero and villains alike.

Action junkies will do yourselves no favour if you miss Iko Uwais maiden cinematic outing on the big screen. It may not be perfect, but it mattered for what it set out to do – establish a new action hero from our region, and to promote the form of martial arts in Silat.

i can divide this movie into two parts first 15 minutes, the drama part, here we see the background story of the movie. we'll be introduce to the main character, too bad i can understand "bahasa Padang" but there is an English subtitle ( which sometime is not accurate)

second part the FIGHT part this what i like..... fight, fight, and more fight the martial art choreography is pretty much similar to tony jaa but....i don't care, this Iko can really kick ass

though this movie is not perfect, but i recommend this movie to all of action martial art movie mania

7/8

Elite movies about martial arts (pencak silat). The plot and the story maybe seems cliche, cheesy or something but surprisingly i considered that this is a good movie because the work of all the cast and the director. I watched this at 20/08/2020 after my crush from highschool rejected and ignore me lmao and suddenly i wanna be iko uwais character because of how good and kind hearted he was pictured.. and ofc yea he wasn't a simp.

The main actor is legit. Which in the martial arts cinema is rarity. I actually saw his movie the Raid 1&2, which I liked so much because the whole movie is just so good from the fight scenes to the action choreography, its just insane. Some credit goes out tot he director too. Now this movie, seems like it has a lower budget as you can tell when watching, but the fight screens and camera work are there. The story needed to be a bit more developed but the fight screen between the silat friend in the elevator was pretty intense. I wished it was a bit longer but what he did at the end will have you rooting for him.

As for the 2 white bad guys at the end. Their style of fighting was kind of non believing. They could of done better. IDK, seems like something was very lacking.