Merantau

At first, looking at the way the managed the poster and all..I thought this would just be another copy-cat movie (well, we had to admit, neighboring countries cinema are way earlier in successfully creating such motion pictures)

But...

All the fighting scheme, supporting casts, location, technicalities...this movie is surely one helluva fresh breeze into Indonesian Cinema.

Last night, I was literally stunned and amazed by especially the actions and plot this movie had brought.

The spirit of Nationalism, Humanism and Martial Artistry is carried out at its best!!

Can't believe my own two hands when I clapped them together with the whole theater last night...

Surely, one step toward a better cinema for Indonesia..

Bravo!!

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.

There are definitely problems with the pacing of the movie. But overall, I would call this one a success. We have a director that found the lead actor while shooting a documentary about the Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat. The director scores some major props just by introducing this fighting style that I, and many others probably, have never even heard of. The director is also taking a chance by actually setting up shop in Indonesia. This to me shows he isn't trying to make big budget Hollywood movies but is instead trying something new. The movie could have been better sure, but lets give it up for some originality and freshness I say. The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2 are both excellent films by the same director and cast of this movie. I for one am looking forward to some new approaches by this squad from Indonesia!

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.