Director: Timo Tjahjanto

Writer: Timo Tjahjanto

Cast: Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Sunny Pang, Zack Lee, Asha Kenyeri Bermudez, Hannah Al Rashid, Salvita Decorte, Abimana Aryastya

Running Time: 121 min.

By Martin Sandison

The Mo Brothers’ Headshot, while a very good action movie in its own right, with effectively bloody violence and some great choreography, fell short of greatness in my opinion. One half of the Mo Brothers, Timo Tjahjanto, announced a few years back he was writing the script for The Night Comes for Us. Anticipation grew with announcements such as the film was to star a who’s who of Indonesian action cinema, and the addition of producer Todd Brown whose XYZ films have been growing in stature with releases like Gareth Evans’ recent Apostle. Both films are Netflix associated, and for fans such as me, it’s great to see such diverse output. While Evans was taking a left turn in to atmospheric horror, Tjahjanto and Iko Uwais decided to take on the mantle left over by his Raid franchise and make it in to over-the-edge OTT action violence. Although I was prepared for the visual onslaught and feast of martial arts and gunplay, I could not have predicted how much I love this movie, and how highly I rate it. Which is very high.

Joe Taslim stars as Ito, who in the opening scene appears to be one of the bad guys as he mows down a family on a beach. Left is a small child, seemingly the daughter, Reina (Asha Kenyeri Bermudez). Ito sees his redemption in her, and goes on the run to protect her. So sets in motion a seemingly endless series of set pieces as Ito struggles to protect Reina, involving his old gang and Arian (Iko Uwais, The Raid), a mysterious figure who is a deadly fighter. The tangled web of gangsters, drugs and intrigue are deepened by Ito’s connection to the Six Seas, a gang dedicated to protecting the drug trade in South East Asia, led by Chien Wu (Sunny Pang, Headshot).

A review I read of this movie called it a martial arts Braindead (aka Dead Alive), which is a film I love, but I think that viewpoint doesn’t stick. Braindead has its tongue firmly lodged in its cheek, and is constantly hilarious. The Night Comes for Us is a much darker prospect entirely, and its tone speaks of influences such as Hard Boiled, Tiger Cage 2 (minus the lame comedy) and The Raid 2. That the film is like an outrageously violent cartoon does stick, however. What impressed me alongside the action, which we’ll get to in a minute, is the strength of the aesthetic. The lighting and camerawork create a surrealistic immersive world that has depth beneath the carnage. Little visual touches such as a face off mid-battle as the camera pans to a fly getting zapped are wonderful, and Tjahjanto’s handling of the silent moments between the chaos show his talent. This approach is bolstered by the characters and performances. Taslim is suitably brooding and emotionally wrecked as Ito, in the role of a lifetime. Uwais as Arian is at his most charismatic, and in fact you would expect the two to be in each others roles, as Uwais is the bigger star. Julie Estelle (The Raid 2) kicks some serious ass in her part, which is destined to go down as one of the greatest female fighter characters, blowing Ok-bin Kim, of the recent South Korean actioner The Villainess, off the screen.

So, to the aspect we came here for: action. As much as I love The Raid and 2, and to a lesser extent Headshot, the action at times is scrappy and a little repetitive. As soon as Uwais first fight kicked in, I knew immediately him and his team have stepped up, and leaped in to the stratosphere of primal 21st century martial arts violence. Every single fight in this film is astounding, and the diversity of the combat is without compare. From brawls to all-out brutalistic knife fights to intricate handwork to beautiful bootwork, the film has it all, and is a martial arts movie fans wet dream. Alongside the commitment of the performers in these scenes and their abilities, all aspects of filmmaking are amped up to 11, and the ebb and flow, fluid editing, masterful framing (props to cinematographer Gunnar Nimpuno) and staging of them is in to the beyond. My favourites are the two-on-one all female fight with British actress Hannah Al Rashid (Safe Haven) and Dian Sastrowardoyo (Kartini) taking on Estelle in a fight that moves from hand-to-hand combat to knife-fighting with savage grace. Al Rashid even fights on with her guts hanging out! (Story of Ricky, anyone?). In fact, all three involved in this fight are immediately iconic characters, with Al Rashid’s cool hair and signature knife, and Sastrowardoyo’s bob haircut and cheese wire weaponry.

Of course the film builds up to Uwais vs Taslim, and I honestly think it’s in the Top 3 one-on-one fights of the 21st century, alongside such luminaries as Scott Adkins vs Marko Zaror in Undisputed 3 and Donnie Yen vs Collin Chou in Flash Point. It also gets my vote as one of the most bloodily violent. I even noticed a reference to a fight in Tiger Cage 2 in there (geek mode optimised). Uwais must have been working on his kicking, as it’s the best I’ve seen from him, and Taslim’s rthythm and timing is superb. My only gripe action-wise is that Sunny Pang, who was so great acting-wise and martial arts-wise in Headshot, doesn’t get to fight in the film. His performance and character is still a cool bad-ass muthafucka, though. Another gripe is that the dialogue moves between Asian languages (Uwais character is in China at first, he speaks a little Mandarin) and English at times, and it can be a little jarring. Also the plot lines do fall by the wayside a little to make room for the action.

The extreme bloody violence in the film will put off some, but once it gets going the amount of inventive kills and outrageous blood-letting means you can never take it seriously. From a pigs trotter used as a weapon to smack a guy’s balls, people hung up on meathooks, cheese wire (Audition, anyone?) used to cut off arms and fingers, broken bottles stuck in mouths and seemingly the most stab wounds onscreen in any film ever, it’s an orgy of constantly amping up extremity. Even Reina gets in on the action, stabbing one of the bad guys. And that’s without mentioning the fantastically depicted gunplay, which is a dozen times more graphic than a John Woo film. An aspect I also love is the mix of CGI and practical effects when dealing with the gore. It’s seamless, and for a lower budget film is phenomenal. Also of note is the soundtrack by Hiroyuki Ishizaka, which moves from John Carpenter-esque pulsing synths to strings, and underscores the tone of the film beautifully.

As a writer and conversationalist I realise my passion moves in to hyperbole at times. I need to watch this film again soon, but upon ending my first thought was: It’s a complete action masterpiece and one of the best action films ever made. All I know is that awestruck consciousness was pretty much constant for the 2 hour running time, and it gave me the same adrenalin rush as finishing Hard Boiled at the age of 14. Hey, what would the world be without individual opinions? A very boring place. Let’s see what you guys think. I must say congratulations to everyone involved. The Raid set a new bar. The Night Comes for Us raises that bar through the roof.

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 10/10