Indonesian action film ‘Headshot’ earns raves at int’l debut: ‘Iko Uwais makes Jason Bourne look like a punk’

Action fans in Indonesia and around the world are eagerly anticipating the next film starring Iko Uwais, the pencak silat champion turned martial arts movie star who wowed audiences with his insane stuntwork and fight choreography in “The Raid” and its sequel. His latest film, “Headshot,” directed by Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel (better known as the Mo Brothers – creators of the 2009 Indonesian horror hit “Macabre”) just had its world premier at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival and the first reviews are rolling in.

The film features Iko playing a patient, called Ishmael, who wakes up without any memories after suffering a bullet to the head and is nursed back to health by a doctor named Ailin, played by Chelsea Islan. Ishmael is forced to fight an army of criminals from his former life in order to save Ailin after she is kidnapped..

So what did reviewers make of “Headshot”? Does the action live up to the glimpses we get in the film’s trailer?

 

Overall the reviews were pretty positive, especially in regards to the film’s action sequences. Matt Donato of We Got This Covered had a particularly ecstatic reaction to the film, writing:

Dear America – please outsource all action films to Indonesia from here-on-out. How can you watch a movie like Headshot and be content with typical US ground-and-pound generics? The Mo Brothers (Kimo Stamboel/Timo Tjahjanto) break more bones than a twenty-story fall, (assumably) spending most of their budget on limb-cracking practical effects that still can’t distract from such aggressive beauty. Iko Uwais makes Jason Bourne look like a punk bitch in this brilliantly bone-crunching symphony of destruction, proving both the Mo Brothers and Mr. Uwais to be as boldly badass as we hoped their latest genre assault would permit.

Kevin Jagernauth of The Playlist also gave a thumbs up to the film’s creative action sequences:

Choreographed by Iko Uwais’ team, the setpieces are often breathtakingly realized, featuring minimal cutting, and inventive scenarios. Even if the structure is akin to a video game with Ishmael essentially working his way through various boss levels with increasing difficulty, the fight scenes are maximized to their fullest potential. Even the gunplay is fresh, and with The Mo Brothers whipping cameras around and seemingly slightly punching up frame rates, “Headshot” rarely has a problem entertaining when our hero is forced to fight.

But while most critics had high-praise for “Headshot” in terms of action, they were generally down on the film’s story, particularly the romantic subplot involving Ailin. Angie Han of Slashfilm wrote:

Headshot is at its weakest when it shifts its focus away from the action. A tentative romantic subplot between Ishmael and Ailin feels like it was spliced in from a bad soap opera. It’s kinda cute, but laughably cheap and cheesy in a way the rest of the movie isn’t, and neither Uwais nor Islan seem especially comfortable slipping into that lighter mode.

However, Han also adds:

But none of that matters all that much, because what Headshot really is is a long string of excuses to watch Uwais punch himself out of sticky situations. As with The Raid, the story is just a vehicle for stunning action setpieces, building up to an inevitable boss fight at the end. And Headshot delivers, with flying colors (and fists and feet and bullets). Uwais reminds us yet again why he’s one of the most exciting action heroes we have working today.

Still, for some critics the incredible action scenes couldn’t overcome the film’s plot problems. The most negative review came from Matt Goldberg of Collider who wrote:

It’s a cartoonish bloodbath minus the fun of a cartoon. The Mo Brothers don’t mind beating their characters to a pulp, but we’re never invested in the action. If you’re going to skimp on character and plot, then you need to deliver in the set pieces, but Tjahjanto and Stamboel fall woefully short.

Many critics noted that the film seemed overly long, with a runtime of over two hours . Since a commercial release of “Headshot” is still a ways off (no official release dates have been announced yet) we hope the Mo Brothers will consider trimming the movie of any unnecessary plot before releasing it wide so as to keep the film tightly focused on what Iko does best: kicking ass.



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