VOD Review: Headshot (2017)

"More hyper-kinetic martial arts awesomeness from Indonesia."

After seeing the fantastic martial arts films The Raid (review HERE) and The Raid 2 (review HERE) , we instantly became fans of Indonesian genre films, marveling in the rapid-fire ferocity that is the Pencak Silat fighting style.

We then found a flick by The Mo Brothers called Killers (review HERE) that deepened our admiration of the small Island nation's ability to capture our imaginations.

From that point on, anyone who had anything to do with those films were on our radar, and we aggressively sought out anything we could find starring, produced by, or even choreographed by them, and ate them up: Macabre and Safe Haven (from The Mo Brothers); Merantau (by Gareth Evans, starring Iko Uwais); we even geeked out when we learned that the guys from The Raid flicks would have a small scene in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

So it goes without saying that when we heard that Iko Uwais would be starring in the new Mo Brothers flick, that we were instantly on board. And while it might not be quite as good as The Raid flicks, Headshot is one hell of a fun ride that gave us our fix of Indonesian ass-kicking.

After a nefarious crime boss, Mr. Lee, makes a bloody and ingenious escape from prison, we see the body of a man washing ashore on a small island in Indonesia, after being shoot in the head. Are the two events connected? Obviously. The unconscious man is taken to a local hospital where he's cared for by the beautiful med student, Ailin, who for some reason sleeps in his room and reads to him. Maybe she's lonely, and a guy in a coma just fits the bill, you know?

OR MAYBE THIS KIND OF SHIT IS JUST PART OF NORMAL, EVERYDAY LIFE IN INDONESIA.

When he wakes up, he remembers very little about who he is, or how he came to be shot in the head and dumped in the sea. Calling himself Ishmael, he and Ailin become fast friends, taking long walks together, and maybe even falling in love.

OR MAYBE HE JUST WANTS TO STEAL HER PHONE.

Word spreads about the new man with a head wound, eventually getting back to Mr. Lee, which sends him into a fury. You see, Ishmael was his student, and it was Mr. Lee and his gang of elite assassins who shot him and dumped him into the sea to begin with, and just knowing that he's still alive means that they've got to find him, and finish the job that they thought they had finished.

Good luck with that.

SORRY DUDE, HE'S MADE OF IRON!

Sure, the movie gets a bit repetitive, what with it being mainly Iko Uwais beating the living shit out of people over and over again, but it's such a brutal, fantastic spectacle to behold, that who cares if it's repetitive? Should you get mad when there are too many sex scenes in a porno flick? No, because that's why you're watching a porno flick. Same goes for martial arts flicks like this; yes, we want a good story, likable heroes, and intense villains, but what we really want are fight scenes. Lots of brutal, kinetic, flashy, insane fight scenes.

And that is exactly why Headshot is so great, because it gives us nothing but that. The fight scenes in this movie are so beautifully choreographed that any of them could the final showdown in any number of action flicks, and it's filled with them.

Iko Uwais is a special talent. He's kind of got these boyish good looks that make him come off as really likable, and then he unleashes a barrage of Pencak Silat moves on demand, which makes him seem formidable and deadly. Because he is. He's a treat to watch, to the point where J.J. Abrams decided to "get the guys from The Raid movies" to be in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, just because he loved what they do so much. He just makes for a good everyday-man kind of hero, and he makes me wonder just how many people like him in Indonesia could lay a brutal ass-whipping on someone if they wanted to.

MR. LEE AIN'T NO SLOUCH IN THE ASS-KICKING DEPARTMENT EITHER.

As per the usual with recent Indonesian martial arts flicks, Headshot is an unflinchingly brutal movie, full of fights-to-the-death galore.

OH, THERE IS PLENTY OF PAIN!

No sexy time in this one, only fighting.

JULIE ESTELLE IS ALWAYS SEXY THOUGH.

There are lots of great scenes throughout this one, but the opening fight in the prison was my fave. That firefight!

LIKE THE HALLWAY SCENE FROM OLDBOY, BUT WITH GUNS. SO IT'S OVER WAY QUICKER.

I gave Headshot a B+ because I loved every minute of it, even though I should have been more critical of its shortcomings. Any movie that can make me look past its bad points because it's so much damn fun, deserves a good grade. As an individual film, minus the bump for my personal enjoyment, it's probably more of a C+ affair.

If you liked The Raid movies though, then there's no reason that you won't dig this one just about as much, even if it's not quite up to par with them.

B+

Headshot is available now on VOD.

There's something intriguing about a beautiful woman who can kick your ass, and Julie Estelle is that woman. We're not messing with Chelsea Islan either.

Blu-ray Review: Killers (2014)

Not since I Saw the Devil (our review HERE) have we seen an Asian Thriller as brutal and engaging as Killers.

Killers has intrigued us from the start, not only because The Mo Brothers are directing, but because if the movie's connection to Gareth Evans; you know, the guy who wrote and directed the excellent Raid 1 & 2? Well, he's producing this one, and to have all three of these guys teaming up on a movie like this sounds like a recipe for awesomeness to us.

And let us not forget that these three also teamed up to create the best segment in last year's V/H/S/2, Safe Haven.

Even better is the fact that Killers' two lead actors were both in The Raid 2, one of them will be in The Raid 3, and one of them will be in Timo Tjahjanto's next movie, The Night Comes for Us.

It's like a big, violent, dysfunctional family that they've got going over there in Indonesia, and we love every last bit of it.

Taking all of that into consideration, it's fair to say that we had high expectations for Killers. Having now seen Killers, it's fair to say that those expectations were well met.

Sure, this movie may open with a terrified woman tied to a chair, and a guy in a creepy mask beating her to death with a mallet, but let's not rush to judgement here, alright? Maybe this movie is a character study, and maybe that opening scene is an allegory for how unfairly women are treated in the workplace or something, or maybe it's about a Serial Killer who who really likes beating women to death with a mallet. We don't know, but we certainly owe it to ourselves to find out, don't we?

Where does she think she's going? lol

Nomura is a young and handsome Japanese business executive who kills people and uploads videos of his heinous acts to YouTube; with all of the stupid-ass videos on YouTube that manage to get millions of hits, why shouldn't he take his swipe at fame? Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Bayu is a journalist whose life has fallen apart because of his obsession with a corrupt politician. He's an angry, angry man, but at least he's not a Serial Killer. Yet.

This isn't The Raid 3, Bayu, calm down!

While browsing YouTube for Flash Mob videos, Bayu comes across Nomura's creepy murder videos, which prompts him to send a friend request to the man, in hopes of learning all of his secrets. Nomura accepts, and the two begin an online relationship that does neither of them any good. Bayu tries his best to kill, like his new pal Nomura does, only in the name of justice and righteousness... and then Nomura un-friends him when he discovers that Bayu has been uploading his own murder videos, and trying to bite his style.

If you subscribe to his YouTube Channel, Nomura will send you victim hair.

From here on out, things get bad for both Nomura and Bayu, which prompts the two to decide to meet offline; in public place of course, because you never know who a you're talking to in the Internet. Blood and mayhem promptly ensue, followed by even more blood and mayhem. And blood.

Reverse selfie.

We may have painted a light-hearted picture of Killers in the above breakdown, but make no mistake, this is a brutal, disturbing movie to experience. If we had to compare it to something, I suppose that I Saw the Devil would be appropriate, although it's equally appropriate to say that both movies, as similar as they may feel at times, are very different animals.

The thing about this movie that really got us, was how much we actually sympathised with these guys, despite the fact that they were doing nothing but horrendous things to people, for no reason other than to quench the dark fires burning inside themselves. They were different fires, mind you, but at the end of the day, both of these characters viciously murdered people in horrible ways despite their differing motivations... and we still kind of liked them, in spite of it all.

Maybe that has to do with the fact that both Oka Antara (Bayu) and Kazuki Kitamura (Nomura) nailed their roles flawlessly. Kitamura has 100+ movies under his belt at this point in his career, and it's easy to see why; the guy has great screen presence that matches his acting talent, and he made for a perfect "villain" in this one. Antara may not have as many screen credits on his resume, but he was great as Eka in The Raid 2, and was equally so here. Going forward, the two of them can keep starring in anything that Gareth Evans is involved with, and we'd be happy campers.

At least one of them will be starring in The Raid 3, which pleases us greatly.

With Killers, The Mo Brothers have definitely painted a well-rounded picture of what and who these killers are as people, and given them a depth that many movies of this kind seldom do. That is exactly why so many S.Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, et al. Thrillers seem to resonate so well with audiences; depth.

After two films together, we're big fans of Timo Tjahjanto & Kimo Stamboel, and we can't wait to see what they do individually with The Night Comes for Us (Tjahjanto) and One Good Thing (Stamboel.) By the way, both of those movies will feature The Raid's Yayan Ruhian.

Killin' ain't easy... for him.

Killers runs a little too long, and its pacing suffers a bit because of it. We genuinely like longer movies, and in most cases when it comes to good Dramas and Thrillers, we prefer a film to be longer, to allow their stories to properly breathe. In the case of Killers, however, a quick trim of maybe 10 or 15 minutes would make it a near perfect experience.

It's a minor gripe, really, but one that's worth noting.

Why they decided to re-enact this scene from Brokeback Mountain in this movie, we'll never know.

The final act came off a bit contrived, and it felt like it deviated slightly from everything that had preceded it, as far as realism goes. It just felt too expected and neat, like it was a typical Hollywood "wrap everything up in a convenient showdown" kind of thing.

Killer.

Killers is full of torture and murder of all kinds, and it's most definitely not for the squeamish. It even has a hallway fight scene that was reminiscent of Oldboy, albeit in a darkly humorous way.

Say "cheese!" or maybe "please let me go!"

Nope. *Unless there was a very quick flash of something that I'm forgetting about, which I'm pretty sure there wasn't.

There were plenty of great scenes in Killers, but if we had to pick the one that stood out to us the most, it would have to be the shootout in the car; that scene was just crazy, and it's a perfect example of why this movie worked so well for us.

Becoming a Serial Killer isn't an easy thing. Also, making new friends on the Internet is a dicey game at best.

Nomura had never quite grasped the concept of "taking a bath."

One of the best movies that we've seen in 2014, Killers is a harsh, nasty little look at people, and what drives them to kill. If you're a fan of violent Thrillers like I Saw the Devil, then this movie should suit you perfectly. When Well Go USA releases this movie in the U.S., do yourself a favor and seek it out immediately.

A

Killers is available now on VOD, and will be released on Blu-ray & DVD on April 7th.

Can we all just agree that Indonesian women are some of the most gorgeous women in the World? Just look at Luna Maya below and tell me that I'm wrong. You can't!

VOD Review: The Raid 2 (2014)

Only two short years ago, filmmaker Gareth Evans blessed moviegoers with one of the best action flicks of all time, The Raid. Read our Review of The Raid HERE.

The Raid was full of violence, blood, mayhem, and some expertly choreographed Pencak Silat fight scenes, which mesmerized us. In a world that sees far too many half-assed, uninspired action flicks released every year, The Raid was a magnificent breath of fresh air.

From the moment the first movie ended, we wanted more. We wanted more of Rama's story, and with the way that it did end, we knew (hoped) there would be more to come.

Now, like an answered prayer, Evans has returned with a sequel to his modern-day classic that is bigger, badder, and meaner than the first one, and we are ecstatic... but of course now we really, really want The Raid 3.

Sometimes, there's just no pleasing us.

Immediately following the conclusion of The Raid, we see some skeevy gangster named Bejo execute Rama's brother. After learning this, Rama agrees to join an anti-corruption task force in an effort to both take down some gangsters and the crooked Police Commissioner, as well as keep his wife and baby safe from Bejo. Also, he probably wants some revenge for his brothers murder. He just really has a lot of good reasons to do this.

You do not threaten the safety of this man's family.

Rama is forced to go undercover to jail where he fights 80 guys, and earns the trust of Uko, the son of feared gangster Bangun, by saving his life. After their release, Rama finds that he has a job with the Bangun Gang, which means that he has to fight 250 more guys, all while trying to do his job and keep his cover in tact.

These guys fight dirty. Zing!

So Bejo's Gang, Bangun's Gang, Goto's Gang, the Japanese Yakuza, The GhangBang Gang, the Getalong Gang, Kool & the Gang, and the Wu-Tang Clan all come to blows, starting a crazy gang war on the streets of Jakarta.

Oh yeah, and there's also Prakoso. He's pretty much a one-man gang.

Will Rama take down the gangsters, thus saving his family's lives? Will there be anyone left alive in Indonesia once this movie is over? Will there be a Raid 3? Far be it from us to spoil things for you here, but the streets run red with blood, countless people are killed in crazy violent ways, and none of it ends well for about 90% of those involved. So yes, there will be a Raid 3. Eventually.

Eka's response to this guy was our favorite bit in the movie.

This movie was an absolute blast. If you've seen The Raid (Our Review HERE), then you already know what to expect from the sequel, but just know that it is bigger and yes, even better, than the original. We were so swept up in the awesomeness of the Raid 2 that its near 2 hour and 30 minute runtime felt like it went by far too quickly. For us, the mark of a good movie is despairing over the fact that "there's only 30 minutes left!" We loved every second of it, and it left us wanting more (but only because we're greedy like that.)

We'd gladly watch another movie starring Hammer Girl.

This is fast, mean, bloody, exhilarating, inventive, and exhausting action filmmaking at its best. We loved the film's structure, like how there were a mix of "Bosses" for Rama to fight; Hammer Girl; Baseball Bat Man; The Assassin; they made Rama's journey at the end feel like a video game on expert mode.

Everyone in the cast was fantastic, both in their acting and fighting abilities. Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian deserve to be International action stars after these movies; both men are at the top of their craft, and are an inspiration to watch. Yayan Ruhian is probably our favorite part of both Raid films; the guy is a little powder keg of presence and ferocity, the likes of which we haven't seen in a very long time.

Dyn-o-mite!

So many of the cast are relative unknowns, that it makes how well they performed their on-camera feats truly amazing. Cecep Arif Rahman (The Assassin) is responsible for the best fight of the movie -which makes sense because he's a master of Pencak Silat- but in real life, he's an Elementary School Teacher. The gorgeous Julie Estelle (Hammer Girl), had absolutely no martial arts background when she took this role, and yet she came off as convincingly deadly as did anyone in the movie.

It's things like that about The Raid 2 that blow our minds.

One of the best fights that we've ever seen committed to film.

You could find things about the movie to pick apart if you were so inclined, it isn't perfect after all, but why would you want to? It's so fun and energetic that bitching about its weaker points seems silly to us. In the effort of fairness though, we will point out a few issues that exist with The Raid 2.

• It was a long movie, and it could have probably been trimmed down to about the 2 hour mark and been slightly better off for it.
• The plot of the movie was big and sprawling, and at times, felt a little to grand for the proceedings.
• We have to admit that at one point towards the end of the movie, we honestly wondered how Rama could keep his one-man-army routine going and not collapse from exhaustion/injury.
• It's subtitled, and those folks who find them to be a distraction (not us) will no doubt be irked by their presence, hence, dissuaded from watching the movie.
• We were also pissed off that Yayan Ruhian's role in the sequel was far smaller than it was in the original. We love that guy, and had The Raid 2 been all about his character, we would have been absolutely fine with that.

All that said, we could care less about the movie's issues, because it was so much damn fun that they just don't matter all that much. That's not us giving it a pass for its faults, that's us saying that if you're picking apart the few, small issues that the movie does have, you're absolutely missing the point.

There's even a 8-bit Raid 2 game!

The Raid 2 is not only the action movie of 2014, but it is one of the best action movies that we've ever seen. If you haven't seen The Raid, then go and get yourself a copy, and watch it back to back with its sequel... and revel in the masterful fun of it all.

The bottom line is that The Raid 2 is a must see for those who are lovers of action movies, and it's good enough that it may even convert those who are not. See it, and support it.

The Raid 2 is available now on Amazon Instant VOD, and will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 8th.

It's not often that we come across a gorgeous woman that also likes to viciously kill people with hammers, so we can't help but love Julie Estelle. Indonesian women are ridiculously gorgeous as it is, but this girl with her French-American and Tionghoa heritage takes that beauty to a whole new level.