Review of Merantau (2009) by Devi P — 06 May 2010

A brilliant Indonesian martial arts action movie. A young man Yuda leaves his countryside village and goes on a journey to the big city of Jakarta as a rite of passage to adulthood. After chasing a young pickpocketer to a backstreet alley, he finds himself witnessing the pickpocketer's beautiful sister - a stripper being hit by her unsavoury boss. Yuda cannot stand by and watch so he beats the man up. But that is only the beginning of his troubles as the man's boss a sadistic foreigner who's into human trafficking wants the girl back so Yuda, the girl and her brother finds themselves on the run. Fortunately Yuda is highly skilled in the martial art of Silat and he'll need every bit of that skill if he's to survive all the skirmishes he's about to encounter.

Iko Uwais is most definitely Indonesia's answer to Tony Jaa. The young man is sensational in this slick martial arts actioner directed by a Welshman - Gareth Evans. There's no doubt that he was trying to emulate Ong Bak in this movie and for the most part he succeeds. Iko Uwais carries the movie well. It starts out a little bit slow but once he cuts loose and starts kicking major league ass martial arts fans are going to be in seventh heaven! There is very little wirework used in the fight scenes. Just like Ong Bak, health and safety regulations are thrown out of the window to create some awesome scraps that will thrill you. In short, Merantau is a movie that should not be missed if you're an action junkie.