Review of Merantau (2009) by Dave J — 29 Mar 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012.
(2009) Merantau.
(In Indonesian with English subtitles).
ACTION.
Iko Uwais stars as Yuda, a 'Silat' martial artist who has intentions to move to a bigger city to open his own martial art school teaching 'silat'. Upon chasing a kid through the alley ways to retrieve his wallet, he then meets his older sister working as some sort of escort and of course gets his ass kicked by a few thugs, but realized he was beaten was because he was holding back and decides that wasn't going to be case the next time he were to confront them again! He confronts the main baddie and after he saves her, he gets his face cut up during a confrontaion and vows revenge on him for wrecking his face. The girl then gets kidnapped again but not for pimping her out, but for illegal human smuggling this time forcing Yuda to go and save her again!
All it is, is a much lower budget version of Tony Jaa's "Ong-Bak" movie since the action is more realistic and credible because wires are hardly used unlike this movie and in addition, they're also more stunts along with the fighting. This is more of an introduction to introduce 'silat' martial arts to the world than looking at it as a better film than it's predecessor which is Ong-Bak. And perhaps with more action fight rehearsing and with more money, this film could've been decent but it's just a pass at best!
2.5 out of 4.
This review of Merantau (2009) was written by Dave J on 29 Mar 2012.
Merantau has generally received positive reviews.
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