3 gibbles out of 5
Director: Gareth Evans
Yes, I only watched this because I saw director Gareth Evans’ “The Raid” in theaters and was curious how previous efforts stacked up. The answer: they stack up to the same height because they’re sort of the same film.
I’ve been a little baffled when things have been hailed as the next best thing in action. The trailers for “The Raid” seemed to promise this, but it boils down to a martial arts extravaganza, the likes of which have been hailed as amazing previously when they came with Tony Jaa or Jackie Chan. ‘Merantau’ doesn’t follow a new formula – and more closely resembles a less religious ‘Ong Bak,’ where our humble lead character is inadvertently wrapped up in wackadoo high-kicking hijinks when he’s just trying to accomplish a simple task – but it does get some key elements down that make a mostly enjoyable, if slightly overlong, film.
The highlighted martial art this time is Silat, which is a mashmash style that maybe involves a lot of joint manipulation, but the subtleties of style differences are probably apparent to those who care. Iko Uwais (also in ‘Raid,’ responsible for much of the choreography here and there) plays Yuda, who is starting his “Merantau” – some kind of coming-of-age deal. For him, this means leaving his village and opening up a Silat training school in the big city. A run-in with a little thief and his cute big sister gets Yuda in the middle of some kind of prostitution trafficking ring, where everyone knows martial arts and the lead guy speaks with a funny and over-dramatic American accent.
Despite an honest attempt to give the main characters some background and personality, the plot is, unfortunately, mostly a wash. It’s sensible enough for a movie of this genre, and shot with a high color-contrast clarity that makes every scene pretty in that way that most movies look pretty now, but – and as with Ong Bak – the mixing of culture into the storyline just confuses and slows down things. There are action movies where the plot matters, but Merantau’s heart is martial arts, making the plot more of an afterthought. However, the blend at least works in favor for Iko, who has a good and believable face for either speaking or butt-kicking roles, and makes him a more personable and likeable lead than Tony Jaa.
But who cares. What Merantau does best is ramp up the action. The problem with a lot of these films is that you do a slow beginning until your first major fight scene, and after that everything’s sort of a repeat of the same, with larger slow-motion jumps or bigger explosions to make you think you’re watching a different scene. While ‘Merantau” can’t sustain the build completely through the end – after beating up 100 guys by yourself, a 1 on 1 match with the baddie will never be interesting, regardless of how equally matched each opponent is supposed to be – it keeps the energy up for a surprisingly long time, finding interesting elements to throw into each successive fight to keep it interesting.
It’s also shot very cleanly and yet artistically. I loved being able to see every punch and kick – as in no shaky cam – but not having a static camera. Gareth moves things around and up and down his fights in a fluid and involving manner.
Will Merantau blow yer socks off? If you’re expecting it to, probably not. Overall you have seen this before. But it’s excellently executed here, if a little wandering plotwise to get to where it’s going, and definitely worth a casual watch that will prompt at least a couple “holy balls how did he do that?” moments.
The shipyards were the perfect place for practicing their dance routine.
vaguely-offensive 