Merantau (Review)

Shady character.

Shady character.

After being blown away by the brilliant simplicity and awe inspiring martial arts capabilities of star Iko Uwais last year it was inevitable that I would get bored waiting for The Raid 2 to arrive, and that my impatience would lead me to his earlier work.

In this case there is but one film to find, and while I expected little I was pleasantly surprised to find it actually isn’t that bad.

In Indonesian terms Merantau means a journey to manhood, where a young boy leaves the safety and security of home in order to go through enough to return a man.

In the case of Yuda (Uwais) this means leaving rural Java to head to the huge city of Jakarta, full of unfamiliar faces and fast talking shysters. On the first day Yuda finds his promised job is already gone, his money stolen and only his pride preventing him from calling home to ask for help.

It is in this moment of self doubt that Yuda witnesses things that provide him with the motivation and steel required to fulfil his path to manhood, in the form of evil white women smugglers… that’s evil white guys smuggling innocent Indonesian women. This makes Merantau the Indonesian The Protector, only with women replacing elephants.

But that’s not why we’re here. Bad stuff goes on everywhere every day. We’re here to see how Yuda kicks and punches others in aesthetically pleasing ways. It would be ridiculous to expect the hi-kicking hijinks to compete with The Raid – if they did we would be breathlessly talking about this film instead. The fights here are more mechanical and less fluid, but they do show promise. Uwais’ ‘meet you half way’ style seeks to cut off attacks and deflect and unsettle incoming opponents in much the same way Steven Seagal’s early films did, only without the clunky choreography and disconcerting ponytail.

There are no WOW moments in Merantau, although the closing fights are very good. Iko Uwais is not in the same athletic class as Tony Jaa – in truth Jaa lives in a one man class – but the signs are there in Merantau. The choreography is already impressive and the speed and fluidity coming. The Raid has already proven that he has greatness in him, if Uwais improves as much again as he did in the two years between are Merantau, we could be talking up something very, very impressive indeed upon the release of The Raid 2.

Final Rating – 7 / 10. More a curio companion piece to The Raid, but one that showed Uwais will not be a mere flash in the pan.

About OGR

While I try to throw a joke or two into proceedings when I can all of the opinions presented in my reviews are genuine. I don't expect that all will agree with my thoughts at all times nor would it be any fun if you did, so don't be shy in telling me where you think I went wrong... and hopefully if you think I got it right for once. Don't be shy, half the fun is in the conversation after the movie.
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2 Responses to Merantau (Review)

  1. lintang says:

    Glad you like Merantau. For me, story wise Merantau is a better movie than The Raid. Action wise, it’s very clear Merantau is the learning ground for the casts, director and crews as it’s their first movie. FYI, the rural setting of Yuda’s village is in West Sumatera, not Java. For this role, Iko (who in real life is native Jakartan) has to speak in Sumateran dialect and learn Sumatran style of silat from the fight choreographer. For The Raid, Iko designed the fight choreography mostly based on his own Jakartan style of silat. I guess that’s one of the reasons he’s more comfortable and looks improved in The Raid.

  2. OGR says:

    Always happy to be corrected by those in the know.

    Agree the story is deeper than that in The Raid, which was essentially a video game made real, but when it comes to martial arts movies the plot is essentially of secondary consideration. I know I can’t wait for Raid 2 – only a couple weeks away now.

    Check back then!

    Thanks for reading.

    OGR

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