A man with memory loss wakes up in the hospital, and together with his horny doctor, he tries to find out who he is and why someone shot him in the head. Meet the Indonesian Jason Bourne.
Headshot is directed by Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto. In the lead role, we find Iko Uwais.
Headshot is a hard-hitting movie that offers a lot of brutal action scenes, but the runtime of almost 2 hours is too long. This is a movie that could have had a runtime of 90 minutes. If it had been 90 minutes, we would have gotten a much tighter script that had engaged more.
There are many long action sequences in the movie. The best action scene takes place at a police station where the hero has two brutal fights. In these scenes, there is a lot of wild energy, and you can see where Timo Tjahjanto took his inspiration from when he two years later made the action classic, The Night Comes for Us. This is raw energy! It’s so fun and in-your-face violence!
Time never stands still. The hero beats up and kill the people who are trying to kill him, but they put up a fight. So you see he’s getting tired towards the end of the movie when his body has taken a beating. He meets old acquaintances, and there are many fight scenes one against one. You can call these opponents mid-bosses before the protagonist finally meets the main boss. But not all of the fight scenes are good. Two fight scenes don’t impress.
The action choreography in Headshot feels a little flat and repetitive compared to the action choreography in The Night Comes for Us. There’s an action scene in the woods I didn’t like at all. The camera shakes, and the scene tries to mimic the legendary fight scene from SPL when Donnie Yen and Wu Jing have their fantastic fight. But the entire scene becomes monotonous and repetitive. And the shaky camera doesn’t exactly help to make the scene better.
Iko Uwais is a bit on and off. Since he has memory loss and a bullet hole in his head, he becomes a little passive before he fights back and turns the violence up to 8 out of 10. It takes time before he wakes up, and he gets beaten up in the fights. So he isn’t a superhero, like Donnie Yen and Jet Li.
So over to the biggest surprise of the movie, Chelsea Islan. I hate this actor in the May the Devil Take You movies. She is terrible in those movies with her disgusting overacting. But then it turns out she can act in heavier drama roles. She’s great in this empty movie when her life is in danger and she has to fight for her life. She’s believable, and she impressed me in the most dramatic scenes. And it’s always a big plus when the lovely Julie Estelle is in the movie. She was also hot in The Night Comes for Us.
Headshot is an intense and violent movie with some brutal violence that will excite martial arts fans. I also liked the movie score, which creates a wonderful rhythm and atmosphere in the best scenes. When people are shot, there’s a lot of energy pouring out of the screen. It smells of death and destruction in these scenes, and I love it!
If you love action movies, you have to watch Headshot. It’s an entertaining movie, but it’s a movie that should have been half an hour shorter. The story isn’t good, and what’s wrong with the horny doctor who wants to fuck our hero? What kind of person is this woman who falls in love with a man she doesn’t know? He has tons of scars all over his body and a bullet hole in his head! She is so horny and desperate! What’s wrong with her? Did she see Iko Uwais’ penis and decided that this is her penis and man? What’s wrong with her? Why is she watching over him like a horny doctor reading Moby Dick? What’s happening? Sick, sick woman! My phone number is *********. Call me!
If you love action movies, you have to watch Headshot. It’s an entertaining movie, but it’s a movie that should have been half an hour shorter. And the story is shit! The whole movie feels empty and stupid.
What I like about these Indonesian action movies is that the best movies mix martial arts and violence you associate with slasher movies. The cinematography and the movie score are usually fantastic. There’s a special atmosphere that’s created in these movies that can only be found in Indonesian movies. You just know that you are watching an Indonesian movie. So I never get enough as long as there are skilled people in front and behind the camera.