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★★★★★
1 January 2017
A movie review of HEADSHOT. |
“Are you loved by someone?” Ailin (Chelsea Islan)
The best action film of 2016. Warning: The movie lives up to the title. A lot of characters get shot, stabbed, bludgeoned and punched in the head. Full of invention and wild choreography, adrenaline driven glee will be writ large over your face. From melees where the lead is handcuffed to a table to a stunning single rolling take of a henchman dispatching lesser henchmen, HEADSHOT is soaked in deft style. Some sequences even have fights with actual pathos, as well as ones progressed like a game of chess.
The best action film of 2016. Warning: The movie lives up to the title. A lot of characters get shot, stabbed, bludgeoned and punched in the head. Full of invention and wild choreography, adrenaline driven glee will be writ large over your face. From melees where the lead is handcuffed to a table to a stunning single rolling take of a henchman dispatching lesser henchmen, HEADSHOT is soaked in deft style. Some sequences even have fights with actual pathos, as well as ones progressed like a game of chess.
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One has been wondering, since Mark Romanek’s Mick Jagger music video, ‘God Gave Me Everything’, why filmmakers are not making more use of the technique attaching cameras to bodies. It simply creates a kinetic, visceral energy. (See ACT OF VALOUR for a feature film example.) Combat is so quick without the need for crummy fast editing. Speeding up and slowing down frame rates is just a part of team HEADSHOT’s toolbox. A masterclass in battling unfurls.
When you re-team the stars of THE RAID 2 (Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Very Tri Yulisman), one of the most accomplished modern action movies, you must deliver, or risk disappointment. Do not worry, cinematic hubris is off the cards. The opening prison break sets out HEADSHOT’s stall. The camera vibrates in time with gunfire recoil. The sole arch-prisoner, Mr Lee (Sunny Pang), is behind a steal door, high risk, accused of child killing – turns out he has raised an army of lethal kids. An exponentially multiplied UNLEASHED (Jet Li’s second best film). We will come to meet some of Lee’s lost boys and girls. PETER PAN this ain’t, instead a modern day CONAN THE BARBARIAN – the elite few cruelly whittled down. Lee’s escape is brutal, and not the last of such scenes; wait till you get to a bus shootout blood bath.
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A fisherman finds the star of the film on a beach unconscious. Lots of scars pepper his body. Of course when you think of amnesiac badasses, who springs to mind? (JASON BOURNE shows how even a super-spy should be retired on a beach chillaxing.) A trite plot mechanic can be forgiven when what surrounds it is a movie with gusto. But still, after THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT and AMERICAN ULTRA, surely it is time to rest this character device?
Foreign particles are found in his brain, the hippocampus to be specific; a result of being headshot – cue flashback to henchwoman Rika (Julie Estelle) on a pier pulling the trigger. Ailin (Chelsea Islan) is a stunning doctor (her shampoo advert style spectacles are hilarious), who falls for this unconscious man. Is this an observation on how it is easier to love someone by projecting? Ailin names him Ishmael (Iko Uwais). When he comes around, it is just a matter of time, and part of audience anticipation, waiting for him to go Hulk. We see his skillset, lurking under the surface, come to the fore just at the last moment to protect Ailin. Why do movie amnesiacs not forget their physical training?
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Ishmael’s plethora of fight expertise is because he is the favourite protégé of the villain. Mr Lee looks worn out – a conscience commentary? He deals in guns and drugs, and is known as “the sea devil”. People keep underestimating him to their misfortune. Lee finds out “Ishmael” is alive and sends his top pseudo-offspring to fetch him: Rika, Besi (Very Tri Yulisman) and Tano (Zack Lee), among a coterie of soon-to-be-dispatched assailants.
There is a striking:
- Fight in a hospital,
- Fight in a warehouse,
- Bus fight (when a bullet gets pushed into an eye, make sure you eat after),
- Fight in a police station (goes on forever, varying pace so never gets boring, action movie junkies will be sated),
- Fight in a forest,
- Fight on a beach (think the standout fist fight in the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise – Ethan Hunt and Sean Ambrose in John Woo’s instalment), and a
- Fight in a bunker.
Wow!
HEADSHOT is not perfect. The lead is motivated by the rescue of Ailin – at least she is not helpless. A little girl is also kidnapped – hilariously she is the one to turn off the safety catch on a gun before it is used to take out a baddie.
The camera moves with verve. HEADSHOT is a real step up for directors, Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto (a.k.a the Mo brothers), from previous feature, KILLERS.
THE BOURNE IDENTITY meets DANNY THE DOG, what more do you want?!
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