Title – The Night Comes for Us (2018)

Director – Timo Tjahjanto (Headshot)

Cast – Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Sunny Pang, Shareefa Daanish

Plot – Gangland enforcer Ito (Taslim) gets caught up in a violent Triad war when he returns home from a stint abroad.

“I was their instrument of death”

Review by Eddie on 05/11/2018

You’ve got to hand it to the Indonesian’s, they sure know how to make a hyper-violent, over the top and eminently watchable action film.

Ever since Welsh born Gareth Evan’s ventured to the country and unleashed The Raid onto the unsuspecting movie-going public in 2011 and then followed it up with the even more epic Raid 2 in 2014, the Indonesian film community (lead by a plethora of Raid veterans both in front of and behind the camera) has been holding the torch for what Evan’s has started.

Returning to the genre he visited with the perfectly adequate Headshot in 2016, director Timo Tjahjanto goes next level here with his Netflix distributed The Night Comes for Us, a film that may just be the most insanely violent and vicious action movie released in the last decade and one that makes The Raid films look like child’s play, even if at the end of the day it remains a more pale imitation of Evan’s film’s that had a flow and vibe that may never be bettered.

Featuring a downright pointless plotline of Joe Taslim’s Triad member turned child saviour Ito trying to protect a young girl he saved from certain death from a bloodthirsty collection of gang members and one time friend Arian played by the Raid star Iko Uwais, Night is but an excuse for Tjahjanto and his team to unleash a hellish fury of beatdowns, dismemberments and all round carnage as Ito fights for his survival while taking out the goons out to hunt him.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this is a film not for the faint of heart as the amount of bloodshed here will likely be a turnoff for many unsuspecting Netflix consumers who stumble upon this seemingly innocuous action thriller for a casual night of enjoyment upon their couch.

There’s new uses found for hazard signs, cow bones, pool balls and all manner of instruments that are at once seemingly innocent but all of a sudden tools of death as Tjahjanto and his game and skilled crew set about delivering set piece after set piece of insane eye-popping action beats that culminate in what’s likely to be one of the most memorable fight scenes of the year in a warehouse that will have you breathing a sigh of relief once over.

It’s in these moments that Night becomes far more memorable and breathtaking that much of Hollywood’s action fair and if one day Tjahjanto and his team can match story with the action, the results are likely to be something quite special indeed.

Final Say –

When the fists (and various other components) fly The Night Comes for Us offers up some spectacular and unrelentingly frenetic action that’s quite special but outside of this, Tjahjanto film suffers and becomes another film walking in The Raid’s ever prominent shadow.

3 box cutters out of 5