Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto's Headshot is a film that wastes no time establishing its intentions to the viewer, opening with a scene of ultra-violence that places psychics and logic a distant second to its masculine-soaked action and bloodshed. Featuring many of the same action and stunt choreographers responsible for Gareth Edward's The Raid series, Headshot is a film that features some impressive stunt work and electric fight sequences, gleefully playing in a world of brutality that is full of creativity and lots and lots of bloodshed. Iko Uwais stars as the main protagonist, a young man who washes ashore with amnesia from a serious head injury, whose diabolical past comes back to haunt him shortly after he is nursed back to health by a young doctor, who unsurprisingly ends up playing the primary love interest in this twisted tale of redemption. Headshot is a film that is so brutal in its violence that it routinely finds the comedy in its absurdity, a film that certainly takes its narrative seriously but simultaneously acknowledges the excessive nature of its violent, blood-soaked intentions. In the middle of intense fight sequences, Headshot routinely uses physical humor to break up the weight of its macho-soaked aggression, with moments of physical comedy, that dare I say, feel like they belong in a Buster Keaton movie- a Buster Keaton movie where broken bones are in very high abundance. I don't want to overstate this unique humor aspect of Headshot, as it could certainly have used a bit more humor, but for a film that is so built around aggression and vengeance, these comedic moments really shine through. While the fight choreography and creativity of violence is without question the most impressive quality of Headshot, the film does feature a host of stylistic decisions such as speed-ramping, frantic camera movement, and expressionist flashback sequences, all of which work to varying effects of success. At times, the frantic camera movements became distracting to the skilled fight choreography, while the speed ramping certainly aided in intensifying the weight of the fight sequences, but Headshot is a film that from a directorial perspective isn't exactly trying to reinvent the wheel, though it's hard to imagine someone not being engaged in this film from start to finish. Featuring a narrative that essentially tells a twisted father/son story on steroids, Headshot is a film that never really achieve many of its more dramatic intentions, with many of the moral repercussions of a man having to come face-to-face with the heinous actions he committed never really paying off. The romantic aspect of the film also feels overly choreographed in the writing, and the film's deconstruction of dependency and morality never comes to fruiition, but its hard to really care all that much when you consider the title of the film is "Headshot", which should make the film's primary intentions quite clear. Featuring a relatively high-concept story that is intriguing though ultimately half-baked, Kimo Stamboel & Timo Tjahjanto's Headshot is an exhilarating action film full of gleeful violence, a film that is sure to enjoyed by anyone who is a fan of action choreography, stunt-work, and bloodshed in their cinema.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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