What is The Night Comes for Us?
The Night Comes for Us is the latest action thriller from the country of Indonesia, having debuted on October 19th on Netflix alongside Daredevil’s third season. Indonesia is a country that has been cranking out exhilarating films for the martial arts community since Gareth Evans and his friendship with Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian gave us Merantau in 2009. Timo Tjahjanto directs this film and it stars a few familiar faces from popular Indonesian films: Joe Taslim, most known for his role as Jaka in The Raid: Redemption and a notable role in Fast and Furious 6, Julie Estelle, recognized as Hammer Girl in The Raid 2, and this film’s villain Uwais who played the protagonist Rama in both Raid films and most recently appeared in the Mark Wahlberg critical flop Mile 22, where despite receiving poor reviews, much critical praise shined through the darkness for Uwais.
Joe Taslim plays Ito, a member of a special group inside the Triads known as the Six Seas. While taking a gang of men to slaughter a village Ito turns on his own men to save one little girl. Now Ito must fight to get the little girl out of the country, having little to no concern for his own fate. A relatively simple story and a very common trope for a martial arts movie but it works quite well thanks to its characters. This film contains a plethora of rich and interesting characters outside of the top billed actors such as “White Boy” Bobby, Fatih, The Operator, Elena, and Alma. Each character is incredibly memorable for their personality, their purpose, or their weapon of choice. When the protagonist or the antagonist isn’t on screen one of these characters is and they take over the movie.
How’s the Action?
The action kicks off relatively fast and when it gets going it rarely lets up. When a fight ends for a character in one location, across town other characters are unknowingly about to face some serious trouble. The trouble I’m referencing in particular is the battle in which Fatih and “White Boy” Bobby face off against an onslaught of low level triad henchmen. This fight is an incredible war that feels like it goes on for more than half an hour when it maybe only goes on for about fifteen minutes. This fight doesn’t contain a lot of martial arts skill, but instead fast paced mayhem in every corner of the room. I was blown away with the precision it must have taken to create this moment, but I was also cringing and wincing over every injury and death that occurred every fraction of a second.
Martial Arts Flick or Gore Fest?
While researching Tjahjanto’s filmography, I found The ABCs of Death, V/H/S/2, Macabre, May the Devil Take You, and multiple other horror films listed. Among these is the 2016 Uwais film Headshot. After looking at some of his films, it’s no surprise that Tjahjanto, a connoisseur of slasher flicks, fills The Night Comes for Us with horrifying kills and a multitude of dismembered bodies. If 1991’s Ricki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is the Evil Dead of Kung Fu flicks then The Night Comes for Us is the Hostel of martial arts thrillers. Henchmen go down after one stab or slash while main characters can take a barrage of knives and machetes before finally biting the dust. Even the final battle between Uwais and Taslim involves whatever bladed items lie around while each character receives their fair share of wounds before the fight’s dramatic conclusion.
Dual Final Fights
If there is one phrase cemented into the minds of martial arts film fans, it’s “final fight”. Even a lack luster martial arts movie can be deemed watchable by the saving grace of a good final fight. The Night Comes for Us is lucky enough to feature two final fights set in different locations. The aforementioned fight between Joe Taslim and Uwais did something that not many films have the guts to do, when the fight begins there is no score or music drop, there is only the sound of the fight. Uwais’ Pencak Silat and Taslim’s mix of Judo and Kickboxing blend extremely well as the fight starts with Uwais’ Arian keeping Taslim’s Ito at bay before Taslim goes into a rage and stands toe to toe with the more skilled fighter.
Before this scene happens, however, three women are stealing the entire movie right out from under Taslim and Uwais. In a promised effort to protect the little girl in which Ito saved in the beginning, Estelle’s mysterious character The Operator takes on the previously mentioned terrifying duo of Elena and Alma. These three have incredible chemistry and it is on display in a wonderful flurry of back and forth choreography that sets itself apart from the rest of the film by focusing much more on fast paced martial arts rather than increasing amounts of blood. There are small moments of bloodshed within this fight but thankfully they don’t come anywhere near taking over the action.
Conclusion
The Night Comes for Us holds up to the canon that is Indonesian martial arts films. None of the characters are really ever fleshed out but, in a movie like this, that isn’t really necessary. The story is a simple one, but the film keeps it interesting by dressing it up as a non-stop ride of knives, guns, and intense brutality. While the fights are incredible and will keep viewers locked onto their screen they may be turned away by a massive amount of blood.
Nearly every fight from start to finish does its best to test the will power of its audience, and immediately deters anyone too squeamish or faint of heart. So, is this a gore fest disguised as a martial arts film or a martial arts film disguised as a gore fest? No matter which way anyone sees it they can all agree on one thing, it’s worth staying in for a night, popping some popcorn, and turning on Netflix.
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