A nagy 4-es

One of my favorite directors, Timo Tjahjanto, released a new action comedy for Netflix today and it's his weakest effort and the disappointment of the year for me. When I found out six months ago that Timo was making a new action comedy, I was looking forward to the next revolution (a new The Raid! A new Night Comes for Us, another evolution and a revolution of violence), but as time went by my enthusiasm started to wane. I was already very worried when I read Timo wrote on Twitter that he was glad that he could finally make a movie that his kids could watch, then the trailer came out and it looked like it was from another director. Now, after watching the movie, I can say that it's really misstep. I understand that every director wants to experiment and try something different from time to time, but Timo doesn't have strong storytelling skills, he's just a butcher who delivers extravaganza through Gore and action, and nothing else will probably ever work for him, so this experiment dedicated to his kids and Asian fans definitely didn't work for me. The plot is simple, a policewoman wants to find the person who killed her father, and he's a nutcase who leads a group of assassins, so she teams up with four former hitmen to help her get revenge. The premise itself sounds tailor-made for a good action flick, but there are a few buts. The main characters are supposed to be ex-hitmen, but they come across as a bunch of losers with zero martial arts experience and professionalism. The humour is cringe, cheesy, awkward and traditionally Asian – I can never get into it and it degrades the film a lot. The lighthearted tone doesn't suit it at all. Also, there are weak CGI effects for the explosions, and blood dust sprays during gunfights, really? Hong Kong inspiration in a negative way. Unfortunately, I'm not happy with the action itself either. The gunfights have bad sound and look like airsoft, the fights lack physicality, dynamics and proper contact – you can’t feel the punches – and the camera is strangely sped up, so the adrenaline is zero. It's as if without Taslim and Uwais, Tjahjanto can't cope, or the actors lack fighting skills. Lastly, there is no gore this time around. Off the top of my head, I can only think of about three scenes that are worth watching, which at a running time of 2 hours 20 minutes is downright mockery. The only one I enjoyed was the villain, who had about two nice knife scenes, but that's woefully short. Not like that, my friend. Disappointing year, but I believe the remake of Train to Busan will be a hit! (2022.12.15)