The Night Comes for Us: Movie Review

If you're familiar with the concept of K.I.S.S. or "Keeping It Simple, Stupid" then "The Night Comes for Us" is probably one of the perfect examples of that on film narratively-speaking. Its story was presented in such a way that anyone could get it in a whim, without the usual excess baggage that bog down the action, and with enough emotional room for you to be invested in its key characters. Even better, while its narrative may be straightforward, its action isn't and it was a bloody, gory, thrilling, and satisfyingly complex awesome time.

Ito (Joe Taslim) is one of the six elite enforcers of the Southeast Asian Triad called the Six Seas. The Six Seas are known for being brutal and ruthless. Ito and his team massacres a whole village as one of them stole drugs from the Triad. But after seeing the last survivor, a young girl named Reina (Asha Kenyeri Bermudez), Ito has a change of heart and decides to save Reina. Betraying the Triad as expected means that Ito and Reina are both being hunted down by the criminal group. To make sure that Ito doesn't survive, the Triad sends one of its best propects (Iko Uwais) to stop him at his heels. Can Ito and Reina find a way to survive the endless hoardes of thugs coming their way?

There comes a point in "The Night Comes for Us" that things went a little over-the-top even for us. The on-stop onslaught of enemies and goons became tiring and we have to admit that the fight choreography had a tendency to rely on one-on-one fights even with a swarm of enemies in the middle of sequences. Not that the choreography wasn't great (because it was), but it tended to remove the illusion of realism in some of the fight scenes. Other than those two things, we have no complaints with the film whatsoever. Narratively, it was simple and straight-to-the-point but it still had enough complexity to be meaty emotionally and dramatically. There were a few key plots within the film which revolves around redemption, friendship, and betrayal and "The Night Comes for Us" played the development of each in a very balanced and relatable manner. Honestly, the film caught us off guard with how heavily-invested we became with a huge swathe of its characters. Action-wise, this was obviously the film's strongest point. It wasn't perfect but the setup and the climactic fight scenes littered throughout its running time was very fun to watch. And we also appreciated the attention to detail. From broken bones to bloody limbs fying off, most of these were crafted with a nuanced awareness and "science" that what you'd expect to happen in real-life, how minor it may be, will actually happen on-screen. Director Tima Tjahjanto wasn't also afraid to employ different methods of camera work that made the experience even more thrilling and made the countless fight scenes feeling fresh. Overall, "The Night Comes for Us" was one of the best and purest action films we have seen recently. It definitely had enough oomph to make action fans salivate and those looking for more heart than grunt also happy.

Rating: 4 and a half reels

Why you should watch it:
- the simple narrative still had emotional and dramatic highs in all the right moments
- the fight scenes were complex and fun especially that climactic fight

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the excess gore might turn off some
- we won't deny that the nonstop hoardes of enemy waves became silly at times