The Night Comes For Us is a 2018 thriller about a gangland enforcer, caught amidst a treacherous and violent insurrection within his Triad crime family upon his return home from a stint abroad.
It’s not just imperative to mention the level of horrific violence in Timo Tjahjanto‘s latest bloody battle on screen but obligatory, my duty here not just to offer an assessment of this new Indonesian film but honestly warn interested viewers that, even if you’re a fan of hard edged fighters, this will reset your boundaries. That’s not to say there’s reason to turn away, for despite the horrors, this is a highly compelling chiller that somehow absolutely defies the odds in staying just inside one line while gleefully leaping over another.
We learn that in Southeast Asia, eighty percent of drugs, weapons and people being smuggled in and out of the area is controlled by the Triad, with an elite group called the Six Seas (six anonymous men and women) keeping reign over it all with a special brand of menace. One of them is Ito (Joe Taslim), who, after a brutal massacre leaves a seaside village in ruins for stealing triad money, defies orders and saves the life of a little girl, killing a gang of Triads instead. Her name is Reina (Asha Kenyeri Bermudez), and he hopes to give her a new identity and flee Indonesia with her and his girlfriend Shinta (Salvita Decorte). Naturally, that’s not going to be easy as his betrayal calls in a host of those looking to see him dead. Now he’s got a real fight on his hands.
So it’s a paper thin plot, designed entirely to generate a single motivation: blood-soaked action, though to be sure, in Tjahjanto’s highly competent hands, that action is not spared for a moment, almost relentlessly splattering the screen from a jarring opening fight (honestly, it’ll shock you) to its final frames. From a strip club to a butcher shop to the inside of a moving police van and everything in-between, The Night Comes For Us is a dizzying spectacle of gruesome chaotic fury, with all sorts of madness in tow. I can’t stress enough, this is brutal.
It’s not really all that important to get into the details of the myriad characters on display here, as there are quite a number of them, some gathering in defense of Ito and the girl but most savagely hunting them. The film is a string of set pieces connected by this relationship, Tjahjanto barely interested in anything but the consequences of such. To that end, there’s not much dialogue, the film relying on punches to tell the story, and there are a whole lot of them … and kicks, and knives, and clubs, and cleavers, and guns, and cars, and just about anything else that can be made a weapon. It’s astonishingly innovative if you were take a moment to appreciate such. Granted, that’ll most likely be the last thing to pop into your mind, with ick being the first, but still, it’s there.
Kudos to Tjahjanto for never once letting this become silly, despite the obvious potential. This is not a cartoony beat-em-up stylized like a comic book come to life, instead a gritty, troublingly authentic experience that while certainly absurd is harrowingly lifelike. The stunt work and choreography from the film’s crew, led by Iko Uwais (who has a significant role in the film as well), is impressive, mixing in some nauseating visual effects that break from genre standards and dip deep into straight-up horror.
What’s more exciting is the cast of women, playing both sides of the fight for Reina, taking part in the vicious carnage in equal parts to the men, though there is a decidedly more sophisticated approach to their bloodlust, if that’s possible. They get the best fight in the movie. If you’re searching for something with meaning or perhaps looking for an action film with some challenge, this won’t be it, this satisfying on a far more baser level. It’s Kill Bill meets Jackie Chan run through a meat grinder. Maybe two. It ain’t for everyone, but for those it is, it’ll tip the scales.