Headshot review: Toronto plays host to this relentless action movie as part of its Midnight Madness programme. Iko Uwais leads the cast.
Headshot review by Paul Heath at TIFF ’16.
The Raid‘s Iko Uwais goes full-on Jason Bourne for Headshot as part of the Midnight Madness segment at TIFF ’16.
This is a martial arts action film, very much in the same vein as Gareth Evans’ epic is directed by Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto and revolves around Uwais’ unnamed man who quite literally washes up on a beach in Indonesia with no knowledge of who he is and where he is from. A young doctor, Ailin (Chelsea Islan), takes him under her wing and nurses him back to health from serious head trauma and gives him he name of Ismael from Moby Dick. Once ably-fit, Uwais is discharged and his past slowly starts to catch up with him. Allin is then kidnapped by the villainous Lee (Sunny Pang), a vicious drug lord who will stop at nothing to lure him into his sights. Along the way to save the young doctor, Ishmael must endure and defeat multiple street-hoods, heavies and figures from his past who are relentlessly pursuing him.
If this sounds familiar then it should as Headshot clearly takes its inspiration from the likes of The Raid, the Bourne series and even Taken. Using cleverly choreographed camera-work and frenetic editing, both Stamboel and Tjahjanto stage a relentlessly paced action movie contain tons of violence. And by tons – we mean – TONS.
The intense action sequences manage, for the most part, to deliver ( a stand-out is a middle-point exit in style from the back of a bus), but the reams of unrelenting violence becomes too much for even the hardest of stomachs. That said, the film had the Midnight Madness crowd at TIFF ’16 cheering from the outset, right up to the film’s blood-filled climax.
Iko Uwais is on form as the lead protagonist, making up for his lack of dialogue by making the most of his fists. While the film doesn’t break new ground like The Raid five years ago – a film which also debuted at Midnight Madness, Headshot is a decent genre pic which action fans will surely devour entirely.
Headshot review by Paul Heath at the Toronto Film Festival, 2016.
Headshot will be released later in 2016 by Arrow Films. It is still awaiting a US street date.
