6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 2.3 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
In Minangkabau, West Sumatra, Yuda a skilled practitioner of Silat Harimau is in the final preparations to begin his 'merantau,' a century's old rites of passage carried out by the community's young men which will see him leave the comforts of his village and make a name for him in the bustling city of Jakarta. After a series of setbacks, Yuda is left homeless and uncertain about his new future. Later on, he encounters an orphan named Astri and protects him from becoming a victim of a European human trafficking ring led by Ratger and his right- hand man Luc. With Ratger injured in the melee, he seeks both the boy and bloody retribution. Yuda is then forced to go on the run with Astri and her younger brother Adit. In the end, he has no choice but to face his attackers in an adrenaline charged finale.
Starring: Iko Uwais, Sisca Jessica, Christine Hakim, Yayan Ruhian, Donny AlamsyahForeign | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Indonesian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
I would love it if I never had to watch another southeast Asian martial arts movie about some on-the-verge-of-manhood country bumpkin leaving his village only to get dragged into the seamy criminal underbelly of the big city. I know, I know, it’s generally accepted that story is inevitably going to take a backseat to ass-kicking action in these kinds of films, but do they all have to be so similar? It worked for 2003’s Ong-Bak, the Tony Jaa- starring Bangkok brawler that introduced the world to the elbow-dropping, bone-crushing spectacle of Muay Thai boxing, but many of the successive kung fu flicks from the region have been little more than carbon copies. One of the most derivative is Merantau, Indonesia’s diminishing echo of an answer to Ong-Bak and the country’s first real martial arts movie in some 15 years. Oddly enough, it’s written and directed by a Welshman, Gareth Evens, who had previously shot a documentary in Jakarta about silat, the martial art style featured in the film. While Merantau is definitely a showcase for silat—the bad guys do get trounced mercilessly—the fights are structured around a story that’s overblown, sentimental, and all-too-typical.
Magnolia Home Entertainment brings Merantau to Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's probably fairly true to intent, but also looks garish and—there's really no kinder way to say this—cheap. The film was shot on high definition video, and from the looks of it, it was put through some heavy-handed color toning in post-production. Highlights are frequently blown out on bright colors—see the nighttime neons or the inflamed reds of the pimp's shirt in his first appearance—and skin tones have a tendency to look oversaturated. Black levels are adequately deep, but contrast—as you've probably gathered—often runs much too hot. Clarity is decidedly mixed. While there are moments when detail is comparatively refined, there are also entire scenes with murky delineation and soft, spongy textures. On the encode side of things, the presentation shows occasional signs of compression— banding in some color gradients, most notably—but nothing too distracting. Most of this disc's visual issues are purely aesthetic and have to do with the way the footage was shot and processed, but I think few would say the high definition image looks stunning or even pleasing.
As usual for its foreign language releases, Magnolia serves up two audio options. The disc defaults to an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio dub, but let me steer you away from that track from the get-go. Like most dubs, this one is laughably bad, and worse, it makes the film's pacing seem slower than it actually is, as the voiceover actors read their lines with a dry, molasses-like cadence. More natural, of course, is the native Indonesian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, which may not be the most sonically action-packed track you've heard this year—far, far from it—but, considering the film's miniscule budget, is at least fairly clean and dynamic. The fight scenes are dominated by some of the most generic rock guitar riffing imaginable, but the music fills the rears and carries plenty of punch. Otherwise, the surround channels are only sparsely used for quiet ambience and the occasional smash-bang- pow effect. (The weirdest audio moment is when you hear some snotty-sounding tears behind you; turns out it's a little crying kid hiding behind a corrugated iron door.) Vocals aren't the cleanest to have ever been recorded, but there's no awkward muffling or crackling in the dialogue. Keep your expectations low and you won't be disappointed with this track.
If all you're looking for is martial arts madness—that is, empty action—Merantau has you covered. Just don't expect anything even close to an honest and engaging story. I couldn't get into the film at all, but it proved popular at Fantastic Fest and other smaller genre festivals last year, so you may want to venture a rental if you're a devourer of any and all martial arts movies that get released on Blu-ray.
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