Preman: Silent Fury Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Preman: Silent Fury Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 28, 2022

Last year's winner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, CODA, had a title that was not a reference to the ending of a musical piece but instead an acronym standing for Children of Deaf Adults. Preman: Silent Fury comes with a helpful text definition of what "preman" refers to, but this film might have just as easily been titled CODMA, a perhaps confusing moniker which would stand for Child of Deaf Martial Artist, which is the setup of this film in a nutshell. This is another effort made for Well Go USA's martial arts centered streaming service Hi-Yah! which perhaps unexpectedly transcends its genre roots to deliver both some adrenaline pumping action scenes but also some actual honest to goodness human emotion courtesy of a fraught but unshakeable relationship between deaf gangster father Sandi (Khiva Iskak) and his son Pandu (Muzakki Ramdhan).

A preman is defined as an Indonesian gangster, one who might be half triad member and half social justice warrior, and in fact there's an overt reference to social justice early in the film. Sandi is a member of one such group, but he also seems to be experiencing some pretty significant post traumatic stress disorder from some kind of childhood event which evidently ended in tragedy, and which has resulted in recurrent nightmares which feature what have to be described as so-called "furries", as odd as that may sound (take a gander at screenshots 6 and 9 if you question this assessment). When a gangland hit goes awry and Pandu is put in harm's way, Sandi and his son hightail it out of the city only to (of course) be chased, and that's basically the foundation of a story that is both completely peculiar at times but also rote enough that it may be able to work around any perception of it going a bit gonzo at times.

Preman: Silent Fury Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Preman: Silent Fury is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This is the rare film I've personally reviewed which features both a Red and Arri logo in its closing credits, and as minimal as that information may be, it's frankly all I've been able to dredge up about this release. As usual, I'm assuming a 2K DI. This is a rather striking looking feature, as can perhaps be gleaned from some fo the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. A number of scenes have been graded pretty aggressively to some at times unusual hues, but detail levels remain intact for the most part and are typically excellent. There is just the slightest hint of posterization in a nightclub scene bathed in teals and purples, and some of the digital grain becomes increasingly noisy looking in some bizarre flashback scenes featuring the "furries", as well as the completely lunatic climax, which won't be spoiled here. Occasional split screen moments (see screenshot 2) and even quasi-iris effects are utilized.

Preman: Silent Fury Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Preman: Silent Fury follows Well Go USA's tradition of providing both original language (in this case Indonesian) and English dub tracks in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or Dolby Digital 2.0. I toggled between the two DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks and didn't notice any discernable difference in general mix, but unless you're averse to reading subtitles, I'd recommend the original language track, which bristles with good surround activity in the action scenes, and even the narrative sequences that frequently feature Sandi and Pandu in outdoor environments. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available, and there are forced English subtitles for some of the sign language moments.

Preman: Silent Fury Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:30)

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Preman: Silent Fury Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Preman: Silent Fury manages to be both hallucinogenic and gritty in about equal measure, and its action scenes are well staged. There's perhaps an over reliance on incompetent villains in this piece, an aspect which is at least passingly played for comedy, but the central relationship between Sandi and Pandu is ultimately quite touching. Technical merits are solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.