Timur - Directorial Debut of Iko Uwais Which Sadly Underperformed

This week, Netflix got plenty of new movies and series released, including several older shows from other networks that made me pretty busy playing catch up. But this film that was made available yesterday caught my attention so I decided to immediately watch it last night. All right then, why don't I get right to it.

Brief Story Line

A group of researchers that included few Indonesians and foreigners together with local guide Apollo (Aufa Assagaf) and Yoseph (Adhin Abdul Hakim) who went to East Indonesia were captured and taken hostage by terrorist group led by Tobias (Arnold Kobogau) and his right hand man Frans (Macho Hungan).

With negotiations going nowhere, the Indonesian government decided to do a military operation by the Special Forces Corps (Kopassus). Timur (Iko Uwais - Ash, Triple Threat etc) and his best friend Sila (Jimmy Kobogau) were among these elite soldiers who were assigned on this highly dangerous mission. 

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I knew about this film few months back when it was going to be released in Indonesian cinemas which actually intrigued me as it was the directorial debut of Iko Uwais, a household name for action films locally as well as internationally. But when I saw its trailer, I was a bit hesitant and thought I'll just wait it out till it's available via online streaming. And my decision was right as it only took less than half a year to watch it on Netflix who has been spoiling us with many Indonesian films that were quite recently released. 

When I saw this film, the beginning mentioned it was supported by Indonesian Army which gave the sense of having strong campaign agenda. As I continued watching, the feel got stronger especially when we were shown the training scenes which was kind of odd since plenty of Hollywood movies sometimes show the US forces training but it did not have a propaganda feel. Anyway things got more interesting as soon as Timur and the rest of the team were sent to the jungle and encountering villages under the terrorist group's grip. The action sequence here were not disappointing which should not be surprising as they were handled by Uwais team. However it was sometimes not too easy to enjoy with the constant movement of the camera. I guess Iko Uwais liked to use shaky camera technique which was not exactly my favorite.

Story wise it was not extraordinary. Netflix did mention in the brief synopsis that it was inspired by true story and also stated in its movie poster. There was the name of current Indonesian president Prabowo appointed as the leader of the military mission (portrayed by Jabal Nur who was quite famous due to his similarity). He did have real life experience leading military operation in Papua during the 1980s to free team of researchers. I guess it was the reason for stating it as True Story despite nothing mentioned by the filmmakers in the movie itself and no clear indication where it occurred and in what year. Funny thing that though it could be concluded everything happened in East Indonesia, the movie was shot entirely in West Java (as could be seen during closing credits). Btw there was no mid or post end credit scene here in case you are wondering. 

Most of the cast were East Indonesians to give authencity feel. Even the language spoken was Maluku, one of the island in that area. One of the writers Titien Wattimena (experienced in writing highly critical movies like Mengejar Matahari, Tentang Dia and many more) was from Maluku's capital Ambon. The other writer was Samuel Rustandi (12 Hari, Bad Guys TV series etc). Aside from few additional cast such as Yasamin Jasem (Pamali: Tumbal, Rumah Dinas Bapak etc) & Yusuf Mahardika as hostages Adinda and Navy respectively, Kiki Narendra (Abadi Nan Jaya, Berbalas Kejam etc) as village head Jacobus and some others, there were real life military personnels playing in various roles.

In the end I find this movie to be a bit underwhelming in term of entertainment value. The action was actually very good like what you would expect from Iko Uwais and the explosion & blood effects were just nice, but the shaking camera technique during the fights was not a plus point for me. The story and dramatic part was also a bit under developed (aside from some flashbacks involving Timur's childhood period that affect his current mission, the hostages situation were not sufficiently shown), plus there was a bit of strong political campaign which could be the factor casual audience reluctant to see in theaters.  It did not make too much a splash in the Box Office either, but who knows it might find redemption in Netflix with a lot more reach. It's too bad for Iko Uwais that his directorial debut was not a big success, but it was a good experience for him. So if you just want to see him performing dual role and enjoy some good quality actions, then I think you would be able to enjoy this. But if you wish for high quality story and some good drama, likely you would not be entertained. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars