DJariya

Below is the 1st teaser. Won't be released until February. Apparently this is still in production.

Julie Estelle (Hammer Girl from The Raid 2) is also in this.

Solid Snake

still waiting for Gareth Evans' next film. Is there something going on in Indonesia that i don't know? What's their action genre like? Cuz this looks like it's from Evans. Is this just the indonesian look to it? For action, that is.

this looks good.

RichC2

In this case, they all worked with each other at various times. The Mo Brothers directed this, they directed in a similar style on Killers, which was Produced by the same company as The Raid, (they were also thanked on The Raid.)

candyrocket786

Looks like filipino Bourne (which I'm fine with).

Solid Snake

Why Filipino specifically?

Dan

The obvious answer would probably be considered a personal attack.


This looks good. I got a Bourne vibe too. I'm in.

Brian T

As might be noted by the logo at the head of that trailer, the world premiere is at TIFF this Friday night (Sept. 9). Got my tickets in hand but I'm keeping expectations in check since it's Midnight Madness, where the "experience" often artificially brightens the collective's opinion of the product being offered. Plus that 117 minute runtime has me a little antsy.
http://www.tiff.net/films/headshot/

Dan

Damn you for living in Toronto, Brian T.
I'm already planning to go to TIFF in 2017, but man... this year is looking pretty fantastic.

Anyway, you're right about the experience factor regarding Midnight Madness. I remember loving a few movies I saw at MM at TIFF in 2005, but revisiting them, they... weren't nearly as good as I had thought.

Brian T

Midnight Madness is definitely the most extreme example of the phenomenon, but I've noticed it in most other programmes as well. I think it's part and parcel of TIFF's relatively unique status (among the world's largest fests) as "the people's festival". Unlike at, say, Cannes or Sundance, the vast majority of moviegoers here are "regular folk", a combo of commoner film junkies mixed with pie-eyed Joes and Janes just popping downtown (or into town) for a little stargazing and patio food. While I'm sure that studios and distributors rely in some small part on the crowd reaction -- both in the theaters and through social media and other venues afterward -- I'm certain they must be aware of this phenomenon by now, especially after many high-profile, standing-ovation "scoops" here went on to fizzle at the box office. This Variety article from the other day nicely outlines several other factors in the shifting media landscape that I believe could hamper most film festivals somewhat in the long term. Even though the "experience" of going will still be an enjoyable one for many years to come, I do question if fests will one day serve more as venues for building audience awareness and filmmaker networking more than for making big-dollar deals and all that stuff.

Back to Midnight Madness and the whole "experience trumps the film" thing, I usually see about three-quarters of the MM shows in any given year (even this year). It's all good fun, especially when you know very little about the film or the people who made it, but most years I'm lucky if even one of them will rate highly enough to make it into my home collection. Certainly THE RAID was one of those films a few years back (despite it's screenplay essentially being someone else's work), which gives me small hope for HEADSHOT tonight, but I guess we'll see.

(btw, hope your plans for TIFF 2017 work out!)

Norm de Plume

I'm not energized by the plot synopsis, but I have dug all of Uwais's Indonesian flicks, even though I find Silat somewhat silly-looking and ineffectual, what with all the body swiveling and redundant hand motions.

Brian T

Saw it tonight. The length didn't bother me as much as I feared it would, since it's pretty much wall to wall punchouts where every swing, smack and stomp is emphasized by doing pretty much the same thing to the camera, with added vibration to boost the tension in those little staredowns before the fights begin. To compensate, the plot's pretty thin: amnesiac takes on the whacko drug lord/gun runner who raised him (and a handy batch of other hench-people) from childhood to be a brutal killing machine, then shot him in the head and dumped him in the ocean for one reason or another. Further motivation comes when the kindly doctor who revived him gets taken hostage with an unrelated little girl after a bus massacre. And . . . fight!

I'm ok with the silat because it's a still a rather fresh screen-fighting style (as compared to the standard-bearers from Hong Kong in decades past), and here it's complemented by some nice bits of traditional Chinese-style martial arts as well as a LOT of big machine guns emptying, like, half a clip into just about anyone on the receiving end. On the downside, this is the kind of movie where these massive room broom weapons (see the trailer) only pierce things when the screenplay demands it; some bodies get shot clean through, others are used as shields and the people propping them up from behind are unscathed when bullets appear to penetrate quite deep into the corpse in front. There's also moments where a character will be sort of hiding just around the corner in a room, and other characters are not supposed to be able to see them yet are geographically situated where they quite clearly would see the hidden person, or at least enough of them to wound an arm or take off a kneecap. If that makes any sense. In other words, don't overthink the technical details.

The film DOES live up to it's title, though: there's all kinds of blunt force head trauma in this one: a chopper through the cheeks, a face puncturing by retractable police-style truncheon, assorted thwacks, splits and pummelings (including one head-caver, although that's kind of old hat these days), and even the "bounce-this-guy's-head-down-a-vertical surface" gag made famous in The Raid. The fight choreography is expectedly top notch and furiously paced -- particularly in a big police station showdown between Uwais and former comrade Zack Lee -- even if it's a wee bit haunted by those "but why wouldn't he just ...?" moments.

I'd rate it an ok 7 out of 10.

More later perhaps. Kinda late now.

In the meantime, here's the Q&A but BE WARNED the audio is pretty much shit thanks to TIFF no longer running the mics through ALL of the theater's speakers. As noted in the video description, the only value here is to see the last couple of minutes for a surprise bit from Iko Uwais and Sunny Pang, who plays the villain:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qQvmJbZoHVY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

asianxcore

I love The Mo Brothers, specifically Timo Tjahjanto's scripts. In a relatively short time on the scene he's written some very fun scripts. His segment for V/H/S 2 (which he Co-Directed with Gareth Evans) was awesome, as was his segment for The ABCs of Death 2. I also loved the short he did 'Dara', even though it didn't translate 100% to me into the full-length feature (Macabre).

I'm really looking forward to seeing this.

He took a bit of a break after The Raid 2 was released. He released a Test Action Sequence short not too long ago.

On his Instagram account he posted pictures of a new script he's been writing as well as letting everyone know it's going to be a while until a follow-up to The Raid 2, as everyone involved (including himself) are working on new & exciting projects/opportunities.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZdrwseAC9Jw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Solid Snake

Yeah. I saw that when it came out.

He should use that girl again. She has a unique look to her.

devilshalo

Saw this last night and wasn't fond of the camera movement. I liked the end fight as a more 'traditional' type of martial arts fight. Felt like Bourne meets Avenging Eagle. Prefer the Raid films over this.

Why So Blu?

Looks insane!

asianxcore

This film is getting a Blu-Ray release in the UK in early-June!

Why So Blu?

To blindbuy or not to blindbuy?

mrhan

Thanks for the heads up.

I actually hate making decisions like this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Headshot-Bl...words=headshot

Why So Blu?

And of you don't want to wait until June for that BD -- Amazon has it for rent or digital HD purchase right now:


https://www.amazon.com/Headshot-Iko-...words=headshot

mrhan

Damn you! Now I'm gonna have to get on Prime to watch it this weekend.

csant

yeah, me too.

stingermck

Wow looks great. Same price on VUDU if you want to go that route

Why So Blu?

VUDU it is!

Why So Blu?

I'm watching this on VUDU now and 30 minutes in it is fucking cool as hell! Oh yeah, the violence is fucking out of this world.

Why So Blu?

Watched it twice today. Oh yeah, this is the cousin of The Raid. It was fan-fucking-tastic.