Merantau (2009)

[CrazyFrog]

This looks interesting, a movie about Pencak Silat.

http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/a-look-behind-the-choreography-of-indonesian-martial-arts-film-merantau/

Courtesy of Twitch.

I like this branching out into various forms of martial arts by recent directors.

[daisho2004]

This was a preview from the front page of KFF this new movie looks awesome, can't wait to see it!

here is the link: http://www.kungfucinema.com/full-trailer-for-silat-actioner-merantau-6887

[BLfan]

Saw behind the scenes footage on Twitch but this new trailer really makes this look very promising.

[greenfan]

The lead guy's skills don't look amazing, but the choreo looks nice. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

[HyperDrive]

Great stuff. It's good to see other countries pick it up in terms of martial arts films while HK drops off.

[thedirtytiger]

I'm first in line to see this, it's right up my street. Look on youtube and see the behind the scenes, the director is a Westerner, maybe Welsh ? Congrats to him :DIt looks really good.

[Milkyway]

It's good to see other countries pick it up in terms of martial arts films while HK drops off.

HK are still creaming out great MA movies, what drops off?XD

Anyways, it's definitely intense but I'm already getting tired of the action look. Thank you Thailand...

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

I was kinda over the "Thai Style" of choreo when Chocolate came out!

This doesn't look too promising to me! And the fight scenes doesn't look like some farmer kid taking on gangsters.... it looks like malaysian stuntmen trying to remember the choreo... which it is. But you can't forget to act just because you're doing action! A lot of people don't realize this. But that's what the HK filmmakers, actors and stuntmen have got down to a science. And that is why they are still the best!

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

It's funny that no one complaints about old school choreo, or hk 80's style, but what you call "Thai" style, whatever that means, is oh so redundant. The martial art feature in this is Penjak Silat, and I find it looks a lot different then Muay Thai. I think you guys are a bit quick to put etiquette on something... I think this just looks great. They maybe show too much in the preview though.

[KUNG FU BOB]

But you can't forget to act just because you're doing action! A lot of people don't realize this. But that's what the HK filmmakers, actors and stuntmen have got down to a science. And that is why they are still the best!

True. No one does it like HK.

It's funny that no one complaints about old school choreo, or hk 80's style, but what you call "Thai" style, whatever that means, is oh so redundant. The martial art feature in this is Penjak Silat, and I find it looks a lot different then Muay Thai. I think you guys are a bit quick to put etiquette on something... I think this just looks great. They maybe show too much in the preview though.

But, I have to agree with Psycho. People sure seem quick to dismiss stuff now days. Personally, I'm looking to see cool martial arts fighting, so I'm open to any style, from any country. I haven't ever really felt like "Okay, that's enough of that" except the over-edited, seizure-inducing camera nonsense of recent years... TRANSPORTER 3. But that's a BS way of filming action, not the action itself. Sure, a lot of the time I wish that the films surrounding the action were more solid, but I still enjoy them. But to each his own.

It does seem weird to me that a lot of people seem to be sick of "Thai action", but that's only after a handfull of films. Yet, they've watched Chanbara or kung fu films for 40 years but they're cool with that.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the art of Penjak Silat on the screen in MERANTAU, and I hope it's good.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

I liked the style in THE REBEL.... that didn't feel stale to me!

And im not knocking thai or viet or malay action! I, personally, am not that into these styles. Im more of a HK style type o' dude! But to each their own.

I just got a little tired of all the fanboy mentality, so quick to dismiss HK style as old and passé, when Tony Jaa and the likes, hit the scene!

NONE of these people would have anywhere to go, if it hadn't been for HK, paving the way for them, for 40 years. And if you examine the choreo in ONG BAK or whatever, you will notice that they are working with an extremely limited varation of moves. It is just kick, elbow, knee, lather, rinse, repeat...... shot from different angles. It is by no means bad. It just gets pretty old, pretty fast. Chocolate being the movie where I really found myself utterly bored by the fight scenes. all these new guys and gals have a lot of potential, and have already proven themselves more than competent....

But honestly, they are not fit to shine Sammo's shoes, get Donnie's coffee or wash Lau Kar Leung's jockstrap, untill many years from now! And they gotta switch it up, cuz people have seen everything. And for the love of buddha..... write some better stories, or any stories for that matter. Train actors in acting, and not just action, and then im sure they'll be just fine.

[Milkyway]

The martial art feature in this is Penjak Silat, and I find it looks a lot different then Muay Thai.

Sure it is but I wasn't talking about style. The thing is that every new MA movie from different countries (be it Malaysia, France or Indonesia) so far always has that Thai/trickster look in their action scenes since Tony Jaa came out with Ong Bak. I respect that the action in these movies tries to reach out for new heights and showcase authentic and special effect-free fights as much as possible but I just feel that the Thai look in the action make it seem like they are copying Thailand action movies. I'm more into variety and distinction in everything regarding MA film-making (just like TibetanWhiteCrane pointed out). Just look at SPL and Flash Point. The stuff is as intense and powerful as Tony Jaa's and any of these new movies yet looks so different and separative when it comes to the look and storytelling.

People sure seem quick to dismiss stuff now days. Personally, I'm looking to see cool martial arts fighting, so I'm open to any style, from any country.

Indeed but I think that every movie doesn't have to use Thailand as an example of making new and refreshing action. I'm sure these other countries' got their own flavor in film-making so I don't see any wrongs of them using their own style instead of being under influence.

[KUNG FU BOB]

I hear ya guys. It's a shame that when most filmmakers and stuntmen see something new and impressive, they think "I could do that" instead of "Hmmm, that's great. Now what can I do?".

[lillippa328]

^Ong Bak 2 shows that it can be done with more versatile...

i think it looks good

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Haven't seen Ong Bak 2 yet, and is anxious to see what Jaa does with multiple styles.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

I hear ya guys. It's a shame that when most filmmakers and stuntmen see something new and impressive, they think "I could do that" instead of "Hmmm, that's great. Now what can I do?".

Indeed!

I think that Donnie is an example of the latter! When I saw that fight with him vs Ngai Sing in Flashpoint, I was practically giddy! that was some funky fresh shit right there! The best fight I have seen in the last decade or so!

[odioustrident]

I think it is safe to say that movies like Sha Po Lang and Flash Point are reacting to this whole Thai craze; they've just tried to retain the Hong Kong flare with their action scenes (I think successfully). Doesn't look like the box office/distribution sales agree with us though.

[KUNG FU BOB]

Indeed!

I think that Donnie is an example of the latter! When I saw that fight with him vs Ngai Sing in Flashpoint, I was practically giddy! that was some funky fresh shit right there! The best fight I have seen in the last decade or so!

I think it is safe to say that movies like Sha Po Lang and Flash Point are reacting to this whole Thai craze; they've just tried to retain the Hong Kong flare with their action scenes (I think successfully). Doesn't look like the box office/distribution sales agree with us though.

I can't remember where I heard this, but someone said to Donnie "Looks like Tony Jaa is making Thailand the new leader in action filmmaking" and he got really pissed. So his incredible work in SPL and FLASHPOINT was his "Oh yeah?!" to that. Thank God his ego was bruised so he could create those huh? Definitely some of the best fighting ever committed to film came from those two films.

[Guest Yi-Long]

Yeah, I complained about this before, that people are already complaining that Tony Jaa and other thai movies are kinda all doing the same kinda action. First of all, I strongly disagree with that statement: I feel Ong-Bak brought something very fresh and new and amazing to the martial arts cinema genre, and TYG was far from a repeat, and already a huge improvement, with different styled and very ambitious fights.

Tony Jaa has made much bigger steps in his first 3 movies that Jackie did in his first 10-20 movies. Let's not even mention Jackie's steps over the last 15 years(!). Tony seems like a guy who's very ambitious when it comes to bringing us an experience we haven't seen before. Ong-bak did that. TYG did that, and from what I hear, he did it again with OB2.

Thai action cinema is now discovering and developing itself, and obviously some movies will look at what other movies have done, and go in that same direction. Just like we have always seen in the past when a genre suddenly becomes 'popular', be it from musicals to westerns to 70's HK Kung Fu to 90's wire-fu, etc. it's normal. You can't expect each and every movie to break new boundaries. It comes in waves, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, back on-topic. This movie at least looks pretty interesting, nice cinematography from what we can see from the trailer, but the fight-scenes are a LITTLE 'off' at times, with a couple of times where you see people 'waiting' before they make their punch/kick, or obviously aiming for a spot where the target is already long gone (punches and kicks in a fightscene should always feel like they were 100% intended to hit).

The angles all seem pretty good though, so it's not too close up or boring.

Not sure yet about the skills of the main guy. Seems OK, but not (yet?) overly impressed by anything I saw as far as moves/skills go. That isn't a 'must', cause I'd rather have an OK martial artist in a greatly choreographed fight, instead of a brilliant martial artist in a lame fight-scene, but it would raise interest obviously

[jiujitsu77]

like any "subculture" (and yes...i do refer to us KF nerds as a subculture...we really get into our stuff...and rightly so) we tend to become "purists". kinda like how old punkers HATE new punk and so on. im not gonna lie..im kinda that way to.

i agree to a point that i think this film does go for that "thai" action feel. i would hope that a film that deals with such a lethal art as silat would try a diffrerent approach seeing as real silat deals with alot of infighting and killing blows....but all of us here know how hard it is to portray that type of fighting on screen

hey...the film looks ok and it's got some young talent. let's give it a chance

[Dragon Ma]

Looks pretty good, that stunt with the pole sold me.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

A great action director/choreographer can make any fighting style look good! So that's no excuse. They just played it safe. I would rather see a full on Silat movie!

[Drunken Monk]

I think it's nice to see something different from the "Let's do what Tony Jaa did" trend that seems to be pumping movies out of Thailand.

While I wasn't overly impressed by the trailer (the choreography didn't look like it had power behind it), I am interested to see how this particular martial art is demonstrated on screen.

It's movies like this that keep things going. It's good to see other martial arts having their glory through films. Who knows what's next in line? To me, that's very exciting.

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

I totally understand where you are all getting at, I just think you are being unfair.

In all art forms, there are trends, and people who follow them, trying to add their own perspective to it. Sometimes, the form may not seem that original, but the substance gives it a new spin, thus making it original in its own way.

In the case of martial arts movie, trends have been espacially present throughout it's history. How many Bruce Lee like movies have we seen? How many Kung Fu comedy in the years of Snake in the Eagle's shadow and afterwards? How many Police Story action style movies in the 80's? How many 19th century wire-fu extravaganzas after Once upon a time in China? This particular genre works by trends and has always been.

As far as Silat not being properly depicted, well is MMA properly depicted in SPL or Flashpoint? No, because it is not the point. You can count on a hand the movies that have faithfully depicted a particular style, the most obvious case that comes to mind being Black Belt.

You can't expect the genre to reinvent itself every year with every movie, it has never does, like any other art form.

Maybe Merentau will suck, doesn't look like it but who knows... I just think you guys are quick on the judgement front. It seems you guys use two weights, two measures ( litteral translation of a french expression that means judging two things with different scales.) in this particular case.

[wuxiawuxia]

Let's clarify a few things... this particular Pencak Silat (Penjak Silat is an old spelling) is an Indonesian martial arts, not Malaysian. Although Indonesians and Malaysians are both have the same roots, they're Malays, this is still a unique Indonesian martial arts film from Indonesia.