The Night Comes for Us

Slaughter filmed in a highly cultivated style. The story is just chaotic filler between action scenes full of raw meat, bones and blood. The characters have strange motivations and frequently behave illogically, but that doesn’t really matter too much. Friends from The Raid simply had a bit of fun together and give us several unforgettable fight scenes and painful moments served on a silver platter. Uwais seems to quite enjoy his unconventional role, but his performance is more or less standard. Julie Estelle reserved for herself the best fight involving two lesbian killers. Girl power! (04/29/2019)

A brutal splatter romp, with a story, so to speak, about a hitman who rethinks his priorities at the last minute and doesn't shoot a little girl, then goes on to kills dozens of punks to protect her. It's an impressive fighting game, unspoiled by the traditionally extremely fast-paced Asian action full of incredible stunts. But unlike The Raid 2, which it wants so much to resemble, it doesn't have the epic breadth of plot or the refined visual aesthetic. All that's left is a similar brawler, with a poorer plot but a hell of a style and finally more space for Julie Estelle. (02/05/2019)

A bloody action flick from Indonesia with shooting, stabbing, cutting, chopping, breaking and beating aplenty – all happening as a truly sublime and jaw-dropping choreography of rough fights. The pacey direction is full of little gems and entertains from start to finish. I don’t know what else to say. In short, it’s a must see – an absolute must for The Raid 1 and 2 fans. [Sitges 2018] (10/07/2018)

The Night Comes for Us dangerously breathes down the neck of its rival in the same genre (Raid 1 and Raid 2). Once again, Iko Uwais appears, but this time he was handed the script and simply told, "Play the villain." I'm not at all used to that, but so be it. The story is somewhat lacking, but then again, The Raid doesn't boast much in that department either, and look at the classic it turned out to be. I could easily see Joe Taslim in a Hollywood blockbuster, as he truly has talent. When it comes to the action scenes, all I can say is FANTASTIC work. Seriously. At moments, my jaw literally dropped (um, I mean, my lower jaw), because choreography like this is rarely seen. And those gore scenes, WOW, simply WOW! No blood was spared, and each kill was truly brutal. The highlight scene for me isn't even the final fight between Taslim and Uwais, but rather the ultimate showdown between Julie Estelle and two female assassins. It has great camera work, the fight itself was processed very quickly but clearly, and the use of colors was outstanding. Not even Tarantino in Kill Bill reached such a high level of quality. The ending was surprising, and while I wouldn't expect a sequel, it's true that with Julie Estelle in the lead, it could probably work. Over time, I might even consider giving it the highest rating, as I see potential for a cult classic here. I give it 84%. (12/23/2018)

One big slaughter. The storyline here is just a pretext for putting puppets into scuffles. And other puppets (of both sexes) into even more scuffles. The relationship drama about friendship and betrayal here seems like being stabbed in the stomach – the knife is pulled out with a wince and no one cares about it five minutes later where there is yet another fight. For example, The Raid 2 followed a certain esthetic in its composition, where colors played an important role. The same was true of John Wick 2. This is just dirty, dull slaughter with some delicious gory bits. And while I enjoyed those immensely, it’s not enough to give the whole movie more stars. (10/30/2018)