The Raid 2: Berandal review

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Its finally came out! I could finally watch it!" Is my initial reaction when The Raid 2 finally came out in the Indonesian theater. This movies has been my most anticipated and hyped movie in recent years for a reason, The Raid is awesome and the sequel is aiming for a bigger, better and absolutely batshit insane actions and boy did they deliver it in such explosive way. No wonder some people called this movie as the Dark Knight of action movies because despite my soaring expectation for The Raid 2, it still manage to even top that expectation.

For those who haven't watched the first movie, have no fear because the first movie barely had any story and the connection between the first and the second movie is like the connection between amish peoples and the internet. You will only need to hear some explanation and you'll be good enough to follow this movie story. If you are not a native Indonesian speaker. never use "I don't watch subtitled movie" as a reason to not watch this masterpiece. Go see it now! With that done, here's my review for The Raid 2.

The raid 2 literally took place like 3 hours after the ending of the first movie. To protect his family from the mob, Rama (Iko Uwais) must go undercover and befriends the son of the leader of the mobs, Uco (Arifin Putra) and infiltrates the organization from the inside to find any evidence related to the mob activity and police corruption inside. After 2 awesome fight scenes and 2 years later, Rama becomes Uco trusted man and he joined the mob, break more bones and gained their trust. Things doesn't go all well because Uco ambition to be the leader of the mob triggers a conflict with their rival, The Japanese mob. Rama must punch, broke and stabs more people in order to survive the chaos and bring the end to the the gang war and police corruption in Jakarta.

If the first movie feels like a claustrophobic survivor horror movie with the addition of Indonesian martial art called Silat, The Raid 2 feels much more bigger in every ways possible and it might be one of the goriest action movie in this recent years. For an action movie, the duration of The Raid 2 is super long, clocking in at two and a half hour which sound really worrying at first but i can assure you that those two and a half hour will went by as fast as the breeze of wind in the morning because the pacing of the movie is superb. I never feel like the movie drags too long or stuck in nowhere, in fact i wish that the movie is longer so it can show more actions and character interactions.

I watched every Gareth Evans movies right from Merantau which is also about 2 hours long and i remember Merantau story to be bogging down the actions part to the level where i wish i could fast forward to the great action parts in that movie. I was worried that the same thing will happen in The Raid 2, but while the story in it is at best serviceable and at worst still bogging down the actions, the characters is what kept my attention glued to the movie. The movie is full of memorable characters like the psychopath Uco as the mob boss son's, Bangun the leader of the Jakarta Mob (Tio pakusadewo), Prakoso as an assassin  who look like a hobo and for some reason married to a super hot woman (Yayan Ruhian aka Mad dog from the first movie), and two of my favorite characters Hammer Girl (Jullie Estelle) and Baseball Bat Man (Very Tri Yulisman) who in my opinion is two of the most memorable characters from the movie.

And no, i don't like baseball bat man because it sounds like Batman learn silat and went nuts with a baseball bat

Performances wise, i won't sugar coating it because admittedly the performances is quite a mixed bags. Some performances are actually pretty good especially from Arifin Putra as Uco and Tio Pakusadewo as the mob boss but Iko as the main lead and Yayan as Prakoso...well, not so good. Don't get me wrong, when they are in a fight scene they totally sold it but since the movie shows more drama now, it become more apparent that they are not a good actor, yet. Despite that, i genuinely feels emotionally invested with their characters because i really feels Rama angers and his descent into the madness of the underworld and i feel very sympathetic with Prakoso story. What i want to say is they can be better and i really wanna see them getting better because i genuinely thinks that they might be the next Jackie Chan of martial art movie, with a touch of brutality that is. Jullie Estelle as the hammer girl is still my favorite though because she is so cool in every scenes she is in even when she never once sprout a word (Hammer girl is mute and deaf after all) yet her performance is subtle and striking. The fact that she is downright gorgeous might be one of the winning factor too.

Do hammer me anytime you want Jullie...

And of course, what is The Raid without its actions part? The prison riot, the subway fight, the car chase, the 2 on 1 fight between Rama, Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man, and the final fight scene are just mind blowing. There is a lot of moment where i go "how the hell did they film this scene?". It  took me to a time where movies are magical wonders before CG takes over the creativity of practical effects. Talking about The Raid 2 action scenes will be an understatement because by God you need to experience it by yourself. We are talking about some of the best and brutal action scenes that ever been put in the cinema level here and Gareth Evans really shot them beautifully. To think that they managed to craft such a masterpiece with only 4.5 million dollar compared to the waste of 200 million dollar in every Michael Bay movie shows that creativity always defeat budget anytime in the days.

It might sound that this movie is perfect but its not. There is quite a moment where i kinda go nitpicking some little flaw here and there like the strange scenes involving the snow which if you remember your geographical lesson, Indonesia is a tropical country and  the snows that just came out from nowhere serves not much of a purpose but making me raising my eyebrow in confusion. The Raid 2 will also be hated because the level of the brutality portrayed almost looks like 80's slasher movies and it certainly turned off many peoples from watching it. Some foreigner who aren't used to watch a subtitled movie also might see it as a negative but honestly, to hell with those guys! I've been watching subtitled movie for my entire life and i still able to enjoy all kind of movies just fine. If you said that you don't wanna watch one of the best action movie ever because it is subtitled then learn to read or you'll missed one of the best experience that a movie can offer!

This movie makes me literally giggling in happiness every time i saw some amazing set pieces back when i watched it in the cinema. In our way back home, me and my friends spent like hours talking about the movie with a big passion even though most of my friend who watched it with me aren't a big fan of movies in general. The Raid 2 is a movie made with a passion of its director, actors, crews and all the staffs and in the end that passions were delivered to the audiences through the movie. If a movie managed to make you feel passionate just from watching it then i said it deserves a place in my heart.

Initial El score's

10

A place in my tiny little empty heart

5 Banner Caleg Yang Mengajarkan Kita Tentang Politik Di Indonesia

Sebagai seorang lulusan hubungan internasional, Saya sadar bahwa politik adalah sesuatu yang membutuhkan berbagai macam kemampuan mulai dari kemampuan negosiasi, diplomasi hingga senyum manipulatif yang biasa kita lihat di wajah pedofil yang baru tertangkap tengah memberi permen ke anak kecil. Berbagai macam taktik harus digunakan untuk mencapai sebuah tujuan politik apalagi di tengah pemilu DPRD yang penuh dengan persaingan ini.

Salah satu cara untuk memenangkan hati rakyat adalah dengan memasang banner di jalan atau tempat strategis lainnya, namun sulit tentunya untuk menonjol di tengah ratusan banner caleg lainnya. Perang banner ini tentunya tidak menghentikan para Caleg untuk tetap mengotori tiang listrik dan papan billboard dengan visi misi generik mereka namun beberapa caleg memilih untuk membuat sebuah perubahan di perang banner ini dan mengajarkan kita tentang berpolitik serta pengorbanan mereka sebagai politikus. Dari kreativitas para caleg ini, kita bisa belajar mengenai bagaimana politik di Indonesia bergulir untuk menarik hati rakyat dan memajukan Indonesia. Berikut adalah para revolusioner perang banner yang bisa kita temui dan pelajari.

5. Genetik  Amat Penting Dalam Berpolitik. 

Jaman dahulu, keturunan genetik merupakan sebuah aspek yang sangat menentukan apakah kita akan menjadi raja atau anak petani biasa, namun di jaman modern ini nampaknya semua hal tersebut telah berubah karena jaman ini memberikan kita kemungkinan tidak terbatas untuk menjadi apapun yang kita mau. Sebagai seorang caleg yang memiliki kapabilitas tinggi, sudah kewajiban bagi caleg ini untuk mengingatkan kita tentang pentingnya keturunan genetik yang kita miliki, terutama jika kita ingin mengikuti jejak manusia-manusia terpilih ini. Karena takdir tidak pernah berbohong tentunya.

4. Politik dan Seks itu 11-12

Saya tidak yakin apa banner ini menunjukkan bahwa politik itu erat hubungannya dengan seks karena jika itu benar, nampaknya saya melewatkan kelas yang terdengar seru itu sewaktu masih kuliah. Banner ini nampaknya juga menunjukkan bahwa jika kita mau berpolitik maka gairah kita di atas ranjang harus sama dengan gairah kita di atas panggung politik atau mungkin dia cuma memodifikasi banner dia sewaktu masih jadi model iklan obat kuat. Namun, saya harus mempercayai bahwa seorang caleg yang memiliki kemampuan untuk memasang banner mereka di jalan tentunya memiliki pengetahuan politik yang lebih tinggi dari saya sehingga saya yakin bahwa seni bercinta dan seni berpolitik itu membutuhkan kekuatan yang sama yaitu kemudaan, kekuatan, gairah serta badan yang besar dan berotot. .

3. Politik Itu Penuh Dengan Spionase, Aksi, dan Perang

Layaknya James Bond, seorang politikus harus memiliki kemampuan spionase, menggoda wanita dan memegang senjata. Indonesia tidak hanya penuh dengan penjahat-penjahat yang berusaha menguasai Indonesia dengan segala cara. Para plolitikus harus pergi untuk menjalani sebuah misi spionase menghadapi manusia-manusia berbahaya ini dan mempertaruhkan nyawanya demi melindungi rakyat indonesia.

2. Menjadi politikus Membutuhkan Kekuatan Super

Menjadi seorang politikus bukan hal yang mudah karena banyak juga musuh-musuh berkekuatan super yang harus dilawan dalam membela kebenaran dan keadilan di Indonesia ini. Untuk menghadapi para penjahat super dalam ranah politik ini terkadang para politikus ini harus mengorbankan diri digigit oleh laba-laba radioaktif seperti Spiderman atau menjadi kelinci percobaan serum prajurit super layaknya Captain America dan kemudian mengenakan topeng serta kostum super ketat untuk difoto di banner. Para penjahat super itu tentunya akan ketakutan setengah mati ketika melihat banner ini dan Indonesia dapat kembali maju.

1. Kejujuran Tetap Nomor 1

Setelah kita mampu menjadi yang terpilih, bercinta dengan mahir, menjadi agen rahasia, dan menjadi pahlawan super, ada satu hal yang harus dimiliki oleh seorang politikus, kejujuran yang murni. Setelah semua pengorbanan itu, mereka harus Jujur bahwa pada akhirnya mereka akan berakhir tidak peduli dan menghabiskan uang rakyat namun dengan cara itu, kita sebagai rakyat tahu bahwa mereka jujur dan kita bisa menaruh kepercayaan kita di tangan mereka. Kejujuran ini nantinya  akan menjadi benih utama yang bisa meajukan Indonesia.

Semoga tulisan ini dapat membantu kita untuk lebih memahami politik di Indonesia dan menghargai pengorbanan para politikus kita yang telah memberikan segala-galanya untuk memajukan Indonesia. Jika pembaca menganggap semua yang saya tulis secara serius dan benar, maka anda akan sangat cocok menjadi calon legislatif untuk pemilu tahun berikutnya.

South Park: Stick of Truth Review

As you might see, today review is a TV show adaptation of South Park, a TV show that has been running since 1997 till now in USA. Just like how movies based on game is cursed to forever be sucks, games based on TV show has a pretty similar curse but it usually doesn't suck as much as the other side. With that common assumption and the fact that the game keeps delayed with no certainty, it leads the fans of the series to fell to the  hole of skepticism quite fast. Despite all that setbacks, South Park: The Stick Of Truth finally hit the market and its surprisingly a really good game.

You play as the new kid or Douchebag as your friends in the game called you, a newly moved kid who tries to make friend in the City of  South Park as he try to survive in the new environment by adding as much friends as you can in Facebook (they literally called it Facebook in the game) while getting involved in a War  between Elf and human. Well, ok the war is just kids playing  real life Dungeons and Dragons knock off in the city as stuffs getting more and more absurd in South Park as the game progresses. There will be alien, nazi zombie and abortion clinic for some reason in it.

The first thing that you will notice is that the games really nail the crude aesthetic of the TV show  because it is almost impossible to tell  the different between the game and the show. The character and the town pictured accurately and you can even travel to 8-bit version of Canada. They even manage to bring every voice actors from the show and it really made the game even harder to tell apart from the show. Well ok, the show isn't exactly known for its beautiful art or stellar voice acting but if you are looking for authenticity you can't get more authentic than Stick of Truth.

The funny thing is, of all the genre this game could take, it took a simple turn based RPG system that seems obsolete in this modern day of triple A games where there is a law that you can only market a games that includes realistic military guns, female characters with a cleavage big enough to make Hugh Hefner erects, and  Last but not the least, explosions! Surprisingly, despite it's simple gameplay, the game really is fun to play from because the simple mechanic filled with layers of strategy and possibility. The battle system feels like classic turn-based JRPG added with some button mashing and quick time event which force you to stay in toe. You can pick 1 from 4 class like warrior who used raw power to defeat their enemy, thief who uses their cunning moves to defeat enemy before they know what stroke them, mage who uses makeshift magic to magically defeat their enemy and Jew who used Jew-jitsu. No, seriously, there is a class called jew here and they fight using jew-jitsu. That's how crude and offensive this game is.

I wonder what will the new class be for the DLC

To be honest, Im not a fan of  South Park show and i only pick it only because a lot of reviewer said that it is great but i  do remember watching South Park movie years ago and that it gross me so bad when i was younger. As i grow older, i gained some appreciation on what the show is trying to do and it is trying to make an enjoyable crude dark humor. South Park isn't a show for everyone and the game Shows the same or even more crude and dark humor that will definitely offend some peoples outside but by god it is so funny when it is funny. I laugh out loud when Kenny becomes a cross dresser and used it to trick the boys with the promise of boobies or when Morgan Freeman came out from nowhere just to explain convoluted plot point to the player. There is some moment in the game where i think they went to far with the crude joke and it really gross me out.

Sadly, there is a lot of gripe that hold this game to become great. One of my major problem is that the game is way too easy, even in the hardcore difficulty. The depth of the battle system become pointless because most of my enemies bleed out to death before they can even yell "Fus Ro Dah!" and some of my skill could instakill most of the enemies in the game. Also, unlike most RPG there is no mini game, or any other side activity to do besides sidequest so the game might feels repetitive at time. The only thing that keeps me motivated to play is it's story which is hilarious as hell to follow.

So South Park might be repetitive at some moment and the battle is way too easy but it is one hell of a fun experience that will either gross you out or make you laugh out loud. I enjoy Stick of Truth for what it is but there is some moment of it that just grossed  me out too much and it kinda hamper the experience to me. The battle while it fun and has some layer of depth in it, became pointless because how easy the battle is but if you are fans of the series, this game is a must buy. But if you aren't one, it might not changes your mind about the series. Still, you will find yourself surprised by how fun the experience is at the end of the games.

Initial El Score

7.5

Kenny boobies

her review

Today movie is a romantic comedy movie which  is a genre that i rarely touch since I am not very bright when it came to emotional relationship. I also tend to be too serious to be funny and all the women that i knew always said that i'm the most unromantic sentient being who ever walks/crawls/swim/fly on earth. So right from the bat, i don't like most romantic movie but it doesn't meant that i am allergic to that genre. Some romantic movies do quite entertain me like 500 Days of Summer which i found to be a quite profound romance movie. This time, the movie that is surprisingly blew my mind is a romantic movie called Her.

Her is set in 2025. An appropriately nerdy named Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is a lonely, introverted man who writes personal love letters for people with difficulties expressing their feelings. Unhappy because of his impending divorce from childhood sweetheart Catherine (Rooney Mara), Theodore purchases a talking operating system with artificial intelligence, designed to adapt and evolve. He decides he wants the OS to have a female identity, and she (Scarlett Johansson) names herself "Samantha". Theodore is fascinated by her ability to learn and grow psychologically. They bond over their discussions about love and life, during which Theodore explains he is avoiding signing his divorce papers, because of his reluctance to let go of Catherine.

Theodore is convinced by Samantha to go on a blind date with an acquaintance (Olivia Wilde) who his longtime friend, Amy (Amy Adams), has been trying to set him up with. To his surprise, he and the woman hit it off. As they are kissing, the woman asks if Theodore is willing to commit to her, and when he hesitates, she leaves. Theodore mentions this to Samantha and they talk about relationships. Theodore explains that although he and Amy dated briefly in college, they are only good friends and that Amy is married. Theodore and Samantha's intimacy grows. They develop a relationship, which reflects positively in Theodore's writing. The relationship soon turn into a love relationship and the rest of the movie is  mostly about the drama between Samantha and Theodore as they walk through their unlikely relationship.

It's basically Sal9000 the movie

As you may read, the movie's is about a love relationship between a man and an AI (or OS as this movie refer to) which, lets be honest, some of you might found it as a taboo or unsettling . This is not the first time that a movie is used to explore such a theme about synthetic relationship (ex: Blade runner) but i found Her to be quite unique on its own merit. I expected some black and white moral message with this kind of movie since it is really easy for it to just go with the direction that say "Theodore was wrong because he is an introverted freak who fell in love with a computer" or "it is ok to fall in love with anything because whatever done in the name of love is always right" but the movie went beyond right or wrong. It present us, the viewer, a gray line in that kind of relationship and trust us to make our own judgement which is always a good thing for me. It is a sign that the movie maker respect us as a intellectual being with their own intellectual perspective.

The settings really helps you to believe in the relationship between Theodore and Samantha because how peoples react to that relationship differs for each person in that world. Some peoples were actually quite accepting with it and the others might not be so. The world of Her also feels quite believable in a way like what our future might be and it seriously feels like a legit sci-fi world. The technology used in the movie doesn't involve something like laser pistol, neon-glowing-everything or Jar-jar Bing. The world take the route of realistic Sci-fi like the way Looper did but in a more bright way. It is also beautifully shot and kinda feels artsy at some scene. There is also some scene in the movie which makes fun of video games culture which, as a gamer, actually managed to cracked me out.

The way the movie present it's characters also add to the overall great experience. Theodore may be an introvert but he is a really likeable introvert that people kinda admire and love despite the creepy looking porn stache that latch in his face. It's not that he fell in love with a computer because he cant socialize or unable to find a woman to date, its because he just doesn't want to. Some reviewer said that Theodore isn't actually fell in love with Samantha, but with himself since Samantha is programmed to follow and adapt to its owner preferences and it might be true at first glance but we have to look into Samantha to see why i don't see it like that. The way Samantha grow as an AI genuinely surprised me. She (yeah, i used she because she really feels like a genuine woman in the movie) evolve into something than just an AI that programmed to please and she even start to do something that i didn't predict at all. I wont tell how she surprised me but when it happens, my jaws kinda dropped in the floor.

Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore really is the star of this movie. Most of this movie scenes is just him talking with an AI who didn't even have a face, which in paper, sounds like super boring stuff but somehow he managed to make me invested every time he is on screen. He really brings a believable performance that makes you care in every line he said. Scarlet Johansson, on the other side, literally only had a voice yet she absolutely doing a fantastic job on being a fun, smart and helpful AI. The chemistry between Theodore and Samantha is spot on right from the get go because they do feel like a couple in love despite the fact that, well, its a love story between a man and a software. The great dialogue and writing also helps them to become funny, romantic and a joy to watch, The rest of the cast like Amy Adam as Theodore ex-girlfriend also do a fantastic job Theodore Ex-girlfriend who are still close to him.

I really-really like Her just for its unique and simplistic premise but how the movie execute it really made it become something special. It is beautifully shot and directed, the performance of the actors is fantastic, the writing is smart and witty, and i also have to mention how great the score is by Arcade Fire. Some people might not like Her because its premise is actually quite strange for some viewer and the movie might be a lil bit too focused in Theodore which could be an issue for someone who wishes for a bigger story but all that gripes is nothing because Her is one experience that you have to see for yourself.

Initial El Score

9.0

Its for Sal9000!