Hi-YAH! Indonesian Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Legend of Gatotkaca (2022) by Hanung Bramantyo

"Hand me the soul of Pandava"

Starting with Joko Anwar's “Gundala”, Indonesia has been building its own superhero cinematic universe, in an effort that also seems to aim at creating a new star system within the country. Thus “The ” begins a new film series based on Satria Dewa, essentially introducing the character of Gatotkaca, who is not based on a comic but is a actually a character from the Mahabharata, while his story is interspersed with with elements from Indonesian mythology.

The rather labyrinthine story begins with an attack of an individual that looks suspiciously a lot like a Sith from Star Wars, against a family whose house is in the middle of the woods. Years later, the boy of the family, Yuda, is a young man down on his luck, as the fact that he has to take care of his mentally ill mother, who was the main victim of the aforementioned attack, has deemed him eternally poor, even forcing him to drop out of the university. In his frustration, he constantly blames his father, Pande, who abandoned them, while things become even worse for him when his best friend is assassinated. 

Starting to realize that something else is going on, Yuda eventually stumbles upon Agni, the daughter of professor Arya, who seems to know a lot about the eternal battle between the Pandava and the Kaurava, the good and the evil, and particularly that the disasters that have been befalling the world the last 15 years, including Covid, have something to do with the latter. A bit later on, the two youths find their way within a secret organization called Erlanga, who are trying to save the world from the Kaurava. Lastly, an even more sinister plan is revealed to be unfolding also, having to do with the initial attack and the release of the evil Kaurava general, Aswatama. 

As it becomes evident, somewhere among the ancient battles, all powerful objects, disappeared fathers, senile mothers, the plethora of characters and the role each one plays, the subtle romance between Yuda and Agni, each of whom seem to have their own agenda, the release of evil generals and the blights of the world, there is too much going on here. Add to that the concepts of teenage romance, coming-of-age, secret societies, conspiracy theories and a combination of sci-fi and mythology and you realize that the creators of the movie tried to include as many pop elements as possible in the narrative, in an effort, though, that would be very difficult to succeed. Lastly, both the dramatic and the comedic comments could have been handled a bit better as a whole, although the movie does have its moments of both. 

On the other hand, individually, a number of the aforementioned elements work quite well. The villains in particular, and the fact that the main message of the movie is that frequently there is not just good and evil, but a lot of gray areas, works quite well here. Furthermore, the drama revolving around Yuda will definitely create empathy towards him, which seems to be one of the main goals of 's direction, with 's acting and charisma helping the most in that regard. The same applies to 's Agni, with the chemistry of the two being quite convincing. 

Furthermore, considering that this is an action movie in its base, the particular aspect is a key to its quality, and is easy to say that presents another great work, with the help of who plays Yuda's father, with the choreography here being top notch. The scenes involving Agni could have been a bit better, but the rest of the cast definitely compensate, with the battles of the two aforementioned veterans being truly spectacular. Moreover, the mixture of elements of sci-fi (in a style that points towards Star Wars, Hunger Games and Kamen Rider) works rather well for the action, also because the SFX and the CGI are convincing to say the least. Galang Galih's cinematography is also impressive on occasion, especially in the way it captures all the different settings the story takes place in, with the all-red scenes in particular being quite memorable. The comic-strip scenes in the middle are pleasant to the eye, but do interrupt the rather fast pace to a point, with Wawan I. Wibowo's job in the department, though, being truly top notch. All the aforementioned (cinematography, editing, SFX) find their apogee in the action scenes, with the previously mentioned combination actually working greatly here. 

Truth is that “Legend of Gatotkaca” would definitely benefit from some restraint in the writing department, but in the end, the movie thrives in the aspects that such a title should, with the action being truly worth watching and the charisma of the protagonists filling the screen. 

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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