Iko Uwais ("Merantau" "The Raid" and "The Raid 2") – again – presents us a high thrill action saga. a young man (Iko Uwais) found drifted on the beach of a small city somewhere in Java island Indonesia – coma. And for about 2 months a young sweet doctor Ailin (Chelsea Islan) has ben taking care of him, even named him Ishmael (a character name from Mobydick novel) since he got no identity. Then one day he wake up and don't know who is he, how he got bullet wounded in the head (and still some pieces of bullet projectiles inside his head that sometimes gives him a headache). Ailin then ask him to go with her to Jakarta, where there is some hospital have the new technology equipment to get these projectiles inside his head.

In the same time, the rumour of his existence has spread and heard by a ruthless kingpin (drugs and gun dealers) – Lee then realize that one of his assassin named Abdi that he ordered to executed by Rica (Julie Estelle) is still alive. Soon, Lee send 2 of his young assassins along with some thughs to follow Ishmael and Ailin but only to find out that Ishmael/Abdi is still not on the bus.So they kidnapped Ailin and a 10 years old girl along after off course killed all the other passengers in cold blood. Ailin still managed to call Ishmael/Abdi.

Then Ishmael/Abdi took an oath that he must find and rescue Ailin, then he got his chance after he got busted by police patrols that arrived after Ishmael/Abdi killed 4 thughs that send back to burn the bus. Lee send Tejo (Indonesia wu shu national champion) and Tano (Zack Lee) to a district police office to kill Ishmael/Abdi, and so the journey of hunting begins where all the hunters become the hunted and all the mystery of who is Ishmael/Abdi and his connections with the kingpin Lee and all other young assassins revealed.

Actually, there is nothing special about the plot line, it's not complicated, not rushing, but the directors (Mo Brothers – who wellknown for directing gore thriller movies like "Killers" and off course the winner of LA Screamfest Horror Film Festival and International Horror and Sci Fi Film Festival of Phoenix, Arizona "Rumah Dara" or a.k.a "Macabre") really manage to keep it what I say "somehow low profile". Even though there is a love chemical between Ishmael/Abdi and Ailin, this movie doesn't fall into some cheap romantic moments, but also doesn't show stronger love emotions between them. Except – on my humble opinion – the plot line gives more space to explore the emotional connection between Ishmael/Abdi and his 2 former best companion : Besi- in English " Iron" – (Very Tri Yulisman – Indonesia Pencak Silat athlete) and Rica (Julie Estele – Indonesia senior actress). And the interesting is they emotional connection shown among the one on one battle, there is compassion, emphaty mixed into one that then separated by different way of life that each of them choose.

The acting seems average..every single actor try to blend in their character and just fit in. Most of them didn't show any emotional fellings like Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle and Very because they raised in brutal way since they about 10 - 12 years old.

And even though the final battle between Ishmael/Abdi versus Lee (Danny Pang) is the most brutal, but what I saw that the battle between Ishmael/Abdi versus Besi/Iron (expert with iron stick weapon) and marathon with the battle between Ishmael/Abdi versus Rica that really sparks some emphaty in my head. And another positive points is that the way this movie took angle shot from top from the fight between Ishmael/Abdi vs Besi and Ishmael/Abdi vs Lee. Even though the fight is fast but still we can still catch the art of every deadly movement. Brutal and beautiful.

Finally, "Headshot" from Mo Brother is A Delicious Top Nocht Action Served in Thrilling Trays (B)

It's not every day you see a martial arts movie which may be as violent as any horror flick released the same year. "Headshot" is one such movie. It might be second only to "The Story of Ricky" in terms of violence, but whereas that one was a cartoonish gore flick, this one is disturbingly realistic, at least in its handling of injury. Off the top of my head we have people getting stabbed through the head sideways, a loose bullet being jammed into someone's eyeball, and someone being impaled on a broken tree branch and then trying to pull someone else onto the spike. Also, countless people are shot to death. You've heard of the Hongkongese genre "heroic bloodshed"? You don't have to be a hero to shed blood in this one.

The "story" is the usual "violent man with no past saves people while other people come to get them". I think they tacked on some kind of non-explanation for how the violent characters got that way; something about a covert operation training child soldiers. From what you see of this shady business, it is impossible to believe that anyone could come from it and be proficient at fighting; it's one of the dumbest contrivances I have seen in a recent movie. These scenes don't depict a hardcore training program for brats: they're more like an extremely inefficient method to kill children en masse.

But you don't (and won't) care about that stuff. You care about the fight scenes, and yes, they are impressive. I didn't think they were as impressive as "The Raid 2"'s, but it's hard to imagine too many fans of those kinds of movies will leave this one disappointed.

Short review: Nicely plotted, acted, little action thriller. The two hours go by fairly quickly.

Longer review: Some have suggested that this is Bourne with "more violence." And especially after the sorry mess that was the last Bourne film (see my IMDb review) such a feat would have been welcome. But no it is not. The Bourne story -- the top professional with a slight memory problem -- was much more subtle, This is more like Tony Jaa from Ong Bak (who actually looks like the star here!) waking up with a migraine and then everyone on the planet tries to kill him.

The action scenes are wonderful, except for the very first scene in the prison, which features too many automatic weapons going off at once. Some are especially memorable. For example -- just a tease -- this film will teach you how the very same bullet can kill a man twice. Once when you fire it. And again when you get your hands on the spent cartridge.

Recommended.