What do you do when neither The Raid nor The Raid 2 (NSFW) are streaming? Watch The Night Comes For Us, of course!
The Night Comes For Us follows Triad enforcer Ito (Joe Taslim) as he faces a crisis of conscience, drawing the blood-thirsty ire of the Triad superiors. And that’s really all that matters story-wise. But you don’t settle in for a movie like this for the plot. Looking for an in-depth, intricate plot? Not here, friend. You want character depth and motivation? Get outta here with that nonsense. You come to this kind of movie for one thing and one thing only: the relentless, non-stop, bad-ass fights. That’s it.
However, it can be a bit much
Before we get into the awesomeness oozing from The Night Comes For Us, it’s only fair to point out a few things that hold it back from being truly great. As fun as these fighting-centric movies can be (and often are), it is often done so at the expense of a more intriguing story and interesting characters. The John Wick series has done a good job of blending all parts together. And think about the plots there, especially for the first one. Wick’s dog is killed and his car is stolen. Boom, motivation. The Raid movies go there a little bit, with their stories being framed around police work.
But The Night Comes For Us gives the bare minimum. At the end of massacring an entire village, Ito comes face to face with a young girl, the last remaining survivor. And for some reason, he decides in the moment that he’s had enough and turns on the Triad. We don’t know why. We never know why.
Every character is surface level. Each new introduction and set piece serves as barely more than a transition from one fight to the next. That isn’t inherently a bad thing, though. But it does limit a movie’s ceiling. As awesome an fun as The Night Comes For Us is, the tunnel vision on the fighting does hold it back.
The other part is that the level of violence and gore does get to be a bit much. The Raid movies are no picnic, but The Night Comes For Us blows them out of the water. Even if you have a strong stomach for blood, the never-ending onslaught of it all can be distracting from the expertly choreographed fight scenes. Like the lack of any real story and characters, this isn’t a bad thing by default. Surely many won’t be bothered by this one bit. But with so little time to breath between gruesome deaths, it can wear on you a little as the movie goes along.
Arian
Even though he’s not the lead, I have to start with Arian, as he’s played by the king himself, Iko Uwais. Uwais is the lead in The Raid movies and is one of the best action movie performers working today. He makes everything better. Even in terrible movies like Mile 22, he gets the one bad-ass scene (but man is it jarring seeing a fight scene with so many cuts).
VIDEO NSFW
Uwais seemingly plays a variation of the same character in so many of his movies. Some martial arts expert who exists to kick ass. And you won’t find any complaints from me there. Cast him in everything.
Ito
Like Uwais, Joe Taslim is another highly accomplished martial artist, both in actual competition and acting.
Once again, brutal and NSFW
The Operator, Alma, and Elena
These three are stone cold. The Operator (yeah, doesn’t even get a real name) might be the best character in the movie. There isn’t really all that much to say except the obvious: they are three total bad-asses and offer thrilling (if brutal and at times grotesque) fight sequences, as evidenced below.
Yep, you guessed it, (big time) NSFW warning for this one
And don’t you just love how guns seemingly don’t exist? Everyone just has to be super extra about everything. Incredible.
But the main takeaway with all the fights here is how well done they are. That’s a common thread between this, The Raid, John Wick, and all other similar movies. The fights are excellent. The choreography, the realism and brutality, the lack of cuts even. More American have started to take notice (Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, and Sam Hargrave for a few examples). Hopefully more will follow.
Great fights…and that’s it
Depending what kind of movie you’re looking for, The Night Comes For Us is either going to be right up your alley, or on a completely different street in an entirely different country. If you need motivations and a detailed plot, The Night Comes For Us is not the one, not even at all. But if all you want is some gnarly fighting, then buddy, this is the ticket.
The Verdict: 7.1/10
The Night Comes For Us is available on Netflix.