The Night Comes For Us is an Indonesian Netflix action flick from 2018, that has garnered a niche audience of its own. This spectacle of blood, gore, fast-paced editing, and brilliantly choreographed stunt work is a hyperviolent film that's definitely not made for squeamish viewers.
It deals with a Triad member gone rogue after a change in his moral conscience prevents him from killing a girl. The rest of the movie revolves around the protagonist's efforts to save the girl and himself as assassins and gang members chase him. If you too liked the high-octane energy of The Night Comes For Us, here are 10 things you might not know about the film.
It's the first Indonesian film distributed by Netflix
Indonesian action films starring Iko Uwais like The Raid franchise were bringing much attention to the country's film industry. An English remake of the franchise also seems to be in the making. Hence, Netflix also decided to cash in on the opportunity by making its first Indonesian project a hard-core action film.
Funnily enough, its initial viewership was limited in Indonesia itself as Telkomsel, one of the largest internet providers of the country which notably has roughly 46% of the wireless market's share, banned and blocked Netflix from its service back then.
Not all of the Six Seas appear in the film
The Night Comes For Us centers on the concept of the Six Seas: A group of six men and women who serve as elite enforcers for the South East Asian Triad.
However, as director Timo Tjahjanto revealed on Twitter, only two members of the Six Seas appeared in the film. One is, of course, the protagonist Ito who used to be an enforcer. The other is Chien Wu, who plans on killing Ito for his betrayal.
It was originally a graphic novel
The Night Comes For Us was in the works for a long time. After writing the screenplay, Timon Tjahjanto halted production for a while (likely due to budget cuts) and turned it into a graphic novel instead. In his 2014 tweet, he wrote, "Thanks for the sorrow."
And indeed, its video-game-like violence and bloodshed would be suitable for a graphic novel. Anything and everything, from Uzis and khukri knives to cow bones and yo-yos serve as weapons in The Night Comes For Us. But his "sorrow" didn't last long as he could finally release the film in 2018 with an increase in funding.
Fans can expect sequels
Tjahjanto has been vocal on the fact that The Night Comes For Us is the first part of a planned trilogy. As mentioned before, he didn't feature the rest of the Six Seas possibly for this very reason. Even though it's most likely for Iko to die in the end, no one knows his exact fate as the film ended on an open note.
So, his future films would feature the rest of the group along with a focus on "The Operator" character played by Julie Estelle. This would imply that we get another Raid-like franchise from the Indonesian action scene!
A deleted scene featured the Operator
After her confrontation with Iko, The Operator heads out to meet her blind overseer who is referred to as the Night Handler. After engaging in a bizarre conversation, the Night Handler removes his classes and chants a few words, telling her to follow protocol.
This scene was deleted from the final cut but is still available on Netflix Indonesia's YouTube channel. Maybe, it was the Night Handler or his organization that trained The Operator. This scene definitely adds to the possibility of the aforementioned sequel or spin-off.
The film might not have caused that much of a revolution back home
The Raid revolutionized action films with its adrenaline-fueled action sequences, and The Night Comes For Us took the same formula a notch higher. While these films have been universally acclaimed for their intricate stunt work, the Indonesian response hasn't been that positive always.
Depicting graphic images of the underworld set in Indonesia, some locals saw this as a negative portrayal of the country and its people. Despite these cutting-edge action film being cult favorites overseas, the action film industry isn't that prevalent in Indonesia. Instead, horror and comedy are the dominating genres in Indonesia.
It was rated NC-17 solely for violence
Normally, violent action thrillers get an R or NC-17 rating due to several reasons. Most of these movies not only feature heavy violence since they're also loaded with profanity, nudity, and/or drug usage. However, The Night Comes For Us hardly shows any of the latter. The violence here is so over-the-top that it got an NC-17 rating and a TV-MA rating by Netflix solely for its brutality.
Such cases seem to be pretty rare. Another action film that was given such a rating solely for its graphic violence was Headshot. It wouldn't come as a surprise that Headshot is also directed by Timon Tjahjanto and stars Iko Uwais.
Elena & Alma shared screentime in a totally different film
Elena and Alma played by actresses Dian Sastrowardoyo and Hannah Al Rashid are deadly assassins and lovers, serving as supporting enforcers for the Triads. They get to have some of the most unconventional action scenes in the film as they brutally slice and dice their enemies with a yo-yo and a kukri (read: a type of machete).
In the same year as this film was released, the two actresseses also shared space in another Indonesian film called Aruna and Her Plate. However, their roles are a far cry from The Night Comes For Us, as it's a romantic comedy about a culinary road trip!
Yayan Ruhian & Cecep Arif Rahman were expected to join the cast earlier
Before the film was riddled with production issues, a much different cast was planned early on. This included acclaimed stuntmen like Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian.
One might not know them by their names alone but they have already made their presence felt, notably performing intense stunts in John Wick 3: Parabellum and The Raid series. Ruhian even had a small role in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Here's hoping that these two action greats appear in future films by Tjahjanto.
It's a reunion for the cast of The Raid 2 & Headshot
This film marks the third time Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, and Zack Lee (who plays 'White Bob') have appeared in a film together. Their previous two collaborations had been Headshot and The Raid: Redemption. Joe Taslim, who plays Ito, also shared screentime with Iko Uwais in the first Raid film.
Lee has been a staple in several Indonesian action flicks while Estelle seems to have a good track record with Indonesian martial arts and slasher films like Macabre. Uwais on the other hand, is finding success abroad too starring in the Netflix action fantasy series Wu Assassins while Joe Taslim is a regular cast member in the Cinemax series Warrior that's based on a concept by Bruce Lee. Both co-stars have been making supporting appearances in American studio films too, with Taslim even playing Sub-Zero in the Mortal Kombat reboot.