Director: Joko Anwar
Notable Cast: Abimana Aryasatya, Tara Basro, Bront Palarae,
Ario Bayu, Lukman Sardi, Fariz Fadjar, Aqi Singgih
Not to make any mass assumptions, but I would venture to
guess that a large swath of our readers here are like me, relatively unfamiliar
with Indonesian comic book heroes like Gundala. This is not to say that there are
not those who are very familiar with multi-decade spanning ‘Son of Lighting’ hero
who can speak on length to the history, context, and commentary of the famous
superhero, but it’s not me. My introduction to this hero is through this latest
film incarnation, Gundala, and it’s essentially through the famous
Indonesian director Joko Anwar that brought it to my attention. As a fair
warning, I just wanted to make it clear that my knowledge of the character, his
stories and his history is very basic and I will solely try to review this
latest film on its own merits.
Although Gundala is not the first film version of the
character, from my understanding there is one that was released in the early 80s,
having a major director like Anwar and a major star like Abimana Aryasatya
attached to this latest rendition only bodes well for the film. Some strong
marketing, including a solid US trailer for the film, essentially puts the hero
and this film firmly on the international stage. In an age where the superhero
film rules all, it’s quite a fantastic idea to introduce an entire generation
(internationally) to the character.