Legend of Gatotkaca (2022) Review

“Legend of Gatotkaca” Theatrical Poster

AKA: Satria Dewa: Gatotkaca
Director: Hanung Bramantyo
Cast: Rizky Nazar, Omar Daniel, Yatie Surachman, Ali Fikry, Yasmin Napper, Zsazsa Utari, Cecep Arif Rahman, Yayan Ruhian, Jerome Kurnia, Apuk Misdafie
Running Time: 129 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

In the west Indonesia’s popular superhero comics may be relatively unknown, but on local shores they’ve been making a resurgence in recent years through a number of big screen adaptations, no doubt inspired by the similar success of the Marvel Universe in Hollywood. In the last few years alone we’ve seen movie versions of Valentine, Wiro Sableng, Gundala, and Sri Asih, with the latter 2 notably forming part of the BumiLangit Cinematic Universe, Indonesia’s bid at creating their own universe of cinematic superheroes. However just like in Hollywood, one cinematic comic book universe isn’t enough, so in 2022 the first entry in the Satria Dewa Universe hit the screens in the form of Legend of Gatotkaca.

An origin tale for the hero Gatotkaca, the story essentially involves the battle between those who have the Pandava gene, and those who have the Kaurava gene (in a nutshell: the good guys and bad guys), both of whom originate from Adam (the same Adam from the Garden of Eden). Mixing in elements of both Javanese and Indian mythology, LoG (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) has a lot of ground to cover, and it wastes no time getting into it. A dizzying opening credits spiel bombards the viewer with an incomprehensible mix of newspaper clippings and news broadcast clips talking about crashed meteors, the pandemic, and a masked serial killer. What does it all mean is a legitimate question, and for the next 129 minutes LoG spends a lot of time trying to answer it.

Frankly, if there was an award for the most exposition heavy superhero movie of all time, LoG would be it by a wide margin. An inordinate amount of time is spent on characters talking about the Pandava and Kaurava’s, to the point that in one scene we even watch characters watching a video which explains the history of the opposing sides (yes, we also have to watch the whole video as the audience). It all feels unnecessarily complicated, with important details thrown out haphazardly and with little build up or significance. 2022 is actually going to be the end of the world. The Kaurava’s are the ones to blame for the COVID-19 virus, and the scientist who developed the vaccine for it was murdered by them. The Pandava’s refer to a baby’s umbilical cord as its brother. Olympians and successful track sprinters are being found murdered. Does any of this add up to a cohesive whole? Not really.

Directed by Hanung Bramantyo, who helmed the Indonesian remake of the Korean movie Miracle in Cell No. 7 in the same year, there are times LoG feels more like a telenovela than a superhero movie. Looking at his filmography it’s not difficult to see why, with a background in romcoms and dramas, what’s more difficult to ascertain is why he was chosen to helm a franchise starting superhero movie. Bramantyo casts Rizky Nazar in the titular role of Gatotkaca (or at least, the guy who’ll become Gatotkaca), who made his debut in Bramantyo’s co-directed 2014 thriller 2014, and the pair most recently collaborated again on the mini-series Bittersweet Seventeen.

After he witnesses his best friend get zapped by an offstage lightening bolt during the latter’s graduation ceremony, Nazar’s investigations lead him to a group of underground heroes – we get the cool crossbow wielding leader played by Omar Daniel (Survive), a shotgun wielding grandma played by Yatie Surachman (Kabut), and an annoying hyperactive comedy relief kid played by Ali Fikry (Koki-Koki Kilik). Nazar is joined by his fried friend’s classmate played by Yasmin Napper (Imperfect), who you better believe will lead to a romantic love interest, and her best friend, played by “Indonesia’s Zendaya” Zsazsa Utari (Ghibah). Utari deserves a special mention as possibly the most annoying character committed to screen this century. Adding precisely zero to the plot, her role is to basically react obnoxiously to what’s happening in every scene she appears in, and make the occasional outburst in English. It’s insufferable.

Eventually, after several exposition dumps, we learn that Nazar’s possession of an ancient heirloom makes him the chosen one to prevent the villain of the piece from being freed, who’s imprisoned in a giant piece of rock set in a mountain. Said rock is suspended in the air via huge chains, and if any of this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same setup as we see in Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain. In one of the few rays of hope, the villain’s protector is played by Yayan Ruhian, who forever left his mark on martial arts action cinema after his role as Mad Dog in 2011’s The Raid. Yayan has spent most of his career since then popping up as a variation of the ‘difficult to beat silat henchman’ role in various local productions, as well as occasionally appearing in international flicks like Beyond Skyline and its sequel. 

In addition to Ruhian LoG also brings onboard Cecep Arif Rahman from The Raid 2, reuniting here after they took on Keanu Reeves in 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. This time they’re on opposing sides, offering the first chance to see the bad guy from The Raid take on the bad guy from The Raid 2 onscreen. The fight choreography for LoG is handled by Muhammad Yazid in only his 2^nd choreography gig, with assistance from Evan Triyono and Danang Kasianto. It’s difficult to discuss the quality of the choreography itself, as the way it’s shot suffers from practically every crime in the ‘How Not to Film a Fight Scene’ playbook. The fights consist of multiple quick cuts, shot at angles which rarely make sense or too close, and many are shot in the dark to a point where it’s difficult to make out who’s hitting who. 

A perfect example is when Ruhian throws a kick and the camera is filming him from the waist up, so you don’t see the kick being thrown, only the supposed impact from it. There are countless examples of this type of incompetency in the way the action is filmed, with the actor’s movement either cut short or only partially captured, robbing the action of any impact and flow. Speaking of being robbed, it’s worth to highlight that the time Nazar spends as the suited and booted version of Gatotkaca amounts to less than 10 minutes, and mainly consists of a CGI version taking to the air to battle a CGI version of Ruhian in a Neo vs. Agent Smith The Matrix Revolutions-esque throwdown. Depending on expectations this isn’t necessarily a negative, however with a 129-minute runtime, those clocking in expecting a certain type of superhero action should be aware they’ll need to wait 2 hours to see it.

For a supposed franchise starter LoG makes the fundamental mistake of focusing too much on bringing audiences up to speed with the history of the conflict at the heart of the story, and not nearly enough on making us care about (or even like) the characters we should be invested in to become a part of it. Worst of all is the decision Bramantyo makes to throw in a literal intermission involving a trio of comedic delivery drivers unrelated to the plot in any way, who proceed to make low budget sexual jokes strangely out of tone with the rest of the movie. What’s the point? Product placement! In fact there’s so much product placement in LoG (although thankfully none other as gratuitous as stopping the narrative in its tracks for a few minutes) that it would make a good drinking game every time a brand is blatantly displayed in a shot.

With a combination of endless exposition, a couple of the most grating characters to appear onscreen this century, and an overall failure to really convey anything meaningful being at stake, LoG is an unfortunate misfire when placed in the context of the franchise starter its intended to be. While I understand most Southeast Asian superhero movies will use the quality of the effects against their Hollywood counterparts as the benchmark of success, I’d much rather they focus on matching the quality of the story and characters in a way which makes the audience invested in what’s onscreen. When it comes to Legend of Gatotkaka, in the end perhaps Elvis said it best – a little less conversation a little more action please.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 3.5/10