Killers (2014)

Dir: Kimo Stamboel, Timo Tjahjanto  (The Mo Brothers)

KILLERS is about an Indonesian man and a Japanese man who find connection to one another via brutality.

Bayu (Oka Antara V/H/S/2) lives and works in Jakarta. Once an up and coming investigative reporter, his life and career has faltered after going head to head with Dharma (Ray Sahetapy THE RAID: REDEMPTION), a corrupt politician with a taste for beating on his wife. Bayu is now estranged from his wife and daughter. On the way home one night, Bayu is attacked by the taxi driver and his comrade in raping and robbing. Mustering the rage inside him, Bayu grabs a firearm from one of the attackers and a bloody shoot out erupts within the confines of the taxi. Surviving the encounter, battered and bruised, Bayu wakes the next day to discover that he has uploaded footage of the carnage to a web site. A web site that is also used by a masked serial killer who uploads videos of himself torturing and killing young women.

Nomura (Kazuki Kitamura SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO) is a wealthy young man living in Tokyo who wants what all young men his age want;to screw attractive women, brutally beat them to death and upload the footage for the world to see all from the confines of his isolated home. Intrigued by the footage Bayu uploaded, Nomura reaches out to him and takes him under the wing. One serial killer to a potential, fledgling serial killer. Nomura is all about the corruption. Whether it is tasking Bayu to turn the hatred and rage he felt during the robbery towards other targets, or goading the impressionable brother of a florist he is dating to attack school children with a taser, Nomura desires for those around him to become like him.

Bayu however uses his new found strength to destroy Dharma's inner circle and bring down the man himself. With each murder of the corrupt who hide behind the power and influence of Dharma, Bayu takes a step closer to becoming a monster, not a vigilante super hero like he hoped. The inner conflict within Bayu puts him at odds with Nomura's design.

Stamboel and Tjahjanto, credited as the Mo Brothers, with co-writer Takuji Ushiyama, put an interesting spin on this Indonesia - Japan co-production. I liked how we are introduced to the main characters and follow them as they go about their business in two very distinct big cities. The men may be separated by culture but they are joined together by the commonality of violence. Only one realizes he is on the path of destruction to his soul while the other sees the journey as freeing. In many ways, Nomura reminded me of Tom Ripley in THE AMERICAN FRIEND, both are dangerous men capable of great evil but even they need someone to pal around with. KILLERS is not as deep as THE AMERICAN FRIEND but is an intriguing film.

*** out of ****