Tara Maulida

Pengepungan di Bukit Duri attempts to be a gritty action-siege drama, but ends up being an unintentional parody of everything it imitates. The chaos is loud, the camera unhinged, but what truly hurts is the complete absence of narrative intelligence. Let’s start with the most baffling plot point: The protagonist is on a mission to find his missing nephew — across all of East Jakarta’s schools. He finally settles on this particular one because… one of the students is good at drawing. Why? Because, in his words, “everyone in my family can draw.” Excuse me? In a city of millions, we are to believe that one student’s ability to sketch is enough to conclude blood relation. This isn't character logic — it’s screenwriter laziness dressed as fate. The rest of the film isn’t any kinder. The protagonist alternates between being a near-invincible brawler and a passive bystander who lets two characters die without even trying to fight back — not due to trauma or fear, but apparently because the script needed a reason for drama. The villains? A gang of high school rejects turned mass murderers, whose motivations are so vague — demonic possession? urban nihilism? narrative convenience? — that they might as well be placeholders for “whatever makes them kill people.” Action sequences mimic The Raid’s kinetic energy but forget to include clarity. Rooms change without logic. Blows land from nowhere. Weapons spawn like loot boxes. You’re left disoriented not because of the tension, but because the geography simply doesn’t exist. And let’s not forget the insult to memory: this film sets its roots in fictional riots modeled after Indonesia’s 1998 tragedy. But it uses that history only as aesthetic — not substance. No real political progression, no world-building, no commentary. Just violence and shaky-cam. This is not dystopia. It’s scriptwriting roulette. A film that mistakes noise for weight, trauma for spectacle, and coincidence for plot.

Far better than expected, I cannot imagine anyone perform the dilemmatic Cruella better than Emma Stone herself (perhaps Saoirse Ronan? 👻), it is so stylish from start to finish, all the soundtracks and ofc with Oscar winner Jenny Beavan on the costume design, this will be a glorious moment for all fashion enthusiasts out there.

The voice cast is the definitive thing to praise about this animated series, which features J.K. Simmons as the intense fatherly Omni-Man and ofc Steven Yeun himself, the undeniably naive unstoppable teenagers. I couldn't say that the main theme was inventive, because this seems identical with The Boys or Watchmen, only play it a bit safer, but it's extraordinary refreshing, a new take on an animated superhero show.

Finally watched and this will be one of my best courtroom drama lists after 12 Angry Men. The Trial of Chicago 7 is something unexpected, clever and delightful, while continuously convey strong messages we couldn't ignore such as the face of authoritarianism and self-righteousness which unfortunately still presents to this day.

Thoughtful and brilliant sound design indeed, also this is the film that will take you to another side of life (The important one).