Film

Headshot

Name: Headshot
Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama
Released: 2016
Cast: Iko Uwais, Chelsea Islan, Sunny Pang, Julie Estelle, Very Tri Yulisman

Iko Uwais washes ashore with amnesia in this Indonesian action-thriller that trades plot complexity for gorgeous brutality. A man rebuilds his life only to discover his muscle memory is lethal. It's intimate despite the violence—less about stopping crime than about who you become when your body remembers what your mind forgot.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want brutal, inventively staged hand-to-hand fights with a sweaty, unrelenting energy and don't mind a plot that mostly exists to link one brawl to the next.

Skip it if the gore is relentless and the drama between fights is thin and sometimes clumsy, which hurts if you need characters to carry the film.

What it asks of you: A brisk, nearly two-hour run of nonstop motion, asking you to sit through heavy violence and keep track of a shifting crowd of gangsters.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

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A man pulled back into violence by circumstance, discovering his past isn't past. Keanu Reeves and Headshot share DNA: amnesia isn't the mystery, identity is. Stylish and emotionally grounded.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Headshot

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

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Both explore identity rebuilt through violence and trauma. Oldboy asks: what if your worst self is the only self you have left? Headshot asks: what if you don't remember having one at all.

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Indonesian action cinema continues its golden streak. A fixer trying to leave the life faces impossible odds. The choreography is stunning and the emotional stakes surprisingly real.

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Furious 72015

An action film that understands sentiment without becoming maudlin. Statham and Johnson elevate franchise material; Wan's direction is crisp and clear.

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Atomic Blonde2017

Charlize Theron as a spy with secrets and scars in Cold War Berlin. One of the best action films of its decade: sharp, violent, and unapologetically cool.

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Won Bin plays a quiet man forced into violence to protect a child. Korean action cinema at its best: elegant, brutal, deeply felt. Often overlooked.

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Hitchcock's single-take thriller about two men hiding a crime in real time. Claustrophobic, elegant, and utterly gripping despite minimal action. A masterclass in suspense.

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Both explore how violence hollows out the self. Headshot asks if a killer can become human; Come and See asks if a human can survive becoming a killer. Both answer: partially, at best, and never the same.

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But Brutally traumatic. Not a war film you watch for catharsis; it destroys the idea of catharsis. Genuinely difficult to sit through.