Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Gratuitous violence and gore in chaotic martial arts movie.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 18+?
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The Night Comes for Us
What's the Story?
In THE NIGHT COMES FOR US, Ito (Joe Taslim) is a member of Six Seas, an elite group that's been given carte blanche to protect the drug smuggling operations of the South East Asian Triad in the Golden Triangle. When it's discovered that a village has been skimming some of the Triad's money, Ito and his men set fire to the village and kill everyone who lives there. The last survivor is Reina (Asha Kenyeri Bermudez), a young girl who has just watched her family get killed. Ito's men are about to kill Reina, but before they do that, Ito turns his guns on them. Injured during the battle, he takes Reina to his ex-girlfriend, Shinta (Salvita Decorte), who tries taking care of Reina as Ito tends to his wounds. Meanwhile, Ito's old friend and fellow gang member, Arian (Iko Uwais), has discovered that Ito has gone rogue and must kill him. Ito gets help from Fatih (Abimana Aryasatya), Wisnu (Dimas Anggara), and Bobby (Zack Lee), who must all do battle with an army that will stop at nothing to kill them. Ito must find a way to stay alive, save Reina, and get them both to safety and a new life—and Arian must choose which side he's on.
Is It Any Good?
This is chiefly an exercise in gratuitous violence and staggering self-indulgence, but what an exercise it is. The Night Comes for Us does exactly what it says it will: It's a vehicle for delivering over-the-top violence, blood, and gore of the type that's more the province of horror movies than martial arts films. There's so much violence, in fact, that it's difficult to keep track of (or even care about) what's going on with the overall story.
But the artistry and the brutality of the fights, along with their visual inventiveness, prevent the film from becoming tedious. There's also irreverence aplenty: If the human body has a limb or a facial feature, chances are that director Timo Tjahjanto finds a way to stab, smash, or cut it. And yet, the violence is also in service to a gangland thriller that pits brother against brother, with a kind of morality tale in the middle in the form of the young girl Ito must protect. In this respect, it plays out like many action thrillers of this stripe. Its violence is simply more intense, visceral, and visually stunning.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in movies. Did the graphic violence seem important to the story of The Night Comes for Us, or was it graphic for entertainment's sake?
Have you seen any other Iko Uwais films? If so, which are your favorite?
Do martial arts movies make you curious about the styles used? Did The Night Comes for Us make you curious about silat or judo? How might you find out more about these martial arts?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : October 19, 2018
- Cast : Iko Uwais , Joe Taslim , Julie Estelle
- Director : Timo Tjahjanto
- Inclusion Information : Asian Movie Director(s) , Southeast Asian Movie Director(s) , Indian/South Asian Movie Actor(s) , Asian Movie Writer(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Action/Adventure
- Topics : Sports ( Martial arts )
- Run time : 121 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : February 20, 2026
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