HEADSHOT (2017) *** ½

Iko Uwais stars as an amnesiac who washes ashore.  A pretty doctor (Chelsea Islan) looks after him and tries to help him remember his past.  Before long, a vicious kingpin (Sunny Pang) sends his men looking for Uwais.

Headshot is a tough, mean, and violent action flick that is a great vehicle for Iko Uwais.  If you loved him in The Raid, you’re guaranteed to enjoy this one.  It’s full of brutal, bloody fight scenes, and contains one of Uwais’ best performances to date.

I especially liked the early scenes where Pang’s henchman went to work on a rival gang.  Besi (Very Tri Yulisman, Baseball Bat Man from The Raid 2) is an unassuming guy with glasses and Riki (Julie Estelle, Hammer Girl from The Raid 2) is a quiet woman with a scarf around her face.  They are severely underestimated by the other gang and the duo wind up mopping the floor with dozens of people without breaking a sweat.

Uwais gets an excellent fight sequence on a bus full of slaughtered passengers.  He gets doused with gasoline and must fight off a thug waving a lighter.  After narrowly beating him, along comes a guy brandishing a torch.  It’s a perfect out-of-the-frying-pan-and-into-the-fire moment, but the scene keeps finding new ways to escalate from there, which makes it a real treat.

There is also an extended assault on a police station that is very much like something out of The Raid.  First, Uwais fights a machete-wielding maniac while tied to a desk before battling a shotgun-toting killer while hiding under a series of desks, until participating in an all-out brawl with a baldheaded lunatic who gets hit with everything from telephones to typewriters to paper cutters and keeps on coming after Uwais.  This sequence alone makes Headshot Uwais’ best solo vehicle since The Raid 2.

At nearly two hours, it does run on a bit too long.  The final three fights, though more personal and ugly, lack the panache and jaw-dropping madness of the stuff found in the second act.  That is only a minor quibble as Headshot remains another must-see from Uwais.