ReviewNetflix movie review: 13 Bombs – Indonesian terrorist action thriller set in Jakarta fails to get its message across

Rio Dewanto stars as the leader of a gang that attacks an armoured car, killing the guards but leaving the money, while threatening Jakarta with 13 bombs

An anti-terrorist agent (Putri Ayudya) goes after the gang with her friend (Niken Anjani) in this action thriller that doesn’t live up to its ambitious premise

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Rukman Rosadi (left) and Ganindra Bimo in a still from 13 Bombs, directed by Angga Dwimas Sasongko. Rio Dewanto, Ardhito Pramono, Chicco Kurniawan and Lutesha co-star.

Published: 6:45pm, 2 May 2024Updated: 5:44pm, 8 May 2024

2/5 stars

With news breaking that veteran Hong Kong producer Bill Kong Chi-keung (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is shooting a new, high-octane thriller in the vein of The Raid and The Night Comes for Us, it would appear Indonesian-style action films are hotter than ever.

Writer-director Angga Dwimas Sasongko (Filosofi Kopi) looks to get in on the action with his new, politically minded terrorist thriller.

Unspooling against the backdrop of an economically unbalanced Jakarta, where fat-cat politicians manipulate monetary policy at the expense of a vast struggling underclass, 13 Bombs sees the city brought to its knees by a terrorist group’s reign of incendiary terror.

An armoured car is targeted in broad daylight, but the heavily armed attackers leave its payload of banknotes untouched, while killing mercilessly those who were guarding it.