★★★
“A video-game, trying to get out.”
The daughter of the American ambassador is kidnapped, and is being held on an island off the Indonesian coast. Conventional attempts to stage a rescue mission end badly, and pressure from the US mounts on the government to do something. Colonel John (Thomas) is in charge, and comes up with a daring plan. Well, to be honest, the word “ludicrous” might be more appropriate, or perhaps that’s just me. He recruits ten models with a range of martial arts talents – silat, wushu, archery, etc. – and in five days, his tough-as-nails second in command, Major Cathy (Anderson) will lick them into a cohesive unit, which can infiltrate the island and mount a daring rescue. “Why do they have to be models?”, I hear you asking. Again, to be honest, this is never exactly explained. Still, for cinematic purposes, we’ll let it slide, since the intent is clear: it lets them kick ass, while looking good doing so.
Any other questions? No? It’s for the best, trust me.
You should probably think of this as an Indonesian equivalent to DOA: Dead or Alive: cheesecake flavoured action, not to be taken seriously in the slightest. There are basically two section to this. The first is the group’s “boot camp,” which mostly consists of Major Cathy putting them through physical and psychological torment. There is a lot of yelling; I don’t know about you, but she certainly put the fear of God into me. Yet it’s also quite impressive, to have someone on the side of the heroines, who clearly doesn’t give a damn about being nice. There’s something almost admirable about her focus on the #SquadGoals, to the exclusion of everything else. Just don’t expect anything in the slightest as far as characterization of the “10” goes. For the vast majority, you’ll get a caption describing their skills, and that’s it.
The second half is almost one extended action sequence, depicting their rescue mission. It does slow down in the middle for a bit, after some of the team get captured. However, it then kicks back into gear for the final 15 minutes, and probably wisely, it saves the best for last. There’s a barn-storming battle, in an increasingly-flooded warehouse, pitting the best of the government forces against the best of the terrorist. The latter include their leader – technically called Paul, but whom should really be called Mr. Shouty, for his habit of YELLING EVERY LINE HE HAS TO DELIVER – and his sidekick, the tall, blonde Jane (Zavialova), whose skills are quite impressive.
As the tag-line at the top suggests, this feels more like an adaptation of a console beat-em-up. In it, you would be able to select one of the ten trainees, taking them through a series of missions under Major Cathy, which let you earn skill points which can be applied to your abilities. You then get to use these as you land on the island, battle your way across, and finally, defeat Jane and Paul to rescue the ambassador’s daughter. I can feel my thumbs twitching. But as a movie? It’s a rather imperfect 10.
Dir: Helfi C.H. Kardit
Star: Karenina Maria Anderson, Jeremy Thomas, Roy Marten, Svitlana Zavialova