Headshot [Sub: English]

the story can't sustain the bloated running time and the ongoing, gratuitous violence. It's not the best showcase for Uwais' skills when he's bringing his fists to a gunfight.

Headshot is rarely as good as Uwais, but he makes the bloody beat-em-up worth a look.

A bone-crunching Indonesian bloodbath that stars the same actor from The Raid and feels like it was cut together from that film's deleted footage.

This lethally brutal exercise in Indonesian martial-arts mayhem - featuring the charismatic Iko Uwais ("The Raid" franchise), a living, breathing action figure - is definitely not for the squeamish nor anyone who has just eaten lunch.

Despite Headshot's flaws, it does have a mesmerizing quality in its illustration of humanity's dark side, social and spiritual. It's a film that coaxes into its world rather than drags.

Fans of extreme Asian genre action won't care that things eventually grow somewhat predictable and repetitive: In terms of sheer, punchy physical vigor, "Headshot" is a knockout.

Although narratively flawed, the brutality factor is through the roof and there are still plenty of thrills to keep true action giddy with joy.

It might not be in the same league as The Raid or John Wick, but it makes a decent fist of it.

It's a cliché to call these fights balletic or the camerawork athletic. But the combination of these movements -- of bodies and frames, in harmony and in evocative tension -- is mesmerizing.

Definitely worth the time of any martial arts fan eager to see Uwais in action while they await the inevitable third entry in The Raid series.

Despite the familiarity of many elements of its plot, Headshot is gripping throughout, with plenty of pace and energy.