Best on My Way

In the end of my Asian Games 2018 volunteering and its drama met its end. Now I can take my breath properly and relaxing myself. 

Last Wednesday, I just watched a movie together with new friend I made from that event. Yeay! Finally! I went to the cinema and wasn’t alone HAHA. He asked me to accompany him to watch a movie he was curious about. Fortunately, I also had the same curiosity and quite willing to watch it although I only wanted to see Indonesian action actor, Iko Uwais who took a part in this movie while he had no explanation about his curiosity, only curious, he said. Hm yeah! Whatever! 

Actually, I’m not a person who really into the action movie or what-so-ever. I’m only a drama queen who really interested to a lovey-dovey romance-drama movie. During my duty as a volunteer of Asian Games 2018, there was a movie I really wanted to watch but I wasn’t able to watch it because: first, I forgot, second, I spent my time just for sleep because I was so fcking tired. After the games ended, the movie I wanted to watch was not played at the cinemas anymore. Pity me! Huh! 

Because of this, I didn’t really have any interest towards this movie. What I know about this movie is only Iko Uwais. That’s it! I even didn’t know what is the synopsis of the movie, even how is the poster! I literally had no idea about this movie.  Fortunately, my friend didn’t give me any clue about it. Isn’t it great? Yes, of course! 

I just knew the poster when I was in front of the studio we would enter but my friend needed to go to the toilet and I waited him there. You know what? At that time, I got my enthusiasm ascended. Not because of Mark Wahlberg as the main actor and he stands in the middle bringing a gun, nope! Not because there were handcuffs on Iko Uwais’s hands, nope! It was because the words they put above the title. 

OPTION 1: DIPLOMACY

OPTION 2: MILITARY

MEET OPTION 3

Whaaa! You have to know that I was so happy and excited to watch this movie. Very powerful keywords that can make an International Relations student like me want to watch this movie. Do the other IR students feel the same as I did? Or only me who feel that way? 

I don’t know who is Mark Wahlberg either Lauren Cohan even what I know about Iko Uwais is only he ever played a role as a chapter of Star Wars. He is quite well-known abroad, I think, and he is good at material arts. That’s it. 

Also, I’m not really a master at military things and I don’t even know or understand about armed equipment, the type and so on and so forth about it. That’s why I talked about an international trade agreement and Trump’s motive behind his withdrawal. But military things, such as war and fighting are some things sexy to me. I like to talk about it even I like to watch it. Especially, after several minutes passed, I got the clue, this movie talks about espionage and secret services or something like that. I like it! Really! Even I have a novel that talks about double agent at Cold War era and it’s no joke, cool for me! 

To be honest, I didn’t really get the beginning scenes when Alice Kerr (Lauren) and a man, that I forgot HAHA, had an argument about what kind of house they bought. He said he chose the white one but what is in front of them is the blue one and they tried to ask the owner of the blue one, is the address right or not. Several seconds later… there is a bomb in Silva’s hand. And BOOM! What is it? I asked myself in silent. 

This movie is about Cesium-137 which is the source of the bomb thrown on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, special agent, Rusia and US also Indonesia that disguised as Indocarr and represented by Iko Uwais as Li Noor. At first, I didn’t know and wasn’t sensitive enough to understand it’s Indonesia while I was thinking about the other country in Southeast Asia that is corrupt and has problem with US. I didn’t imagine it’s Indonesia and I wouldn’t if my friend, another friend, not the friend I watched the movie with, not told and explained it to me. Huh!

There is nothing more tempting than US-Russia special agent issue, isn’t it? How they both spying on each other, sabotage each other, looking for the same target, competing for each other and revenging each other. 

Let me summed this up. This is the result of the discussion between me and my bestie who is also an IR student AND WE BOTH DO REALLY LOVE THE ENDING OF THIS MOVIE! SERIOUSLY! 

Simple, the complicated plot which makes you need to be focus and never let yourself miss every second of this movie just because of one thing: revenge. 

Started from the end of the beginning scene when the US agents rummaged the blue house which there were Russian agents inside and Silva killed a boy, he was the last of five all. Before the boy was killed, he said, “No! Don’t! You will regret it!” but Silva kept pulled his trigger and that boy met his death. 

The operation ended, they got nothing, no Cesium. They had headache. Several months later, another mission is attended to be solved. From this point, Li Noor showed up. His first scene is when he was alone in a room of the apartment and he burned a photo. There is a boy and a mother on it, if I'm not mistaken. At that time, I thought that boy is Li Noor’s son and the woman is his wife but I was wrong. He is him when he was a kid and the woman is his mother. My friend corrected me. 

He burned his photo, he burned his passport. He didn’t leave any potential clue to let the other know who is him. Then he made a messy by coming to the US embassy with a disk and asked for asylum. He is the informant of Alice and she does really trust him. He was described as a usual policeman but Indocarr’s government looking for him. He is more than an ordinary policeman, he is a precious asset. And here is the start of Iko’s action scenes. 

As I said, I know nothing about Iko, I never watch his movie(s) before it. So I have no idea about his action skill, the material arts fighting skill either the acting skills. For his character, I can say, he played his role well, with the emotionless face, always calm, no worry but keeps punches and kicks and beats and throws down his opponent. Again, I know nothing about action fighting choreography, but for me, the common people, it’s great! It’s beyond good! I like the cinematography captured this scene, it’s perfect and I like it! One more, Iko’s body shape is... G O O D! Propotional! Well-shaped. More than Joe Taslim, maybe? 

Li Noor is smart, oh no! Genius! He is tricky. He doesn’t let the US get his disk, which what US looking for so long, easily. He has bargaining position because the disk has epoch and it can destroy itself if nobody can solve the code then all data US needed will be gone. That’s why… Indocarr won’t let him go either US see him as a potential asset and can be required as their agent after saw what he did at the isolation room. 

After several rounds of negotiation, US side agreed to prove Li Noor’s asylum proposal, they will take him out from this country and at that time Noor will give them the code of the disk. Win-win solution, isn’t it? Sounds like! 

Another Overwatch operation, a very secret operation, started. There was a bold propagandist line in this scene. 

“They are no longer US special agents. They join this operation because of their heroic nationalism. They don’t exist. They are ghosts.” 

This operation is the climax of the movie. There are so many bloody-shooting scenes but I got several messages from this operation scenes. One, interest is your prime mover to do something but you can’t ignore your heart to protect the other’s life, in this case a girl who trapped in building they were catching each other. Then, two, you work for someone, your boss, he gives you command and you have to do it, there is no “NO” for it but you can’t leave your friend alone and separated though you are in love-hate relationship with her. You do your job to reach the aim but you back to your friend, help her and save her. Congratulation! You are still human with humanity though you can kill other human beings easily with your guns. 

Talking about humanity and killing the others, let me give applause to Li Noor for his calmness when attacking his rivals but he keeps do his meditation which looks like dzikir for me. It’s understandable to say it as meditation because dzikir can calm yourself, isn’t it? That’s why people who usually get stress easily are them who are less do dzikir. 

For this, I’m still curious why they put this part of this movie. I’m not sure if the other religions or the others do the same practice with us, I’m just not sure. And… you know? This habit that Noor does is same as one of Russian intelligent agents does. Get the answer? Great! 

And… another BOOM! The aeroplane that was taking Noor and also Alice to get out from Indocarr exploded in the sky right after it took off from the runway. This is my favourite part of this movie. I smiled so wide because of this. For the first time in my life, it’s too dramatic but whatever! Russia won after US. YEAY!!! Nobody predicts it! Even myself! I couldn’t imagine Russia could win a war toward US in a Hollywood movie! GOSH! 

Russia won the game. Li Noor is a Russian intelligent agent. He did revenge for his big-female-boss’s son death by Silva. He is a dangerous Indocarr policeman. He asked asylum to US pretended betrayed his country. He is not only double agent, he is triple agent. That’s why the last line on the poster is “MEET OPTION 3”. 

There was question popped up in my head, “Why, Li Noor? How could he be triple agent for Russia?”. 

My friend answered, “Because he is Indonesian (Indocarr). Because his parents were killed by US and he was trained by Russian since he was kids.”

To be honest, I don’t really get this explanation because I didn’t see it in the movie or I wasn’t thorough enough so I miss this part. My friend said that’s why he burned the photo, it was him and his mom when he was kid. Hence, before Noor entered the plain, he sent his greeting to Jimmy’s mother. Then Jimmy shocked, how could Noor know his mother?