Rent it
Summary
Foxtrot Six certainly has its moments with some cool ideas and futuristic tech but the pacing drags and the story fails to really grab your attention for the full runtime. Worth a rental if nothing else.
Plot: A former marine and his friends struggle to save Indonesia from a ruthless party leader.
Review: Foxtrot Six is one of those movies that I feel like we’ve been waiting years to see but in this case we actually have and then it finally gets released last week with very little marketing or hype… after watching the movie however, I’m beginning to understand why.
Produced by Mario Kassar Foxtrot Six is a sci-fi actioner from Indonesia starring Oka Antara, Julie Estelle, Verdi Solaiman, Arifin Putra and many more. It’s certainly not short on ambition and there are some fantastic action sequences, but I found it strangely unengaging with some really ropey acting in parts.
The pacing at times really plods along with several scenes just dragging things out and I barely cared about any of the characters; I literally had to go to IMDB to find out some of their names.
Oka Antara is a sympathetic enough lead (called Angga apparently) who is a congressman searching for his lost love; when he finds out she is part of a rebellion against the group known as Piranhas his world is changed forever and he ends up becoming a fugitive.
The best character is Spec played by Chicco Jerikho who is a man of few words but damn it all he is just so cool.
In this future food is the world’s most precious resource and the people are hungry so Angga and his crew want to take down the Piranhas and restore freedom to the galaxy.
Spoiler alert – Edward Akbar makes for a hateful villain but the fact that our main hero isn’t the one who takes him down at the end was profoundly unsatisfying.
The final 40 minutes are easily the strongest of the film as the action properly moves into high gear; we get fight scenes, awesome tech and mech suits with mini guns attached to them. There are certainly some innovative ideas and satisfying kills which is what elevates this above 2 stars.
I don’t know why I always thought Iko Uwais was in this picture but he isn’t so I must have been thinking of something else.
The visual effects are sometimes impressive but there is a lot of jerky looking CG especially when the mechs fall over; I’ve seen worse though and it didn’t really take me out of the film.
The score is suitably epic and there is a great shot of our group of heroes walking towards the final battle to save the day.
Overall, Foxtrot Six has plenty of ambition and the fight scenes never fail to entertain but the story strangely doesn’t engage and I found the pacing really lagged in parts. I would maybe check it out if it comes on Netflix or just watch The Night Comes for Us again instead.
