There is good news for fans of the ol' hand to hand ultra violence on a pair of fronts this week.
First up, you see that photo up above? That display of manly love comes to you courtesy of writer-director Timo Tjahjanto (on the left) and leading man Joe Taslim (on the right) after wrapping 70+ shooting days on upcoming martial arts film The Night Comes For Us. Tjahjanto's regular Mo Brother collaborator Kimo Stamboel is on board as producer and, yep, The Raid and Headshot cohorts Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle and Sunny Pang were all on board as well. And what happens when you give this crew an eternity of shooting time? Violence happens. Lots and lots of violence.
The Night Comes For Us is just entering the editing phase now, so 2018 seems a reasonable expectation for release.
Yep, this is the first on set shot from day one of Erik Matti's new action film Buy Bust. Is this the first proper Filipino martial arts film ever made? That's a hard question to answer and there are people who would argue on both sides but it's definitely the first ever on this scale and having had the chance to see their prep materials I can say absolutely that a) Filipino martial arts look amazing on camera and b) the months of training and prep are paying off. Expect more on this as it comes.
[Full disclosure: Yes, XYZ Films - whih I am a part of - has a hand in both of these films so bias, etc etc. Also, lots and lots and lots of people being punched in the face.]