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Farell Akbar in the Indonesian action crime movie Preman: Silent Fury. Courtesy of Hi-Yah.

Preman: Silent Fury is a subtitled Indonesian action film that is a relative novelty among the mostly high-octane martial arts and shootouts that cross the Pacific from several Asian countries for our entertainment. This one features a deaf character (Farell Akbar) who is a member of the eponymous criminal organization, who tries to quit and change his ways, mainly so his young son (Muzakki Ramdhan) can grow up in a better environment than he did.

According to the filmmakers, “Preman,” which is Dutch for “free man,” is a real type of Indonesian gangsters “who claim to be motivated by a deep sense of justice but are despised by society of their bullying and violent behavior.”

When they witness their gang’s leader (Kiki Narendra) killing a respected elder, that’s the last straw for the duo,...

As we have mentioned many times before, the epicenter of martial arts cinema has moved to the Asean countries, with Indonesia being one of the most dominant ones. US-educated Randolph Zaini tries to continue in the footsteps of “The Raid” and “The Night Comes For Us”, by introducing a new element, that of a protagonist who is deaf.

Preman is screening on New York Asian Film Festival

The aforementioned man is named Sandi, and works as a preman, which the movie defines as thugs who considered themselves to be men of honor and justice, but were despised by the public for their violent ways. The connections of his organization with the police is established from the beginning, since Guru, a cop, is soon revealed to be the leader of the criminal syndicate, whose purpose is to oust a number of people from their homes, in order for construction to take cover.

As we have mentioned many times before, the epicenter of martial arts cinema has moved to the Asean countries, with Indonesia being one of the most dominant ones. US-educated Randolph Zaini tries to continue in the footsteps of “The Raid” and “The Night Comes For Us”, by introducing a new element, that of a protagonist who is deaf.

The aforementioned man is named Sandi, and works as a preman, which the movie defines as thugs who considered themselves to be men of honor and justice, but were despised by the public for their violent ways. The connections of his organization with the police is established from the beginning, since Guru, a cop, is soon revealed to be the leader of the criminal syndicate, whose purpose is to oust a number of people from their homes, in order for construction to take cover. Sandi, however, is reluctant to do his work...