Sri Asih (2022) Review: Indonesia's Superheroine Suits Up

Is Sri Asih worth watching?

Yes, with some patience. Sri Asih is an energetic and good-looking Indonesian superhero film that gives one of the country’s oldest comic heroines a confident modern debut, and Pevita Pearce throws herself into the role. Its hand-to-hand action is often excellent and its mythology gives it a flavour Hollywood films cannot copy. The drawbacks are a bloated running time, digital effects that do not always match the ambition, and the familiar sense of a film spending energy setting up a franchise.

What is Sri Asih about?

Pevita Pearce plays Alana, a young woman with a fierce temper and a strength she does not fully understand. As she is drawn into conflict with dangerous forces bigger than any opponent she has faced, she begins to learn that her abilities are rooted in Javanese mythology and connect her to the legendary protector known as Sri Asih. The film is an origin story, tracing how a gifted but angry fighter becomes a hero with a purpose.

Sri Asih is directed by Upi Avianto and was released in Indonesia in November 2022. It is an Indonesian-language action film running 134 minutes, with Reza Rahadian, Christine Hakim and Jefri Nichol among the supporting cast. It is the second entry in the Bumilangit shared universe of films based on classic Indonesian comics, following Joko Anwar’s Gundala, and the heroine herself dates back to the early days of the country’s comic-book tradition.

Pevita Pearce carries the action

The film’s biggest asset is its lead. Pearce commits fully to the physical side of the role, and the fight scenes keep her firmly at their centre. Avianto stages the hand-to-hand action with weight and clarity, drawing on the grounded, impact-heavy style that Indonesian action cinema is known for, and the early fights in particular have a scrappy intensity that suits a hero still learning her own strength.

Pearce also gives Alana a prickly edge. The character is not a polished saint from the start, and the film is at its best when it lets her anger and impulsiveness drive the story, rather than smoothing them away too soon.

Mythology gives it a local identity

Where Sri Asih stands out from the Hollywood template is in its roots. The film’s supernatural side draws on Javanese myth rather than science fiction or alien technology, and that gives its lore a texture that feels specific to Indonesia. Grounding a superhero’s powers in local legend rather than laboratories makes the film’s world feel distinct from both Marvel and DC, even when its structure follows the familiar origin-story path.

As a female-led superhero film directed by a woman, it also carries a sense of occasion within Indonesian popular cinema, and it treats its heroine as a fighter first.

Where the universe-building gets in the way

At 134 minutes, Sri Asih is too long for the story it has to tell. The middle stretch slows down for exposition about its mythology and wider universe, and some supporting characters exist mainly to connect this film to future ones. The villains are less memorable than the heroine, and the stakes can feel abstract whenever the story trades personal conflict for mythological scale.

The effects are the other weak point. Practical fights look terrific, but the more elaborate digital sequences, especially in the larger-scale set pieces, are noticeably less convincing and sometimes undercut the tension the fights have built.

Who should watch Sri Asih?

It is a good pick for superhero fans who want something outside the usual Hollywood franchises, for followers of Indonesian action, and for anyone who enjoyed Gundala. At over two hours, it is a full evening, and viewers new to the Bumilangit universe can follow it without homework. Violence is frequent and occasionally bloody but closer to superhero action than to the extreme end of Indonesian genre cinema.

Where to go next:

• Gundala, Joko Anwar’s grittier launch for the same shared universe, which sets up much of the wider world.
• The Raid, the modern landmark of Indonesian martial arts cinema, for fights without the fantasy.
• The Shadow Strays, Timo Tjahjanto’s female-led action thriller, for a far harder-edged heroine.

The verdict

Sri Asih is a spirited, flawed superhero origin story that succeeds most when it keeps its feet on the ground: Pevita Pearce’s committed performance, well-staged fights and a mythology rooted in Indonesian tradition. It runs long and wobbles when the digital effects take over, but it is a worthwhile step for Indonesian genre filmmaking.

Rating: 3.5/5