‘Fireworks’ (2023) Netflix Movie Review - Stuck In A Loop

Directed by Herwin Novianto and written by Yoshio Kato and Alim Sudio, Fireworks is a film about four strangers coming together to end their lives. It is a mass suicide mission with the mastermind being an engineer who specializes in fireworks. A secret group Fireworks is made four to five days ago before calling the meeting. They are all strangers and come under one roof to end their lives.

The motive behind this isn’t revealed initially and this group has one rule of not asking about each other's personal information. It starts with a man in his storehouse who is getting things ready. One by one the members come into the shed. Cloud Sky is the leader of this group and the other members are Black Orchid, White Skull, and Angunn. Cloud Sky is a man who is between his forties and fifties, Black Orchid is in his thirties, and White Skull also seems to be in the same age group, but Angunn is a high schooler. Upon this young girl’s arrival, everyone is left in shock. Nobody expects a teenager to take their life and they didn’t want her to be a part of this event. Eventually, the reasons for their taking their lives are revealed.

The irony of Urip iku urup written on the bomb makes the audience think about why are they doing that. This phrase means ‘Live to light up’ when in reality they were lighting the fireworks to die. The film is stuck in a time loop, and the participants of this secret group don't know why that's happening. Every time the bomb goes off, they are brought back to the point where it all started. Along with them being stuck, it also keeps the viewers stuck. Out of all the possible ways to make it appear interesting, the makers chose a very boring approach. The goal was to make them realize that they shouldn't give up their life and this was highlighted in the last few minutes when we knew it from the start. At least ten times the same scenes have been played and it got boring with every repetition. The fact that the girl was being blamed for their failed attempts was sad because all either three grown-up people weren’t willing to understand her and rather blamed her.

The whole 105 minutes are a waste of time. The start of the film makes us believe that there is some big mystery hidden that will be worth our time. The audience is kept under a delusion but the bubble breaks soon. Just 15 minutes into the movie and you know that it's a waste of time. Viewers won't find Fireworks attractive and they'll lose interest in the beginning itself. The reasons given behind their suicide attempt were justifiable except that of the high schooler. The directionless repetition is the one responsible for making this film a flop.

The actors did an okayish job, but the plot is substandard which makes all the efforts done by the cast go in vain. The majority of the filming is done in a single room. Many other films are filmed in a single room and still deliver good content. Compared with other movies based on a similar plot, Fireworks is a below-average attempt at filmmaking.

Final Score – [4/10]
Reviewed by - Riya Singh
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Publisher at Midgard Times