How do you plan a script so that the audience will remain silent for the whole 2 hours and 23 minutes? Well, Angga Dwimas Sasongko should do a masterclass regarding that because in his “13 Bombs,” he has created perhaps the most perfect action thriller anyone has witnessed in recent times. Starring Chicco Kurniawan, Rio Dewanto, and Putri Ayudya, this film will grip you with unimaginable pace and gripping storytelling. Apart from the actors, the story itself is so engaging that you just can’t close your eyes for once. This film is basically everything that Shah Rukh Khan starrer “Jawan” should have been. Anyway, watch it on Netflix before reading the article. The film deserves all the applause because of the wonderful effort the whole crew has put into making this grand thriller.
Spoilers Ahead
13 Bombs (2023) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis:
The film starts with a unique situation in Jakarta, where the people are not happy with the government because of the unstable economy. A group of terrorists attacks a government vehicle that contains so much money. Surprisingly, they do not steal the money. Instead, they open the door for the people to grab it. This gesture makes quite an impression inside the counterterrorism department, where Officer Damaskus is in deep discussion with Karin and Emil.
Meanwhile, a crypto startup company named Indodax, founded by Oscar and William, has recently boomed with success. They are a pioneering company in Indonesia. They have created a platform through which cryptocurrency transactions are made possible. After the attack, the counterterrorism server is hacked by the terrorists, who reveal that they have planted 13 bombs around Jakarta. If the government does not send 100 bitcoins via Indodax, they will turn on the bombs with each passing hour.
What happens after 100 Bitcoins are Sent?
Since they fail to track down the terrorist group, the authority captures Oscar and William in pursuit to learn if they have any connection with the terrorists, as they have mentioned the name of their company. Oscar and William explain to Emil that since they are the pioneering companies in this kind of crypto transaction in Indonesia, everyone will try to use their platform because they offer the best security.
They also say that the crypto transactions are untraceable until the terrorists decide to cash out the bitcoins. Oscar sees that there is no way they can get out of this situation without helping Damaskus and his team. Therefore, he decides to send 100 bitcoins from their own account to the terrorist group. Once they have cashed out, he can give them their location. Damaskus agrees to this, and Karin gives Oscar a laptop through which he sends 100 bitcoins to the terrorist group.
The terrorist group’s head, Arok, asks Waluyo, his right-hand man, to cash out the bitcoins so that law enforcement knows their location. Oscar gets the location and shares it with Karin. But later, William says that if the terrorist group is after money, then why would they give away money to the people in the first attack? Oscar says it is not their thing to be worried about, as their prime object is to get out of this mess.
However, when the police go to the place, they are attacked by some random people with guns. After a huge gunfight, they finally get to the top of the building from where the transaction is made. However, Emil only finds a laptop in there, realizing that this has been a decoy. Soon, the building in front of them is on fire as a huge explosion takes place. It is the stock exchange building. Subsequently, the government is partially paralyzed by this because it is one of the key elements in the economic system.
What do Oscar and William find out about the Terrorist Group?
Right after the blast, Arok comes in front of the camera again and shares his motive behind these attacks. He says that the government has ignored people like him for a long time, and now is the time to pay back. Damaskus tells Karin to work along with Oscar and William so that they can track anything. Oscar demands that they go back to their office and talk to their family. Karin approves of this by sending Gita and a couple of officers with her. Gita finds a woman arriving at their office. They have invited their business partner Agnes to help them with this situation.
Karin gives them a tapped phone. They know about it, so they talk in a hushed tone when they discuss something important. Meanwhile, a link appears on their system, and when they click through it, some anomaly asks them three random questions about Indodax that are answered in numbers. When the questionnaire is done, they find out that the terrorist group is talking to them. They say that Oscar and William are only related to them. Oscar knows that they will be in deep trouble if Karin finds out about this, so they decide to run away.
When Damaskus finds out that Karin has let them disappear under her watch, he fires her immediately as Gita takes over. However, the following day, the terrorist group explodes a train, killing a few people. Things start to get out of hand for Damaskus and his team as they start to develop an idea that they have a mole inside the counterterrorism department that is helping the terrorists. William, on the other hand, compiles the number they answered previously. He finds out that it is a puzzle they have solved to meet with the terrorists.
Before going into the church they have found out by solving the equation, they tell Agnes to contact Karin if they do not come back. Agnes sees from outside that some men are putting Oscar and William inside a van, and she calls Karin from a burner phone. Karin meets with her. Together, they try to track down the vehicle so that they can reach the terrorist group. Karin has shared the information with Gita as well while she herself goes through the CCTV footage. In the meantime, the terrorist explodes another bomb, this time the affected area is the international airport.
What is Arok’s Actual Intention?
Oscar and William finally meet with the mastermind behind the whole attack, Arok, who says that Indodax has inspired him to take these steps. Oscar remembers Arok from one of their seminars, where he told him about his wife, who killed herself because of a scam, and his son died after a while. Arok learns that through their Indodax, one actually converts their whole money into crypto, and in that manner, there will be no chance for anyone to commit fraud. Arok thinks this is the next step of the economy. To make this work, he finds Waluyo, who is a victim of the government as well.
Arok’s intention is to destroy the whole monetary system of the government so that it can be replaced with cryptocurrency, bitcoins, and everything that is digital. William fails to make him understand that unless the government makes crypto the only transaction method, this can not be placed. But Arok remains persistent that he will make this happen and forces Waluyo to explode the international airport. Oscar finds out that Waluyo has no intention of killing innocent people, so he plans with him to deactivate the rest of the bombs.
Waluyo dies in that process while William successfully deactivates all the other bombs except for the last one, which is malware to be installed inside the counterterrorism building through their supercomputer. After Waluyo’s death, Arok makes a call to the mole inside the office so that the malware can be installed. This call, however, exposes Arok’s position to both Karin and Damaskus’s team as he sends Emil to annihilate the whole terrorist group. Agnes urges to be with Karin as they enter the abandoned factory site in search of William and Oscar.
13 Bombs (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
Who was the Mole?
Karin and Agnes find Oscar and William inside the factory while Emil confronts Arok. In the meantime, Damaskus thinks that he has found the mole, which is Fajar. But in reality, Emil sees Gita taking the malware from Arok and leaves the place as she heads toward the counterterrorism office. Before taking his final breath, Emil tells Karin about Gita being the mole and that she should stop her from doing any harm. Karin heads to the headquarters along with Agnes, Oscar, and William.
In the meantime, Damaskus left with his own squad to capture Arok, as he learned that Arok was one of the prime military officials who had taken part in special operations. Back at the headquarters, Gita kills everyone. Just before she can install the malware, Karin confronts her. However, she installs the malware, and Agnes accidentally shoots her. Karin tries to press her wound as Gita shares her story about her sister being a victim of this corrupted government.
Oscar and William try to stop the malware from spreading by disconnecting specific routers. If the malware spreads, it will clean all the money that the government has in the banks so that the whole economic system will crash within a few minutes. On the other hand, Arok is captured by Damaskus, and he wishes his team success before instigating his own death in Damaskus’s hands. Both Gita and Arok die almost at the same time in two different places as Gita sees with her eyes wide open how Oscar and William successfully stop the malware from entering the system.
Gita perhaps died before knowing that their plan had failed, thanks to Oscar and William’s brilliant young minds. However, like always, Arok, Waluyo, Gita, and everyone from the terrorist group had their reason to do whatever they had done. Yes, they have taken innocent lives, which goes against Arok’s handbook. Alas, in war, you have to improvise at times. Waluyo improvised to deactivate all the bombs because he had lost faith in Arok’s intentions. Arok is driven by revenge so much that in order to destroy the government, he starts taking innocent lives.
Oscar and William understand their role, which is the most important part of this whole scenario. They have all the opportunity to hide themselves and wait for law enforcement to do their part. But, they take the stand and make themselves the most useful of them all with their resilience and brilliance. Emil and Fajar gave their lives for their country as Karin and Agnes went to such an extent to save their loved ones. “13 Bombs” really speaks a lot about individuals and how they can be a part of the greater good for society.
