WIRA

Release Date: Malaysia, 21 Nov 2019

Genre: Action

Running Length: 1:48

Cast: Hairul Azreen, Fify Azmi, Hilal Azman, Henley Hii, Dain Said, Ismi Melinda, Yayan Ruhian

Director: Adrian Teh

Screenplay: Anwari Ashraf & Adrian Teh

I really enjoyed Paskal when it came out last year. So when I heard that the team that did Paskal is behind WIRA, I had to go check it out. So is it as good? 

Before we get to that, what's this movie about? Well, this movie is set in a dystopian-like little town in Malaysia run by a kingpin called Raja (Dain Said). Hassan who once served Raja (Hairul Azreen) years ago is now a military guy and he goes back to that sh*t hole to get his father and younger sister out. Wira being a fight movie, I'm sure you can guess where the plot will eventually lead to.

I went into this movie for the fight scenes as I have read reviews claiming that the hand-to-hand fight scenes are on par with Indonesian's The Raid and even Hollywood's John Wick. I read as well that the film's director Adrian Teh wanted to aim for "Hollywood-level fight scenes, but on a Malaysian budget". Wah....sure boh? I had to see it for myself, right?

And the verdict? 50/50. 

First of all, there is no doubt there are plenty of fight scenes. In fact, right at the opening scene of the movie, we already see Hassan's sis Zain (Fify Azmi) and Raja's daughter Vee (Ismi Melinda) beating the cr*p out of each other in the ring. But the fight choreography, unfortunately, was very tame and unbelievable. In fact, there is this one vs many unbroken-one-take fight scene where it looked a little weird; like bullet time but not.

Fortunately, the fight scenes do get better and better. And the payoff came at the last fight scene which lasted a good 10 minutes between tag team bro + sis vs Raja's bodyguard (Yayan Ruhian, yes, the Raid dude, who is also the fight choreographer for this movie). Man, that fight scene was worth the price of the admission ticket itself! It was intense and brutal. 

I really believe Adrian could have bring in the A-game on a Malaysian budget on all the fight scenes (and not only the last few fight scenes) but I think his team is constrained by the PG-13 rating. If this was rated R, on boy, it could have been a blast. The bones breaking and bodies getting slashed would have been more riveting.

What I do like also are the performances by Fify and Dain Said. Fify is believable as our strong female lead, something you don't see much in our local movies. And Dain Said channeling his inner Alan Rickman from Die Hard...ahh, whenever he appears on screen, I am engaged. 

So all in all, is Wira a worthy follow-up to Paskal? Not really. There wasn't any "sign me up for TUDM!" emotions I felt when I watched Paskal. Besides the inconsistent fight sequences, it's a tad melodrama and some of the dialogue sounds awkward too. 

p/s: Do stay behind for a mid-credit scene which I thought was...anyway, just watch for yourselves. 

RATING: 6.5/10 

PASKAL THE MOVIE (Malaysia, 27 Sep 2018)

Genre: Action

Running Length: 1:40

Cast: Hairul Azreen, Ammar Alfian, Henley Hii, Taufik Hanafi, Gambit Saifullah, Hafizul Kamal, Theebaan G. Jasmine Suraya, Amerul Affendi, Nam Ron

Director: Adrian Teh

Screenplay: Anwari Ashraf

What's this movie about?

PASKAL (Pasukan Khas Laut) is the Navy Seals of Malaysia, the elite unit in the Royal Malaysian Navy. The movie's narrative is a mix of dramatized re-enactment of actual past missions, their training regime and some very engaging action pieces. Plus, it's also peppered with some family drama.     

In all honesty, even though the trailer looked promising, I went into the cinema with the "Malaysian movies can or not wan?" cynicism. 

But boboiboy boy oh boy, was I blown away!

Highlights!

I'm so very glad the filmmakers didn't CGI the heck out of this movie. 

And I'm so very glad that most of the film was shot on location with real ships, planes, helicopters, submarine (!) and weaponry.  

From a technical standpoint, this movie is an achievement. The sound is good (the sound of the bullets hitting metal objects sounded real), the gun fires are real, no CGI explosion fakery - everything just looks organic, dangerous and realistic. 

There are some tense moments especially from the last mission which got me at the edge of my seat.

The violence wasn't glorified but necessary. 

  

I was half expecting the training scenes to be filled with "Sir, yes sir!" tropes but wow, it was different! Yeah, there's the standard Major Payne character yelling at the team but I guess it didn't feel cliche because the group's dynamic led by their de facto leader (Hairul) came across as believable. In fact, some of the lighter moments came from this part of the movie.   

And there was this NICE shot of them trying to tahan (hold their breath) underwater. 

Lowlights

I felt the main pirate baddie played by Amerul was too OTT. He's one of those froth at the mouth, ha-ha-ha, teeth gnashing type of villain. He just came across as a tad too cartoonish. 

And there's the missed opportunity of one of the characters. If the film's writer would have given him more layers, he could have come across as interesting as Erik Killmonger in Black Panther.   

In summary

What I really appreciate are the little little touches the filmmakers added to make PASKAL a Malaysian movie, for example where the team berdoa (prayed) before they embarked on a mission. 

Judging by the box office success it is currently enjoying, it's a timely release where the rakyat (citizens) is feeling all time patriotically high now. To be fair, it's doing good commercially not because the filmmakers were opportunistic but this movie is actually good. 

It's probably one of the most realistic badass local action movie I've seen in a while.     

Makes me wanna sign up to join TLDM now!

RATING: 8/10