Saturday, March 12, 2011

Movie Review ~ HIkayat Merong Mahawangsa by Ilham

I had many things plan this weekend. Reason ~ I can't take a single day off next week which is the school holiday week and the week after I will be away for 2 weeks for business travel. I would want to spend as much time as possible with my kids, doing fun stuff. In the lists are movie, bowling, football and walking.

So, we started yesterday with a movie and the selected ones was Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa. This local made movie by my favourite group ever, KRU. Directed by the hottest one in the group, Yusry. I was excited to watch this movie despite getting mixture sentiment by my friends review. To me, reviews are just subjective.

For this movie, Ilham would be the one doing the review. Reason ~ I was covering my eyes for more that 50% of the movie. Too many killing, stabbing and the visuals are too explicit, at least to me. Also, I want to know what Ilham's take for this movie.

Overall, according to Ilham, it is a good movie. He felt, it was so impressive to showcase silat especially knowing this movie are gonna be showcased in over 70 countries in the world. What could be better to show the world our very own traditional martial arts by including this with entertainment values.

Ilham also felt there's alot of learnings from this movie. Some lesson about leadership, about power struggle, about politics, about decision making. I was, of course, impress when Ilham said this. Character he loves the most would of course be Merong himself, minus the English accent in his BM conversation, even that he mentioned it made perfect sense since he left Tanah Melayu for many many years.

Ilham commented on the effect as well. He was impress with the sound and visual effects, he was impress with the attention to details to certain extend. The fight scenes according to him was really really good, even better than in Pirates of Caribbean. Boys will be boys, he enjoyed the fight scenes the most.

Ilham also said, this movie is a true reflection of what leaders should be made off. Leaders should be the protector for the rakyat. In war, leaders should be the one fronting the fight, not standing behind the rakyat. Leaders should be providing directions and also motivating rakyat to be better and not afraid. Leaders should tell the truth on what is the consequences of the battle, just like what Merong did when he mentioned not everyone would come back alive, but at least the fight is for a good cause.

Ilham mentioned about the Embok character, when I asked whether that character should be in the movie. Of course! He said. Reason ~ how do you explain at the end of the movie on the 7 keturunan of the mahawangsa. However, he felt the character can be further expanded, not just for decorations only.

Ratings ~ out of 5 stars, he gave 3 stars, not because the movie is not good, because he wants the next one to be better. If give too many stars, as if like nothing to improve kan? However, he said, this movie is a must watch by all Malaysians. Should be proud of our product mah!

Hope Ilham's review give you some insight of the movie. So, tunggu apa lagik, tengok jangan tak tengok!

Signing off,