My first impression of the trailer was that it was underwhelming. Maybe it was my issue, but I don't have an interest in watching this movie. But after I had a chance to watch this movie, I simply said that this is by far one of the greatest Malaysian action movies of 2025. For this review, maybe I accidentally put some spoilers without noticing it, so beware when scrolling down.
Now we talk about the story. If you guys don't know Syafiq Yusof (the director), he is simply the plot twist master. Full of plot twists that you don't even realise what will happen in this movie. The execution of the story was clean and well-made. And the collaboration with Abhilash Chandra, which is this film, is his first directorial debut in the film industry. And the combination of Syafiq and Abhilash's idea to make this movie happen is such a good decision. The story was well-made. Easy to understand, even though there are a lot of plot twists in this movie, and this movie is 2 hours and 9 minutes, and believe me, it doesn't feel like 2 hours+- watching this movie.
The acting. I am shocked by how good Syukri Yahaya handles his character (Fadlan), even though most of his acting history is on television drama, and there are no fighting sequences from him during his duty as an actor. I think this is the first film in which the director gave him an opportunity to do a fighting sequence. It is super duper clean.
The other actors. I think everyone did their best in this movie. But the character (Ariff) overshadows Ghaz, who is the main character of this movie like a lot.
The technicalities. The cinematography was beautiful. The camerawork in the fighting sequence was clean, and there's no jerky camera movement during the scene (although maybe there is, but I didn't catch any of it). The editing was clean and well-made. Plus, kudos to the production and all of the actors, actresses, and directors for finishing making this movie within 3 months, and I think the budget was well-spent during the making of this movie. Good job, guys.