Omar Ariff

Mat Kilau movie review Intrigued by the box office hype, I knew I had to watch this flick. Below are my comments: 1. Storyline The movie centres on the gradual imposition of British rule in Pahang. The situation escalates when taxes are imposed on commerce and culminates in the rebellion by the Malay masses led by Mat Kilau and friends. It would have made a more complete story if the background of Mat Kilau and his warrior friends had been included. The instrumental role of Tok Gajah in rallying the masses could have give added strength to the plot. My rating: 6/10 2. Cinematography The quality of cinematography is very impressive, as good as a Hollywood production. Nevertheless, the deliberate "jerking" of fight scenes was rather off putting. The fight scenes are definitely a boon for avid martial arts fans. One of the reasons why I stopped watching the Transformers franchise is the endless mind numbing fight scenes. My rating: 7/10 3. Sound Editing The overall sound editing is highly commendable. The amplified sound of punches and kicks is really unnecessary. Luckily, it wasn't in the same category of Tamil movies. My rating: 8/10 4. Script The script was well written, replete with classical Malay sayings. Strong emphasis is placed on the inseparable bond between Malay and Islam. With other Malay movies and dramas, the script leans very heavily on formal Malay rather than the layman version. The scriptwriter inadvertently had Mat Kilau utter "emosi", a word which is definitely not in use in that era. It is quite puzzling that the characters do not use local Pahang dialect in their dialogue. One could be forgiven for thinking that the characters lived in Selangor. My rating: 6/10 5. Costume Credit to the wardrobe Manager for dressing the entire cast in period costume. My only grouse is how new the clothes donned by the cast looked. Definitely not your day to day use attire. My rating: 7/10 6. Musical score The musical score used throughout the film brings fresh energy to the scenes. Of course, having a full orchestra backing in the musical score could have taken the film to dizzying heights. My rating: 7/10 7. Acting performance Adi Putra (Mat Kilau) and Yayan Ruhian (Tago) are easily the stand out performers. It would be easy to imagine Adi Putra donning a Batman suit and speak in a husky tone ala the Dark Knight. Yayan potrays the badass mercenary to a tee. Perhaps Tago ought to have remained unassociated with Borneo. He definitely didn't sound Borneoan. Sounding very Indonesian, naturally, could negatively impact at the Indonesian box office. One of the royal court characters spoke very much like a performer in a play. Again, most characters didn't sound natural, as mentioned earlier. My rating: 7/10 Overall rating: 7/10 In summary, the movie is worth the ticket price. Syabas to the filmmakers for producing a first class film. Let's dream big. Mat Kilau has the potential of reaching out to an international audience if the suggestion for improvements are made and turning the dialogue into English. Could the runaway success of Mat Kilau signal the start of a legendary Malay warrior franchise? How about bringing the struggle of Dol Said of Naning to the big screen? I sincerely wish that one day a collaboration between Malaysian and Portuguese film makers will tell the story of the fall of the Melaka empire. 1511, anyone?