Marvel Sutantio

Okay so this is my take on Gundala. Despite what the (instant) movie critics and nitpickers said, IMHO Joko Anwar successfully kickstarted the Bumi Langit Cinematicverse with Gundala. Pros: 1. The dystopian, neo-noir setting feels just right. It's well established, well made, and well built. A satire, yet relatable visualization of Indonesia. The locations, props, and set are wonderfully created. 2. Making Gundala more 'grounded' (get it?), more relatable to the viewers. No out of this world empire of elements (yet?), more functional suit design, powers that have limitations, and a hero that is as vulnerable (physically and mentally) as normal people. 3. Pengkor is created with an equally grounded and sympathetic background. How he rose to power and the extent of his influence is menacing.... and very plausible in real life. 4. The supporting characters such as Pak Agung, Wulan, Ridwan Bahri, even on the opposing side such as Ganda, Ghazul, are all well-characterized. The movie just won't be the same without them. The interactions and chemistry between them feels organic. 5. The camerawork, the lighting, cinematography, the emotions being built throughout the scenes are very well made. 6. The set up for the upcoming movies in the Bumi Langit Universe through the characters that come and go. Most have minor roles, some quite major. Looking forward to see them again in other movies. Cons: 1. The editing. It's quite rough, the transition or cut between scenes can be rough for a movie of this scale. It won't leave us scratching our heads in confusion, yet it's not enjoyable for everyone 2. The "disaster" that the villain has set up and Gundala tried to stop is... highly illogical. The plot twists, what it represents, and build up are very good, don't get me wrong. But the "disaster" itself is so far fetched, it shattered any suspension of disbelief the movie has carefully established since the beginning. They could easily use a more grounded problem such as famine, bioterrorism, or even monopoly in food or resources, or a coup by the villain, but nooo.... they had to use such an illogical problem to be solved. 3. How they avert the disaster is also far fetched. It may sound scientific but it's clearly not. It's like "hey we already shattered any suspense of disbelief, so why not solve it in the most convenient and lazy way too?" 4. How certain characters can show up in certain places conveniently. Or how those characters know (or not know) about certain things without any explanation. This is very similar to The Dark Knight Rises. 5. The fighting scenes, some are very good, some are so-so, nothing too remarkable. This is quite baffling since if you wanna make all those characters so grounded, you have to emphasize on the martial art, hand to hand combat. All in all, the movie's not as bad as they naysayers said. Be it the CG, similarities with other superhero origin stories (it's not, it stands on its own feet, the origin of the characters feels fresh and unique). It's not on par with the MCU nor is it supposed to, it's Indonesia's own superhero cinematicverse, and I'm so proud to watch and enjoy it. To have our own local super heroes being made into movies after decades and to have their own cinematicverse is like a dream come true. Aside from the "disaster" problem, it's a very well made movie and an awesome first taste of the things to come in this cinematicverse. I would give this movie a 7.5/10