Air Force: The Movie - Selagi Bernyawa

Lots of action, but also lots of melodrama. The special effects are actually not that bad and the units and equipment in this tale in a fictitious country are pretty on accurate for the Malaysian side.

Problem is the story is flat. There's the humanitarian doctor. The "critical of the military" reporter. The token Whiney character. The stoic commander and his band of hyper emotional commandos.

Of course there's a fairly chaste love story and the rivalry between brother in law and brother in said chaste relationship.

I will admit I had to fast forward a bunch of parts since there was a lot of excessive emotional outbursts superfluous to the story at hand.

The movie reminded me of the worst of modern Chinese and Indian cinema with it's kind of campy hyper patriotism, cardboard characters and boring "mission accomplished"-"roger that" type dialogue coupled with a lot of sentimentality.

You maybe already watched 'Tears of the Sun' Bruce Willis movies but to watch this movie you need to forget about that and start fresh.

This is not about rescuing VIP, this is not about superpower millitary commandos intervening civil wars. This is about sacrifices, not leaving your buddies behind, think for others instead of saving your own, talk about why they wanna join the elite special force team, to serve and to protect.

I bet if you are Malaysian and after you done with this movie, you will feel urges to go straight to Royal Malaysia air force recruitment center to join them.

It is also nice to see good jet fighter dog fight scenes from russian made Sukhoi Su-27. The planning, the strategies, the millitary lingo radios, the command centers I bet this movie done a lot of researchs from the Malaysian royal air force themselves for the sake of 'realism'.

Tom Cruise Top gun maybe have biggest movie budget, Bruce Willis Tears of the Sun might have shown USA arrogance of military show off but coming from a country in south east asia, this movie is worth watching.

The Malaysian film opens in a war-torn fictional Pacific island nation. Members of PASKAU, the Special Forces branch of the Royal Malaysian Air Force, are attempting to evacuate humanitarian workers. They manage to take off but their A-400M transport aircraft is hit by enemy fire and crashes. The nine survivors, led by Major Adnan Zaid 'Lejen' Rahmat, must make their way through enemy territory till a rescue mission can be arranged. Key to the rescue mission will be Major Zafran 'Mantis' Abd Rahman, a SU-30 'Flanker' pilot who is currently suspended due to his low flying antics.

The plot of this film is fairly simple but that isn't too much of a problem as there is plenty of action from start to finish. Given the title I expected much of that action to take place in the air; some of it does but most is firmly on the ground as the survivors try to evade but frequently end up fighting overwhelming enemy forces. This action is exciting and there is a real sense of danger for the characters, it becomes clear early on that they won't all survive. The aerial action is somewhat mixed; the long shots look great but some of the close-ups are obvious special effects, as are the explosions. The cast do a solid enough job and the near relentless action help one overlook most of the flaws. Overall a solid enough war film that should entertain both fans of ground based and aerial action.

These comments are based on watching the film in Malay with English subtitles.

Low flying reprimandation? This yells Top Gun for when Maverick did his fly past! Couldn't they come up with something better ? What's with the English + bahasa mixed dialogue? Call signs were too corny.. lejen? SUPER CORNY DIALOGUE ALL THE WAY! Tuan Rahim? He seems the most relaxed amongst the entire crew that tried to portray some sense of urgency. I didn't know wether to cringe or cry looking at his facial expression!! Oh and another thing.. mid air refuelling when the jets just took off? They just had to dump everything into this show right?

Plus points for the enemy forces , north and south. They had a more realistic presence.

One of the best survival military film in Malaysia. Give insight of the real war with outstanding and believable fictional country. Very fast paced, action packed film but still focusing on each of the character. Stellar performance by all cast. Look at their eyes while watching. You can feel the fear, hopelessness and desperation to survive. Intense tension build up one scene after another with oustanding music score.

This film is a great introduction to Royal Malaysia Air Force. What I love most about Air Force The Movie: Selagi Bernyawa is how they humanized armed forces. They are certainly not super solder. It feel relatable because as human, we certainly have emotional baggaged and flawed. Subtle but brilliant scene on PTSD and Autism awareness.

I've watched 3 times and some scenes keep on surprising me. Hope the production will consider a prequel or mini series!